Audio recording Sermon manuscript: If there hadn’t been this latest surge in cases, we might have thought that we were getting back to some kind of normal. As it is, case count have gone up significantly not just in Iowa, not just in red states, not just in the United States, but throughout the northern hemisphere. In light of this, the governing authorities have recommended that we all stay home for Thanksgiving. And so we can just add this to the list of things that we thought would never happen. Before this pestilence came upon us, I never would have thought that Christians would be prevented from gathering in churches for Easter, and yet, so it was. Now many families won’t get together for Thanksgiving—at least not in the same way as we are accustomed to. Who would have thought? But Easter was not cancelled this year. Every element of Easter worship was fulfilled this year as it is every year by those who are Christians. For true worship is nothing other than faith. And most assuredly there were Christians on Easter believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, who rose from the dead. Even without meeting in large numbers or in the way that we normally do—even without receiving the sacrament that day—nothing was missing from the celebration of Easter for those Christians to whom faith in Christ has been given. For Jesus says in John 6 that his flesh can be eaten and his blood can be drunk by faith. Those who believe that his flesh is the living bread from heaven, and that whoever eats this bread will live forever, most assuredly have what Jesus says, because Jesus doesn’t lie. As it was, Easter went on an involuntary diet. Lots of stuff went by the wayside. There were no large scale Easter egg hunts. There were no large scale ham dinners. But everything that was essential for Christian worship was there, for you have been given the promises of God concerning Christ. True worship is nothing other than believing that God’s promises in Christ are true. This is pleasing to God, when we honor Christ, by believing what God has said about him. One of the ways that trying times, such as the ones we are living through, can be beneficial for us is that it reveals what is essential. When all the niceties go away, what does it mean to be a Christian? What is necessary for the Christian Church to survive? The answer, again, is faith. When Peter identified Jesus as the Christ, Jesus told him that this confession is like a rock. Even the gates of hell cannot prevail against a Christian’s confession that Jesus is the Christ. Not this Sunday, but the Sunday after, you will hear Jesus say in the Gospel reading that heaven and earth not only might pass away, but most certainly will pass away. And yet, Jesus says, his word will never pass away. This is a very practical matter. It is applicable to times like ours when things are done differently than they normally are. Wherever there is faith in Christ, you may be assured that everything is going to turn out just fine sooner or later. Or even if we are not dealing with these large scale events, but quite personal tragedies and evils, the same applies. If you are sick unto death, and it’s hard to breath, and there’s little hope that you will recover, so long as you believe that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior, all things will turn out right. Heaven and earth will pass away, but Jesus’s Word will never pass away. And he says, Whoever is baptized and believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. This means you are not dependent upon living forever in this world in order for you to be happy. Jesus will make you happy at that time that he has already predetermined for you. You are not dependent upon not getting sick with this virus in order to be happy. Any one of us could get this virus, regardless of how careful we might be. Is all lost if that should be the case? Or if we do get the disease, is our happiness dependent upon recovering and surviving? If that is the way t