Feast of St. Joseph, 2026
St. Matthew’s Lutheran, Cornwall
Psalm 127
SC, Art 1: The First Article: On Creation
I believe in God, the Father almighty, CREATOR of heaven and earth.
[2] What is this? Answer:
I believe that God has created me together with all that exists. God has given me and still preserves my body and soul: eyes, ears, and all limbs and senses; reason and all mental faculties. In addition, God daily and abundantly provides shoes and clothing, food and drink, house and farm, spouse and children, fields, livestock, and all property—along with all the necessities and nourishment for this body and life.48 God protects me against all danger and shields and preserves me from all evil. And all this is done out of pure, fatherly, and divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness of mine at p 355 all! For all of this I owe it to God to thank and praise, serve and obey him. This is most certainly true.50
I want to speak today on an issue that is for many in our modern Western anti-natalist world,
CONTENTIOUS. – THE GOOD OF LIFE. And its procreation, in the bond of LOVE.
For so we see in our world, children are viewed as an obstacle to fun. A thing to avoid, to
put off until one has enough resources to do so comfortably. Marriage is put off, – freedom
and individuality are prized. Being your own person. Building your own life and answering to
nobody. This is what the world preaches. – marriage? Not yet, YOU’RE TOO YOUNG, they
say. Enjoy your life while you can, they say. – “HAVE FUN” while you can, they say. And what
is the implication? It’s twofold. – Firstly, marriage IS NOT FUN, but a bondage endured when
it becomes time to submit to responsible living FOR THE SAKE OF OTHERS instead of yourself.
And two. Real fun, real joy, real fulfillment is had in sleeping around, in being your own
person, in answering to nobody, and living alone. – friends., Pardon my crass language for
the sake of the pun, but , what IN THE HELL is that ? Other than the voice of hell itself
speaking into the ears of our youth? Which God has commanded this? Is it the God who said,”a man shall a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh? Is it the God who said; “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him? Is it the God who said – he who finds a wife finds a good thing? I highly doubt so.
And WHEN marriage IS had, which, according to current statistics, appears to be happening LESS AND LESS ,
and LATER AND LATER, couples are told: HOLD OFF ON THE KIDS. Don’t have them yet.
Enjoy your marriage together first before you burden it with children. Again – putting off
responsibility. Again, putting off service. Again, putting off sacrifice. Again, putting off LOVE.
Why? For the sake of ease. For the sake of comfort. For the sake of selfishness. For the sake
of WORKING, but not for love’s sake. But in the service of the God of mammon. Of the money.
And I ask again, which God has ordered this? Is it the one who commanded us, saying, BE
FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY? And children are a heritage from the LORD. The fruit of the
womb is a reward from him. 4 Sons born during one’s youth are like arrows in the hand
of a warrior. 5 How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. Yeah, again, I highly
doubt so.
And when they ARE had, they are outsourced to strangers you don’t know. In day cares, in
schools, in programs. And we tell ourselves perhaps, it’s for socialization purposes. We tell
ourselves, perhaps it’s for THEIR good. But really, this is due to the economic status quo of
the double-income family. We don’t like to say the quiet part out loud. But that’s the part. To
sacrifice love for the sake of finance. TO ship our children off to strangers, why? For the sake
of increasing capital market value. Friends, this is a curse.
But how did we get here? Is it because people in society, and we ourselves included, are all
selfish, greedy, evil people who intended to worship money and sacrifice our children at the
altar of the CIBC and the CRA? No. No, I don’t think it is. I think rather, its because we, as
God’s people have FORGOTTEN what these things are. And what these things mean. We
have forgotten that children are a blessing, not a hindrance. A command, not an option. And a
good, and never an evil. And that marriage, and the family, – is an icon of God Himself, and of
love Himself, and the way in which He works His divine, miraculous grace into the world, –
THROUGH us and WITH US – it’s that we have forgotten.
SO, today, we remember.
Let’s begin here with this simple truth: where does God’s relationship to us begin? Does it begin,
let’s say, when we realize we are sinners? Or when we realize that we have been forgiven,
when the evangelist speaks to us of the cross? When is it? When does our relationship with
the Lord of life actually begin? Do you know? Here, in Article 1 of the Apostles Creed. – I
believe that God has created me (and all things). It begins not when I realize that He exists,
but it begins when and where He creates me into existence.
Like a child, born to a mother and father, the child’s relationship does not begin with those
parents when the child is convinced that they exist, or learns about them, their personality,
their history, or makes a decision to be in a loving relationship with them? No. The child’s
relationship begins with the parents of that child AT THE MOMENT OF CONCEPTION. When
that child, through God’s miraculous work of creation, accomplished through the loving
union of the TWO into one flesh, in the bond of holy love, in commitment, covenant, and
matrimony, and that relationship never ends.
This is – here, the first work of God. The first Gospel of God. And one of the chief miracles
that we see I the world today, the creation of NEW HUMAN BEINGS. Of new human lives, of
souls, loved by God, redeemed by God, GRACED BY GOD. And purposed for unity and
blessedness with Him forever. This is the first way, and the first part, of God’s BEING GOD to,
and in the world. And each new life that is made, and formed by God through the wombs of
His daughters, He increases the love and the beauty, and HIS presence in this world,
THROUGH THIS MIRACULOUS WORK. Every child conceived IS AN INCREASE of love.
An INCREASE of those loved by God. AN INCREASE of those created by God’s love. An
increase, OF THOSE CREATED TO BE LOVED, – AND TO LOVE. Friends, is that a good
thing? – IT IS MORE. IT IS A GREAT THING. A miraculous thing. A Divine Thing. And THIS
HE INVITES US INTO. When He says, a man shall leave his father and mother and
cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. For here, God wills to do this
miraculous work of BEING GOD to the world, – IN CREATING THE WORLD, – through us, IN
THE UNION OF FLESH IN LOVE. This is as close as we can get NOT ONLY TO GOD, but to
the work of His miraculous creation. – which is done, THROUGH OUR FLESH.
Friends, this is a BEAUTIFUL HOLY GOSPEL message for us. For no matter who or what we
are. Single or married, with children or without, – we have all come into contact with this, – IN
THAT WE HAVE ALL BEEN BORN. And we have been born, THROUGH THIS MIRACULOUS
WORK OF GOD, which He has willed to do through the flesh of our parents. And we must
confess, as those who have met God there in our creation into life – THAT THIS IS GOOD.
And so we do confess. – I believe THAT GOD HAS CREATED ME. And this is GOOD NEWS.
And furthermore, why has He done this? Just as in 2 Samuel 7, we are confessing, not
because we have done anything to deserve it. Not because we have merited it or made
ourselves worthy of it. But Because He is OUR FATHER. And all that He does for us, He does
solely out of His pure, Fatherly divine goodness and mercy, without any worthiness or merit in
us.
This is good. And this is the root of Fatherhood and motherhood. It is grace. To give of oneself. To create of
oneself. And to serve, of oneself. And yes, even to sacrifice.
And this we see in the parentage of little ones. For the world will say; “do not get married, do
not have children, at least not yet.” And why? Because it will cost money! Because it will cost time!
Because it will cost effort! Because it will take responsibility, and sacrifice, and service of
another person! Yes, all true. And yet, all good things. It is good that we spend money on
these little people. And time on these little people. And love and sacrifice and effort, on these
little people, – And YES, even as God said, TO DO SO DURING OUR YOUTH! AND WHY?
Because IN THESE THINGS we see, and reflect, and PARTICIPATE IN WHAT GOD
HIMSELF IS.
For did God say, “this is the highest good, – THERE IS NO LOVE GREATER THAN THIS – TO
care for nobody, to serve nobody, but to work a lot, make lots of money, save lots of money,
go on lots of trips and see the world and hang out with friends and extend your adolescence
freedom into your 30s and make sure that you sleep around and taste all the forbidden fruits
possible to taste? NO!
But this is love, that a man LAY HIS LIFE DOWN for others. And this, in Fatherhood. And this
, in motherhood. And this, in marriage. For so God speaks to us of marriage, in Ephesians 5,
That the marriage is the place where God and His love for the world is exemplified and put on
display. For the love of the husband for the wife is to picture forth the cross-shaped love
that Christ has for the church, saying: Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also
loved the church and gave Himself for her. And the wife, picturing forth the love of the
Church for Christ says: Just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to
their own husbands in everything. And just so, he presses further, speaking of the bodies
becoming one, So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; just as
the Lord does the church. 30 For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His
bones. 31 “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his
wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This is a great mystery. And this ONE
FLESH is seen in marriage, where these two become one. And this one is given a name. SUCH YOU
WERE. The miraculous fruit. Of a miraculous love. Of a miraculous marriage, in which the
miraculous GOD worked a miraculous creation. AND HERE YOU ARE. And the world is
saying, well, that’s unfortunate.
But I am saying – that is GOOD. And that is GOSPEL.
For here in marriage, and in parentage, LOVE IS EXEMPLIFIED. AND IT IS SHORN FORTH.
And practiced, and INCREASED IN THE WORLD. And so we must confess this, – this is A
GOOD THING. Because, and in that it is a GOD – thing. For we who worship the God of
love., ENJOY, AND SPEAK WELL OF THAT WHICH HE HIMSELF IS, – LOVE. And we who
worship the God of life, must enjoy and ENCOURAGE that which we worship – LIFE. And we
who worship THE GOD OF SACRIFICE, AND OF SELF-OFFERING, AND OF SERVICE –
we must EMBODY and EMBRACE, and SPUR OURSELVES AND OTHERS ON to a greater
increase of that which we believe IS THE HIGHEST GOOD. – and it is not SELF-CENTRED
INDEPENDENCE. IT IS NOT BODILY AUTONOMY. IT IS NOT playing the field, or having
fun, (as the world would define that)
But it is getting married, and it is having children, if indeed we are physically able. For there,
love is. God is. Creation is. Grace is. THERE, ARTICLE 1, OF THE HOLY CREED, IS MADE
MANFIEST
So, for those who do not yet know, they must learn. A yes to marriage is a yes to God. A
yes to children is a yes to God. A yes to His being God. A yes to more of His love. More of
His creation. More of His work. MORE OF HIS GOODNESS
For there, God is seen. There – God is at work. – and through this, – we bind ourselves to
His work.
And so we confess with Psalm 127: children are a heritage from the LORD,
The fruit of the womb, a reward.
4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the children of one’s youth.
5 Blessed is the man
who fills his quiver with them!
He shall not be put to shame
We will close with Luther’s words:
God has therefore blessed this walk of life most richly, above all others, and, in addition, has
supplied and endowed it with everything in the world in order that this walk of life might be
richly provided for. Married life is no matter for jest or idle curiosity, but it is a glorious
institution and an object of God’s serious concern. you should also remember that it is not just
an honorable walk of life but also a necessary one; it is solemnly commanded by God that in
general both men and women of all walks of life, who have been created for it, shall be found
in this walk of life. I say these things in order that our young people may be led to acquire a
desire for married life and know that it is a blessed and God-pleasing walk of life. Thus it may
in due time regain its proper honor, and there may be less of the filthy, dissolute, disorderly
conduct that is now so rampant everywhere in public prostitution and other shameful vices
resulting from contempt of married life.
