Dearly loved by God, especially you, Audrey and Brynn,
Surely, the comparison I made last year between Aubrey and Leah and Job’s daughters applies to you, “Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job’s daughters.” [42:15] That beauty includes the spirit of the Christian young woman.
I want you to have your own Word of God for the sermon besides the Confirmation verses I chose for you. The Apostle Paul wrote these words in First Thessalonians 5:16-18. “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Jesus Christ.” This is what it means to snort Aha! Among the Trumpets.
That’s right. You heard me say, “snort.” In the last part of that book, Job expressed great wonder at God’s creation. Among other creatures, Job described the horse. Job described the horse with a flowing mane, the ability to leap, and snorting and pawing in readiness.
The picture is of a war steed. The horse hears the trumpet sound to charge into the fight. He cannot wait. The Hebrew word, Aha, means to whinny or snort. Job wrote, “In frenzied excitement he eats up the ground; he cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds.” [24] That trumpet is God’s call to him to be what God has made him. We might say his, Aha, is his Alleluia.
It is not my intent to compare you to a horse. The point of comparison is your readiness with enthusiasm and strength to charge into the fray of being an adult Christian. God is calling you to be what he made you to be through Holy Baptism; be joyful and pray and give thanks. Alleluia!
The trumpet of God has sounded in one long comforting melody from the night of the Christ’s birth in Bethlehem to the tearing of the curtain and rending of the tombs when he died on the cross and rose again from the dead. This trumpet call invites you to sniff the Easter air from which our Lord has swept away all the poisonous fumes of sin and mortality. It will continue to sound in the gospel until the trumpet will announce Jesus’ return on Judgment Day to open all people’s graves.
Audrey and Brynn, through Holy Baptism you have heard those sounds. “Be joyful always.” You stand in Christ’s triumph. You say, Aha! Among the trumpets. Paul is not talking about an easy, smiling optimism, some strange theology of glory. He is calling you to enter gladly and excitedly upon the next phase of your Christian life
That phase includes the trumpets of daily repentance. It includes the music of mercy, “Your sins have been forgiven.” Be joyful in the love God has had for you in Christ Jesus. Charge into the fight of faith with the trumpet sound of Christ’s love in your ears determined to love others with his love. God does not merely find the objects of his love. He creates us. His love works on us, in us, and through us. Be joyful in the confession of faith in Christ you are about to make publicly as you remember Jesus promise in Matthew 10:32, “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven.”
The Apostle also reminds us that the will of God is that we “pray continually.” The good reason to pray continually is that Satan also has a trumpet. Now Christ by his cross has defeated Satan. Satan’s trumpet can sound only retreat in defeat. He has lost his right to accuse us of sin. Nevertheless, he is a master of deceit. He can make that sound of retreat and defeat very attractive to our sinful natures. It takes an act of our new will to say Aha! Among the trumpets of God.
Satan does not approach with a frontal attack. He shows himself someone or something else. We likely will not hear the discord of Satan’s trumpet call to attack. The tones of Satan’s trumpet are the tones of ease- take it easy and enjoy without repentance and bearing your cross. His trumpet calls us back where we were before God called us, as Luther says, curved in among ourselves in rebellion against God. There are the sounds of materialism and advantage, distraction and procrastination, routine and monotony, compromise and doubt.
Audrey and Brynn, pray continually. Don’t let the temptations from Satan’s tricky trumpet make your Aha, your, Alleluia to God stick in your throat. Pray always for the loud triumphant trumpet of God to sound in your heart. Pray, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven…Lead us not into temptation…but deliver us from the evil one.” Sniff the Easter air and charge ahead to these notes, “Jesus is Lord, Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.’’ [Philippians 2:11]
There will be those times, and already for you and all of us, have been those times when to our shame we did not listen to God’s trumpets. We have been more like broken down and sway backed horses rather than war horses being what God created us to be. Still we hear the trumpet call of the gospel that forgives us and assures us of our victory in the fight of faith. Once again the Holy Spirit transforms us from jaded nags into eager steeds stamping the ground and snorting, Aha! Among the trumpets.
The Spirit teaches us and moves us “to give thanks in all circumstances.” He frees us from keeping the attention on ourselves and our ways. He frees us for service to others. He strengthens our feeble knees and sustains us in afflictions. Those days are coming for you. Maybe you have experienced some of those already. Give thanks in all circumstances and you will be the echoing wall for the strong and comforting gospel of Jesus Christ.
Audrey and Brynn, snort the air of forgiveness and eternal life in Christ Jesus, stamp the ground in readiness to fight, and greet God’s trumpet with your Aha. “The God of hope fill you with all joy in believing.” Amen. <SDG>