On December 7, 1972, the astronauts of Apollo 17 turned a camera homeward and, from a distance of 18,000 miles, photographed their home planet. That image of earth— with its swirling colors of blue, green, and white— hanging in the vast darkness of space has been called "the blue marble." Although few people have seen the earth from that vantage point, even the photograph may be enough to leave a person feeling rather small and insignificant.

In the 8th century B.C., the nation of Judah enjoyed a time of prosperity and relative peace under the leadership of King Uzziah. Uzziah wasn’t a perfect king, but he was a good enough king to keep Judah’s enemies at bay for 52 years. Then Uzziah died.

The king was dead, and the prophet Isaiah had good reason to be concerned. What would happen to Judah? Were the good times at an end? Would Judah’s enemies invade? What would happen to the people of Judah now that Uzziah was gone?

Last Sunday I announced that Pastor Kraus is dying of bladder cancer. Pastor Kraus served so many of you faithfully over the years with Word and Sacrament ministry, with baptisms, confirmations, weddings, funerals and much more. When I told the congregation why we would be praying for Pastor Kraus, there was an audible gasp from the people. After the service, many asked me for his address so they could send hi cars. A few people were in tears.

Perhaps you have felt the same sorrow over a friend, sibling, child, parent or grandparent. Dying and death can make you profoundly sad. It breaks your heart to see your loved one struggling to breath or too weak to move.

Several years ago, a college student told me she was troubled by one of her professors. He regularly disparaged her and other Christians in his class. He told them they were close-minded to follow Christianity. At the same time, he expressed how enlightened he was in his spirituality. He professed to the class that he took the best out of each religion to create his own faith. He said he took the peace from Islam, the meditation from Buddhism, loving your neighbor as yourself from Christianity, the love of nature from Native Americans, the respect of ancestors from Shinto, and so on.

Looking around at this world we see, hear and feel death everywhere. We see death in our movies. We hear death in our music. We feel death in our families.

There is war and violence.

There is frailty and disease.

There is weakness and walkers.

Of all the days since Pentecost, which day has done the most to change the world? How about July 4, 1776—the American Revolution, which ushered in a new era of freedom and prosperity? Or maybe July 14, 1789—the French Revolution, which was the beginning of the end for the great monarchies of Europe and exposed dark side of many revolutions, the Reign of Terror. Maybe October 25, 1917—the Russian Revolution, which led to untold misery and death for millions.

But revolutions don’t actually happen in a single day. They take time to unfold and develop. The Industrial Revolution of the 19th century changed life throughout the world very dramatically. The Sexual Revolution of the 1960s drastically changed the moral climate of America for the worse.

When you attended a worship service in a non-Lutheran church, have you ever kept praying the Lord’s Prayer when everyone else stopped? They ended the Lord’s Prayer with the words, “but deliver us from evil.” You continued praying, “For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.”

These familiar words at the conclusion of the Lord’s Prayer do not appear in some of the ancient manuscripts of the Gospels. It is possible that these words were added later by those copying the manuscripts. Whether these words were originally included or not, they are thoroughly scriptural and doctrinal. They are an appropriate conclusion or doxology to the Lord’s Prayer.

I want you to imagine you are part of the mob that really hates the apostle Paul. Your mob preaches circumcision, blood sacrifices and eating clean foods. Paul preaches Christ crucified. Your mob preaches the Jews are God’s chosen children. Paul preaches that people from all nations are God’s children through faith in Jesus. Your mob preaches salvation by works. Paul preaches salvation by grace alone.

You and the mob really hate this guy! He preaches everything exactly the opposite from you.

At the beginning of every adult confirmation class, I give the people three warnings. First, I warn them that there are 14 lessons in the class. That’s a 3 ½ month commitment. Second, I warn them that there’s homework. (I don’t tell them about the homework until they sign up for the class.)

The third – and most serious – warning is that the devil is going to come at them hard. I’ve seen it for over 20 years of teaching these classes. I tell them that if they weren’t Christians before, the devil wasn’t concerned about them because they already belonged to him. If they were only nominal Christians before, the devil still wasn’t all that concerned about them because, although they were in the Enemy’s camp, they weren’t doing anything over there.