On the very weekend after we observed Veterans Day, we were reminded that as long as this sinful world stands there will be conflict.  Terrorism struck far from the Middle East.  Any illusion that such terrorism can be contained was exploded on the streets of Paris.  It is not an overstatement to say that Armistice Day, commemorating the cessation of fighting in World War I, observes only one temporary break in conflict between men and nations.   The change from Armistice Day to Veteran’s Day is testimony that the War to End All Wars wasn’t that at all.  Sin will always make it necessary for nations and men to defend themselves or come to the aid of others.  That will continue to touch lives.  Our long-time neighbors across the road from the farm where I grew up were Joe & Dan McIntyre. They were brothers who never married. When they became so elderly and ill that they needed to enter a nursing home, neighbors were invited to help clean out the house. In a tiny attic one-window room containing only an old wooden chair I found a poignant scene I will never forget. As a young man Dan had fought in France in WWI. Apparently when the war was over he simply came home, laid his army trousers across the seat of the chair, hung his jacket and hat over the back and went back to farming. There that uniform stayed until I saw it there. Faded from the sun and covered with dust, it was a silent testimony to the citizen soldier who served his country, came home, and got on with life. And while he farmed and raised his sheep, other men and women were drawn into combat in the Pacific and across Europe, in Korea and in Viet Nam.  And that WWI uniform hung there on that chair, fading in the sun of decade after decade.  Though I was a young kid and might have considered that quite a find, I never touched it. It seemed like a kind of memorial both to lost youth and the quiet determination to serve & survive. And long after Joe and Dan have gone home to heaven, wars persist – because sin is still with us.  The great Reformer Martin Luther had it right: “When I think of a solider fulfilling his office by punishing the wicked, and creating much misery, it seems an un-Christian work completely contrary to Christian love.  But when I think of how it protects the good and keeps and preserves wife and child, house and farm, property, honor and peace, then I see how precious and godly this work is...”   “What men write about war saying that it is a great plague is all true.  But they should consider also how great the plague is that war prevents.”  (Can Soldiers Too Be Saved? 1526 LW, p. 96)

The attacks in Paris have shown us that in this sinful world there are great plagues that can only be prevented by those willing to be soldiers.  It may be past Veteran’s Day now, but thank a vet anyway.  Thank God for those who served and those who serve.  The world would be a much more terrible place without them.  And pray for those who will have to make the decision to send soldiers into harm’s way.  They need all the guidance and wisdom they can get.

“For he is God’s servant to do you good.  But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing.  He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath, to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.”  (The apostle Paul speaking of the purpose of civil government, Romans 13:4) 

"Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap.”  (Luke 21:34)

A woodchuck took up residence under my deck.  Cute little fella, as far as woodchucks go, but I don’t want him living under my deck. The odds are he’ll burrow next to the basement wall.  That den he might craft for himself under there would be nothing but a channel for ground water.  Ground water running toward the house is not good.  He’s got to go.

I borrowed a live trap from a friend.  It’s basically a cage with spring-loaded doors on both ends and a trigger pad on the bottom of the cage.  Woodchuck steps on the trigger and WHAM! - he’s caught.  After that, the plan went, I would just load the cage in the trunk, take him way out in the country and release him.  He would be happy and I would be happy.  I set the trap up right astride the little path he’s worn across my backyard to the deck.  Unfortunately, that same path is used by a skunk at night.  Guess who showed up in my live trap over the weekend.  From my position, this created a real predicament.  There just is no good way to get an angry skunk out of a live trap without something bad happening to him or to me.  Eventually I had to call an animal removal service.  The technician did an excellent job of removing the skunk with no damage to the skunk and no need for aggressive laundry treatments for either one of us.  The next morning Mr. Skunk was transported to a nice new home in some far away woods.

But from the skunk’s point of view, that experience must have been pretty scary.  He was on his nocturnal rounds with only one thought in mind:  find food.  With winter coming on, laying on extra fat is important.  Eat a lot.  Get it now.  When winter sets in it will be too late.  And then right in the midst of his anxious search for food he stepped on the trap trigger, and both ends of the live trap slammed shut.  In an instant he was caught with no way to escape.

This little incident played out on the very same weekend that we were observing the second to the last Sunday of the church year, also known as Last Judgment Sunday.  This was a thought provoking coincidence, to say the least. 

Suddenly, like getting caught in a trap - Jesus said that’s how the Last Day would be for those who were either partying too much or worrying too much.  Both of those have the same effect, don’t they?  Substance abuse has the effect of taking one’s mind off really important things, such as being spiritually prepared for eternity.  The anxieties of life do that, too.  One can get so caught up in the immediate demands of life that thoughts about eternity get pushed to the back burner.  There are, it often seems, more urgent things to worry about. Being in that situation will have eternally disastrous consequences when the Last Day comes.

And make no mistake, it is coming.  It will come unexpectedly.  Jesus said so.  And for those whose hearts were drawn far away from God by the pleasures and worries of this life, that day is going to slam shut like a trap.  In an instant, people will be caught with no way to escape.  And on that Day, no kindly rescuer will show up to extricate those so caught and take them to a better place.

As the church year draws to a close, let’s keep in mind that one day, in an instant, this world will draw to a close, too.  Jesus would prepare us for that moment and keep us prepared by keeping our hearts fastened on him.  There’s no secret to how he does that.  It’s actually quite simple:  stay in the Word.  Be a regular guest at his Holy Supper.  Make being in God’s house each week a priority.  Wake up every day and go to bed every night remembering that his blood and righteous have prepared us for eternity.

When I was a little boy I used to enjoy helping my dad sharpen the teeth on the sickle arm of our hay mower.  It was a long arm with what seemed like dozens of triangular blades attached to it.  From time to time it needed sharpening.  Over time and from hard use the blades would become dark and dull.  If left in that condition they would eventually become useless and might as well be thrown away.  So that would not happen Dad would take the sickle arm off the mowing machine, take it into our tool shed, turn on his grinding wheel on the workbench and begin.  My job was to support the end opposite of where Dad was sharpening.  I liked the shower of sparks that flew off the grinding wheel.  It was like a little fireworks show right there in the tool shed.  As my end of the sickle arm got closer to the wheel the sparks would sometimes land on me.  I remember being amazed that they weren’t hot to the touch at all.  They were airborne for an instant and then gone.

Another thing I liked was the sound it made.   The rhythm of the blades being run across the wheel had a cadence to it.  I sometimes wonder if it was things like that that got me interested in playing drums or if it was an innate enjoyment of beat and rhythm that made the sharpening process so much fun to hear.

Sharpening that sickle arm was a matter of art and skill.  The angle had to be just right.  If the angle between blade and grinding wheel was too flat the blade wouldn’t sharpen, if it was too steep it would blunt the edge.  Pressure was key, too.  After long years of doing this task, Dad knew just how hard to push the blade into the grinder and just how long to hold it there.  Again, hold it too long or push it too hard and the blade would be blunted beyond usefulness.  But get the pressure just right -and hold it there just long enough and that blade would have an edge like a razor – ready for the work ahead.

Have you ever considered that this is what it’s like for God when he allows hardship and trials to touch our lives?  He holds us in his loving, steady and experienced hands.  He knows just how long each trial can stay and just how much pressure we can take.  He knows our limit, and is careful never to exceed it.  But he also knows that with proper pressure and timing, the grinding wheel of trial and trouble can actually serve the purpose of sharpening our faith.  It can give us the kind of “edge” that makes us ready for the next challenges that will come our way as we live in a broken world that can so often be hostile to our faith. 

Of course, on our part, it seems hard and scary, doesn’t it?  The edge of our lives where the pressure or trial comes gets heated up.  There’s a shower of sparks. We are instinctively aware that those little sparks are actually pieces of us being ground away.  “When will this end?”  we wonder.  “Will there be any of me left?” we ask.

But then the trial passes, life cools off, and we discover that we were never in danger at all.  God has sharpened our understanding of his grace and wisdom.  He’s put a finer edge on our faith.  We’ve become a more useful tool in his hands.  And the place where the old edge was ground away is shiny and new.   God always gets it right.  Rest in his hands.  He is the master craftsman of your faith.