Homily from 150th Anniversary

KEEP ON TRAINING

(Message preached by the Rev. Kenneth W. Sievers, a son of St. Paul, on October 1, 2006 in celebration of God’s 150 Years of Blessing to St. Paul Lutheran Church.)

Let us Pray:

Lord Jesus Christ, for 150 years now, Your Saving Grace has been poured out on Your People in this place. Accept their worship again today. Comfort again their sinful souls with your Promise of Forgiveness. And, stir up their hearts to even greater faithfulness through Your Holy Word as I humbly share it with them on this happy day. Amen.

This is the day which the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

I hold in my hand this morning a somewhat worn copy of the history booklet that we put together for our 100th anniversary back there in 1956. Toward the back of it, there is this picture of our glorious Hamel Redskin basketball team. And, in the second row, sandwiched between Phil Engelke and Paul Schlechte there stands a rather sober-looking fourth grader who remembers fondly today such long ago things as:
(1) being sternly warned one morning by Mrs. Werning to never, ever again allow Sandy Martin’s long black hair to get caught up in the top of his desk;
(2) being gently schooled by Coach Arnie Renken in the delicate art of carefully lofting a basketball just right into a cold north wind;
(3) being asked by Teacher Boeker to pick out a hymn and play it Friday mornings on the piano for our opening school devotions; and
(4) making his confirmation vows and taking his vows of ordination while humbly kneeling at this very altar.

I, of course, am that sober looking fourth grader. Yes, I’ve gotten both a lot taller and older since that picture was taken. And, yes, I’m deeply honored that you have invited me back to share the Saving Word of God with you on this special occasion. And, that Word would be found in Proverbs 22:6 and it would sound like this: Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.

First of all, I picked this Word of God to share with you today because it’s just so blessedly true. That, of course, comes as no big surprise to those of us who have wisely being taking God at His Word for a long time. For, we’re blessedly used to seeing God always keep all of His promises to us, aren’t we? And so, we know—that IF we bring our babies to Jesus right away at the baptismal font, and IF we faithfully tell them all about Him and personally show them what it means to be a true worshiper and follower of Jesus Christ as are growing up—we know that Jesus will bless our training. And, we trust that our children will grow old with Jesus living big and bold in their hearts and lives.

Secondly, I picked this Word of God because a lot of us who are here today are living-proof that this Word of God is true, aren’t we? Like me, your parents too, brought you as a baby to Jesus Christ in Holy Baptism, didn’t they? And like mine, yours too faithfully walked the walk and talked the talk of living for Jesus, didn’t they? And so they often took you to worship and Sunday School with them, didn’t they? And, they enrolled you in Christian Day School and Lutheran High School, didn’t they? And, they encouraged you to go to Walther League and hang out with all those great young adult role models, and, of course, with all those cute Lutheran girls too, didn’t they? And so, here we, who were so well-trained, are today with our hair graying and our bodies aging—still very excited about Jesus and especially today so thankful for all the good training we received here or somewhere else when we were young.

Thirdly, I picked this Word of God because I truly believe that the Family of God here at St. Paul has been very faithful over the years, especially in it’s training of it’s young people. From day one, there has always been a Christian Day School here at St. Paul, with your Pastor even doing all the teaching by himself until 1863. And, did you know that from 1871 to 1907 you even maintained a second school in Hamel. And, in more recent years, you have finally gotten around to partnering with Trinity, Worden, even daring for awhile to call a woman teacher whose last name is Sievers too to be its principal. And now, I’m told, you have been further blessed with a new Assistant Pastor who also serves your school as its headmaster. And so, to the Glory of God and to the salvation of precious souls, the faithful training here at St. Paul continues, doesn’t it?

Fourthly, I picked this Word of God because many Christian parents, grandparents, pastors, teachers, and congregations today are finding it harder and harder to be faithful in training their children. Hey, let’s face it, let’s tell I like it is—many a Christian parent today just doesn’t get it, just doesn’t seem to understand how important it is to train a child in the way he should go. He or she is just too busy, too selfish, too poor in faith to help his or her child to grow up to be a faithful Christian adult. I mean, how can you help your son or daughter get excited about Jesus if you yourself aren’t excited about Him either? Or, to understand the important of worship and prayer and hanging out with other Christian when you as a parent don’t? And, how can you encourage your child to go and live out his or her faith and values—to love and care about others the way Jesus does, if you don’t? Parents—if you think for one minute that sending your child to a Christian Day School or Lutheran High School will make up for your lack of faithful behavior—forget it! Your actions will always speak louder to your kids about your faith or the lack of it than your words. So, yes, a church family like St. Paul may provide you and your children with a wonderful Christian school. But, don’t you as a parent or as a congregation ever forget that our Heavenly Father in His Holy Word has placed the first burden and challenge and responsibility for training His children on your shoulders. So, mom and dad—you it!

Finally, I picked this Word of God simply to encourage you to continue to be faithful in training your children in the way they should go, so that when they are old they will not turn from it. For, if you continue to be faithful in training your children, then, when their eyelids close in death someday, which they will, unless Jesus Christ comes already tomorrow, they will be safe and saved and Heaven bound too, won’t they? AMEN.