Sermon: 2/2/2025

Grace, mercy, and peace are yours in Jesus Christ, the King of kings.

Alleluia and amen.

I want to take you back 361 years ago this week.

The good King Charles I of Britain was sentenced to death and executed for his faith in Jesus Christ.

It’s a sad day in church history.

And if you’re unfamiliar with the life and the faith of Charles I, you may ask what crime the King had committed worthy of death.

And while there were many put to his charge, the truth is that he was killed that rainy cold afternoon, precisely at 2 p.m., murdered by the henchman’s chop, for the crime of wanting to assure the people of God a fitting place and a tradition in which to worship God as he should be.

Charles advocated for the very things that we do here at St.

Andrew’s today, the beautiful things that make our service wonderful.

In fact, the school of thought that rose up around Charles and his approach to Anglicanism took his sainted name and these theologians are known as the Caroline Divines, the name Caroline being the Latinized form of Charles.

These churchmen called for the essentials of the holy and historic Christian faith to be proclaimed throughout the world.

With an elegance and a beauty fitting the greatness of that good news.

They wanted flowers to deck beautiful churches, but for the priest and the leaders of masses to be clothed in frocks that would seem to hide them so no one would be prideful as God was only to be seen and heard in the men who led his people in worship.

They taught the historic truth that coming to church was not a time just for worship, as much it was a time for God’s people to gather in the beauty of holiness and be fed by Christ’s word and sacrament.

And that the Christian life well-lived would be a life lived for God and in the service of others.

And it was this group of Caroline Divines who brought service to the poor and our neighbors in need back to the rightful forefront in our daily service to Jesus.

King Charles I died a martyr for simply wanting all people to know Jesus.

He was a light in the darkness of his time.

And when the murderers thought that they had silenced the praise and blotted out the glory of the Anglican Church, Charles' memory and those who came after him rose up with even more intention and carried his calling to serve Jesus in the beauty of holiness all around the world.

Good King Charles was a light shining to proclaim Jesus in his time.

And we are called to do the same today.

Now you and I will likely not be called to martyrdom for Jesus, but I can promise you that the road through life will not always be easy.

Remember that the prophet in the temple looked at Mary straight into her heart and said that because of who Jesus is, a sword would pierce her soul as well.

But your Heavenly Father’s compassion and care calls you to reflect on Christ’s life and causes you to shine it in the darkness around you.

And you can trust the light of Christ to show you the places, the dark and hidden corners of your heart and your soul that require his light to correct.

Just as Jesus prayed that the Father forgive those who crucified him, good King Charles on the day of his execution publicly forgave those who sent him to death and especially the man who wielded the axe and beheaded him.

In the peace that comes only from faith in Jesus, the King’s final words were, I have a good cause, I have kept that cause, and a gracious God is on my side.

Jesus being the light of the world shows that even you and me are invited into the family as beloved children.

In him we have hope, not only a personal hope of salvation and safety and provision as being cared for by the best of fathers, but a hope for the world.

That our God is on his throne and nothing can dethrone him nor dim his light.

Meaning that nothing that happens on earth is a surprise to God.

As we read in the book of Ecclesiastes, there’s nothing new under the sun.

So he will guide and direct always.

He will make provision for you and defend his people.

And in time he will set all things right.

You can trust your God.

You can have peace in knowing that you will never walk alone in life with Jesus on your side.

And you can trust him as the light not only of the world, but in any dark corner of your life.

Christ’s death on the cross was provision.

Taking away our sins and setting you free from the spiral of life’s path further from God.

In the cross he set you free from sin and death.

And in his resurrection from the dead, he opened to you the gates of eternal life.

With him for eternity.

And what he asks you in return is to trust him.

To love God and to love your neighbor.

So I ask you today, will you carry his light with you into the world?

Amen.