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the Lord be with you
we begin with our invocation in the name of the Father of the Son of the Holy
Spirit
our text this morning it is again our theme verse for this academic year from
Hebrews chapter ten
verses twenty three to twenty five
"let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering
for he who promised is faithful
and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works
not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some
but encouraging one another
and all the more as you see the day
drawing near"
this is the word of the Lord
thanks be to God
dear friends in christ
last august in
the very first chapel of the new school year seems in some ways like just
yesterday
we explored
the theme of the make-believe
discordia university
despair
despise
and disperse
without Christ
course my idea was to draw a sharp
distinction between that fictional
discordia and the real life concordia and between that pretend theme and our own
hope love and gather
in Christ
the not so subtle hint though was that CUW
is not immune from the devilish distractions
of DUW
and no doubt
since last august we have had examples of our failures
to be the Christ centered and godly university
that we
aspire to be
discordia unfortunately has too often been are real life experience
at concordia
but this is may
and now it's time for us to celebrate how we have been
CU dub-ly blessed in the academic year now nearly completed
and as always that celebration begins it continues and it ends
with the recognition of who we are
and whose we are
concordia
is a lutheran higher education community we're a
christian university we're christ's
university
and your growth here as students and your experience
at CUW is ultimately for service to the Lord Jesus Christ and to the church and in
the world
in the many many many ways
that God will call you to serve
concordia belongs to Jesus each one of us
belongs to Jesus
and we exist
to serve Him
ours is a
a truly compelling mission
and it's one
that you don't find everywhere indeed
it's one that you don't find
almost anywhere
fictional discordia with its theme of
despair despise and disperse that might be a little bit exaggerated but
unfortunately
that is the experience of many on
on campuses
without Christ
and in fact
most colleges even ones with
with christian heritage
self-consciously distance themselves from christianity and don't really want
to deal
with Christ
Jesus
is expressly
not a part of the experience
keep Christ out of the conversation
God has got to go
that's the message
of the world around us
so
if God must go
and if godliness is not an option
then perhaps as the old saying goes
cleanliness is next to godliness maybe it will just have to settle for that just
just keep it clean
anesthetized all be it anathematized sanitized if not sanctified
most universities like to keep the distinction between faith
and learning
clean
so instead of
hope love and gather
soap suds and lather
that could be their theme
keep a distinction between Christ and the classroom clean
some in fact most
prefer to see higher education
that way
for some
Jesus
has no place in the college experience
for others
the real value of Christ in higher learning is questioned
it's no secret
that you and your parents have made a big investment
to have you here at concordia we heard that in Jane's letter home
yesterday
but a fair question
and one that many people are asking about a higher education in general is
this
is it worth the money
and why pay more
to attend concordia when perhaps
for fewer dollars you could just go to
affordia
instead of
hope love and gather the more
generic theme at the more generic school
is only
what matters
get the degree and
get out
at affordia
there is no time
or no interest in hoping and loving and gathering in Christ
the conclusion is
its just not worth the price of admission
it doesn't matter
why do we need all of this christian higher education when you can get the
basic higher education somewhere else
and for a less
botique
bowtie
bye-bye I'm going to affordia
because just getting my diploma
is the only thing that matters
well botique bowtie
that doesn't matter
but Christ
Christ is
at the core of a christian education
and you take the core out of concordia
and what do you get
well literally if you take the core of the center of
concordia
you get "condia" I guess and I know
we have him too
Eric Condia is that tall guy a senior from california on
the basketball team
take the core out of concordia
and you have condia
but I'm not talking about Eric
take Christ out of concordia
and you have discordia
take christ out of
concordia and maybe you
you keep the distinction between faith and learning clean you may achieve
cleanliness but you don't have godliness
take christ out of concorida
and you might have affordia
but you're here
because you appreciate the value of christian
higher education and of
faith informed learning
and our most
core core value
is Christ
Christ is the core of concordia
Jesus our priceless treasure
who purchased in who won us not with gold or silver but
with this holy precious blood and with his innocent suffering and death
so that we might be his own
and live under him in his kingdom
and serve him in
everlasting righteousness
and innocence
and blessings
Jesus
is the reason
that concordia is here
but each one of you is the reason
that Jesus is here
he's here to remind us
everyday
that we're his
and he's here to teach us
about our life with him and our life for him
over the course of this past year I have preached on this theme text from hebrews ten
now from several perspectives today
it really is that first sentence that first verse of our text that's the focus
let us hold fast
to the confession of our faith
without wavering
and as I personally reflect on the past year they're probably lots of
things that I could point to that
that describe my own experience this is a busy place there's a lot that goes on
however I would not be exaggerating
if I said that almost every day
at least several times every week
I'm involved in some kind of a discussion
about concordia's Christian identity
and often this sort of conversation
is a part of an interview with a perspective faculty member
in our effort to to determine whether that person is a good mission
fit for us
occasionally
it's a topic that's raised by somebody already on the faculty or here on the staff
or a board member or a
loyal Lutheran that wants
to ensure that concordia does not stray from our confession
and indeed this is a topic that
comes up much more than you might expect
I'm sure
for example that I must discuss the dying of the light
that's a book that came out several years ago
lamenting christian schools losing their christian identity I probably talk about
the dying of the light
at least once a week
that's because those who know Jesus
the light of the world
do not want Christ to be hidden or snuffed out
at concordia
and while nobody supposes
that it is the bluff not everyone agrees
on exactly where the slippery slope of descent into dying light begins
there were a few for example who
who argued that
that this screen up here
somewhere
that it desecrated our chapel
there was an un-lutheran thing to do
some others have expressed the fear that adding
non-church worker programs
that threatens to compromise our mission
now I don't agree
with either of those opinions
but I've had enough
meetings and dialogues
with folks on and off campus
to reiterate my own resolve
that an unwavering confession of our hope
than an unqualified commitment
to our lutheran christian identity
is not negotiable
let us hold fast to
the confession of our faith without wavering
there's no better way
for us to show inspiration
in action
at the very core
of are confession
the core in concordia
is Jesus Christ
and the phrase that the writer to the hebrews attaches
makes this clear
let us hold fast the confession of our faith without wavering
for he who promised is faithful
he who promised
and he who is faithful is Jesus
our inspiration
for action to remain faithful is Jesus who is always
faithful to us
our determination never
to waiver is inspired by the unwavering love of God in Christ
Jesus of the forgiver of our sins
Jesus
the lover of our souls
and while we've had
our failures to be the
Christ centered and godly university and to be the
the christ centered and godly people that we aspire to be
Jesus has never once
failed us
and He never will
and that's our shared hope
and his love for us is the motivation
for our love for one another that stirs us to serve one another
and he is the reason that we
we gather each morning for worship in this place hope love gather in Christ
crucified for us in
in Christ triumphant for us
the last day of the school year draws near
and hope and love will keep us together until we gather again
here in the new school year in the fall
but the last day
mentioned in our hebrews text also draws near and
so if we don't meet again
until heaven
hope and love
will keep us together joint together
built on Christ
hope and love will keep us together
until we gather
in glory
in the nearer presence of Jesus
and in Jesus' name