My friends, amid all this world's sickness, war, and death, prepare each day for your Lord's return by keeping His name and life upon your lips. Praying with the Church, “Amen, come Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20) In this way, even upon your deathbed, you join in keeping watch for the Bridegroom.

This is the way of an ongoing Reformation within each of us. Confession and absolution, returning to Jesus, and His forgiveness.

In the end, marriage, along with the life of the Christian, is nothing like the world around you. But with Christ Jesus as the heartbeat of your marriage and life, it is greater and more powerful than any city or human institution on earth.

I’d argue that, unlike Peter Pan, we cannot escape the shadows of our daily lives. Like those Jeremiah preaches to and Jesus contends with today, is it us that bring the outside world into the Church - the political battles, the culture, and the complete destruction of the soul – it is us.

C.F.W. Walther wrote, “This Gospel [today] is not like the gentle dew which trickles softly upon languishing hearts. It is glorious like a torrential rain, which comes amid the flashing of lightning and the roll of thunder.” (Walther’s Works, Volume 2, Page 54)

My friends, I urge you never to stop coming to this place where Christ dwells to nourish you with the Word and the holy meal of His heaven. Here you can be certain He comes to visit and abide with you.

So, do you, too, want to be a radical reformer? Then begin today by repenting of your sin, turn back to your Savior, Jesus Christ, and with your lips, confess His Word among the world you have been placed into.

But what does it mean to say “Goodbye?”

This word came about in the late 16th century, but like so many words, it has a deep Christian meaning. It means “God be with ye.”

My friends, bring the anguish and tribulations of your heart to the foot of the cross where Christ Jesus has taken them upon Himself, call out in His name to your Father in heaven, and then listen to the voice of Jesus and receive the life and peace of your risen and triumphant Savior this day.

For all of you this night, Pilate announces, “Behold the Man!”