Text: Lam. 3:22,23. Epiphany 80^th anniversary. May 13, 2007.

God’s great love and His mercies and His faithfulness are yours, through Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen.

The Word of God we give our attention to on this special occasion is found in Lamentations, chapter 3.

To those whom our Savior loves, giving us 80 years of grace, one day at a time.

Intro. Eighty years. That’s a long time. It a lifetime for some. It’s two lifetimes if you’re under forty. And if your age is 20 or less, eighty years sounds like eternity. Lots of things have changed in eighty years. Weren’t many cars eighty years ago. People measured the cost of a gallon of gas in cents, not dollars. There’s been a depression and recessions and two world wars and fifteen presidents. But one thing hasn’t changed in eighty years: the LORD’s great love. The LORD’s great acts of love haven’t changed. It’s the same cross on which our Savior died. It’s the same body and blood of Christ he gives us to eat and drink. It’s the same never-failing love we have in baptism. Pastors preach the same Word of God one day at a time. Our teachers in our grade school and Sunday School teach the same Word of God one day at a time. One day at a time we have the LORD’s great love. One day at a time we experience the LORD’s compassions. One day at a time God’s faithfulness is great. As we celebrate the 80^th anniversary of the English speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Epiphany, we are not celebrating our accomplishments. We are celebrating God’s accomplishments, 80 YEARS OF GRACE, ONE DAY AT A TIME.

1. Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed. There’s something implied there, isn’t there? God implies and even says that we deserve to be consumed. Our sins have been present from start to finish in these 80 years. You can probably think of the member who left because people weren’t friendly, and that member was right. Maybe there was hurting soul who came here on Sunday morning and he left more hurt because no one welcomed him. No one even said, "Hello! Nice to have you here." We fight about carpet colors for hours, but no one has time to tell a friend about Jesus. We’ve gone through the motions in worship, but when it gets to the part about living the words we hear, our ears clog up with excuses. Too busy! Too tired! No time! A look back at the last 80 years would not be pretty. We see sin. We see people who deserve to be consumed in the fires of hell.

But great as our sins of the past have been, and great as they surely will be in the future, even greater is the LORD’s love. The LORD’s great love rescues us from God’s anger. There was one great act of love that stands out beyond all others. That act of love is Jesus going to the cross and dying for our sins. The LORD’s forgiveness hasn’t changed in 80 years. God’s forgiveness won’t change in the next 80, or even the next 80 million. Your pastor will still stand here every Sunday and say, "In the name of Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sins." You can still run to this altar and gobble and gulp the body of Christ that was nailed to the cross, the blood of Christ that stained that cross and washed your soul clean of every sin. The LORD’s great love moved him to forgive us. That forgiveness was proclaimed to all when Jesus rose from the dead. It’s always Easter for you. Every Sunday you can wake up and say, "The LORD is risen! He is risen indeed!" We can’t find greater love of the LORD than in the cross and empty tomb. Anytime we hear of the Lord’s great love, immediately the cross and empty tomb come first.

But the LORD has shown us many more acts of kindness, many more evidences of His grace in these eighty years. God didn’t stop with the cross and leave us be on our own, He continues His grace one day at a time. God didn’t stop blessing our congregation when a building was put up. God continued the growth with a school. God didn’t stop the blessings when one pastor or teacher left. Maybe it looked bleak at times, but the LORD provided another pastor and another teacher and another. What a great blessing and turnaround the LORD has provided through Pastor Zarling. I know the teachers at Wisconsin Lutheran School were a big help to me in teaching me love for Jesus. The strength my parents have received through Epiphany has been tremendous. That’s the LORD’s great love. That’s the LORD’s compassion at work, one day at a time.

2. His compassions never fail. They are new every morning. New, every day we can see God’s grace in a new way. And maybe that doesn’t mean that God will miraculously rescue us from a speeding bullet for the first time today. Maybe it’s a matter of seeing the old grace God has shown us in a new way. Maybe it’s that old grace of baptism. Ancient history, kids’ stuff, right? Wrong. Every day I wake up as God’s baptized child. Every day God puts my sinful nature to death. Baptism is a fountain of God’s love that never sits still, that never grows stale. Baptism forgives the new sins I haven’t even thought about yet. Baptism washes me from that old guilt my mind just can’t seem to shake. Baptism says to me, "God is in love with me!" And God spends all his time just thinking of new ways to say, "I love you." And God has some, like baptism, that are the oldies, but goodies. His great love is new every morning.

Every morning. I wake up, God’s love is there. I go to sleep, God’s love is there. I come home, God’s love is there. It’s almost like my wife. Now TV shows and single friends might have you believe that’s man-made prison. But I find it to be quite a pleasure to have the same person next to me every morning, the same person next to me every night. Every day I can think of new ways to say, "I love you." That’s what God does. Jesus is married to you. You are part of his church, his bride, his family of believers. He shows new love and new mercy and new compassions and new grace every single morning.

Before you get up, God has in mind what new love He will show to you and to our congregation that day. God doesn’t take a summer vacation. God doesn’t even take a weekend. God’s grace is there every single day. God has given us 80 years of grace, but he has distributed this grace one day at a time. When we think of God’s blessings on our congregation, we probably point to big blessings first like the facility additions, the school, etc. We give tremendous thanks for those ‘big and visible’ blessings. But never forget God’s ongoing stream of blessings one day at a time. One day at a time God has given our pastors the strength and wisdom to preach the Word of God as God wants it to be preached. One day at a time, our school teachers have taught children in our congregation and outside our congregation the compassions of the Lord. One day at a time members have prayed for each other. One day at a time parents have had devotions with their children. One day at a time shutins have been visited and prayed for and have prayed for others. One day at a time, we have reached out to the lost and the straying members. One day at a time, one day at a time.

3. We would have to agree with Jeremiah, the inspired writer of our text. God’s mercies, His acts of undeserved love are NEW in the mornings. GREAT your faithfulness, o God. GREAT your faithfulness.

Great is your faithfulness. 1. Man, there’s a lot in those four words. It’s only two words in Hebrew actually. Great. God’s faithfulness never runs out. It is beyond measure. It is more than we could ever need. We could never, ever, outsin God’s love. Not that we’d want to try, but we could never do it. Remember that when you toss and turn at night. His faithfulness is great.

Faithfulness. Let me give you some synonyms. Steadiness, reliability, honesty, security. This is love that isn’t going away. This is a guy who makes a promise and keeps it. When the LORD says, "I will do this." He does it. And listen to what the LORD has said he will do. 1 Corinthians 10:13, And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. Romans 8:38, "I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Matthew 28:20, "Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Those are some promises worth hanging on to.

As we look back at 80 years of grace, one day at a time, we also tend to look forward to the next eighty years. What does the future hold for me, for Epiphany? I can’t say for sure. You can’t say for sure. But we can say for sure that God’s faithfulness will be there. God’s love will not stop. Will our congregation be larger in the future? God will provide new mercies to deal with that challenge. Will our congregation be smaller? God will provide new mercies to deal with that. Will there be enough people and pastors and teachers and money and? We don’t have to worry. The LORD’s great love will be there. The LORD’s great faithfulness will be there. Those are the only things we can count on being there and those are the only things we need to be there. Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. Amen.

As they have been all our lives, God’s love and faithfulness are yours, one day at a time. Amen.