Category: Sermons

Ash Wednesday – Joel 2:1-2, 12-17

The Prophet Joel says that, “The Day of the Lord is coming.  It is near—  …A day of clouds and thick darkness, like blackness spread upon the mountains…”

My faith is obviously important to me.  But I’ve always struggled with one thing in my faith life.  As vital as my connection to God is for my own well-being, I’ve never been able to find a regular way to maintain that connection.  I’ve never quite developed a regular habit of prayer.

Pentecost 14(B) – Mark 7:1-23

I have to admit, I have mixed feelings about children’s sermons. On the one hand, they are a way to intentionally include children in our worship life, which I think is very important. They also require the preacher to come up with something very concrete about the gospel, something clear enough that kids can latch on to it. I think sometimes, that’s good for the adults in the room too, because some days that concrete nugget from the children’s sermon is about all we can walk away with.

But on the other hand, I wonder if we do children a disservice by it. We bring them up front, and kind of put them on display for the rest of the congregation, like a liturgical decoration of some sort. And then we send them back to their seats and get on with the important, adult part of the service. I hope we don’t give kids the impression that we think they’re not smart enough to follow the “real” sermon or that the Good News has to somehow be watered down for them.

The reason I say all of this isn’t because we’re headed back to our regular worship schedule, and the 8:00 folks who have been missing the children’s sermon all summer will get to hear it again at 8:30. It’s because sometimes, whatever mixed feelings I may have, the children’s sermon is the way that God seems to speak to me the loudest. As I was preparing for this week’s sermon, I couldn’t find a way to sit with the kids and say anything other than, “Jesus says it’s okay not to wash your hands!”

Pentecost 11(B) – 1 Kings 19:4-8; Ephesians 4:25-5:2; John 6:35, 41-51

The writer of Ephesians says, “Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another.”  He also says, “Speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another.”  We are members of one another.

On Sunday morning, a man walked into a Sikh temple in Oak Park, Wisconsin, and opened fire, killing six.  And on Monday, an arsonist set fire to a Muslim mosque in Joplin, Missouri for the second time in two weeks; this time, it did its work, and the place of worship was burned to the ground.

Pentecost 10(B) – Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15; John 6:24-35

Jesus says, “You’re not looking for me because I set you free.  You’re looking for me because you’re enslaved to hunger, because you ate bread and you want more.  Why don’t you know I set you free?”

The Israelites complaining in the desert have always struck me as a little strange.  Not that it’s not human nature to complain, even in the best of times.  I’ve made that analogy before, and which of us doesn’t get a little whiny when we’re hungry?  But when you notice the actual content of their complaint?  “We had it so much better back in Egypt.  Sure we were slaves, but at least we had enough to eat.”

Pentecost 7(B) – Mark 6:14-29, Amos 7:7-15, Ephesians 1:3-14

A few weeks ago, after I gave my sermon, someone came up to me and asked how I was doing.  While I always got around to the good news, he said, my sermons lately had begun so full of bad news that he wanted to check to make sure my life wasn’t equally dismal.  I assure you that after some truly joy-filled moments in these past weeks and with some truly exciting things ahead, I am doing quite well, thank you.  But it was one of those rare moments of truly constructive sermon feedback, and because I’m both grateful for it and want to take it to heart, I promised myself my next one would take on a very happy character.

And because God is fond of thwarting my plans, today’s Gospel is the beheading of John the Baptist.

Feast Day of John the Baptist – Malachi 3:1-4

I’m feeling a little frustrated this week.  I’ve been getting more involved lately in my role as director of public policy for the synod, and as part of that, I’ve decided to take the advice of one of the great theologians of the 20th century, Reinhard Niebuhr, and add reading the news to my daily devotions and prayer, along side the Bible.  The idea is to help see scripture as truly applicable to today’s circumstances.  The reality is…  a bit disheartening.

Easter 6B; Music Sunday; Mother’s Day – John 15:9-17; Acts 10:44-48

When I was in college, I had the opportunity to spend a semester in Vienna, Austria.  It was just at that moment when, with apologies to Ed Clark, I was making the decision to give up on that physics degree I was fruitlessly pursuing, and switch to music instead.  And what a city to do it in!  With four of the world’s best concert houses, and ticket prices around a dollar (if you didn’t mind standing), I think I went to the symphony that semester more often than I went to class.

I remember one night at the Vienna State Opera; it could have been any show.  At intermission, a woman came up to me and asked if I was from the United States.  She must have heard me fumbling with my lousy German at the concessions stand or something.  I said yes, expecting to have a lovely conversation with a stranger in my own language, finally, after all these weeks of being unable to communicate.  But instead of asking me what part of the country I was from, or why I was traveling abroad, her next question was, “Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and savior?”

Pentecost 18 (A-Alternate) – Exodus 33:12-23, Matthew 22:15-22

It’s really nice to be back.  For the last two weeks I’ve had the opportunity to do work for my other part-time job, to get around the Synod and do some preaching and teaching and speaking about public policy, about politics.  It’s gotten me in a political frame of mind.

Pentecost 10 (A) – A Mystagogical Sermon on the Body – Romans 12:1-8

Paul says, “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.”

Are we really comfortable with that?  I remember being a child, and learning in Sunday School that our bodies are “temples of God,” another sentiment right out of St. Paul.  The explanation that went with it usually didn’t make much of why our bodies are temples, and it ultimately came down to an imprecation to treat your body well.  As a small child, that meant eating all your vegetables, and as a teenager, it became a reminder not to smoke or to drink in excess–preparing us, of course, for when we were old enough to do those things.

Pentecost 2 (A) – Romans 6:12-23

A couple of weeks ago we got an email from Rich Simpson, who is the senior pastor at the Episcopal church.  He sent it out to all of the clergy here in Holden; we have a gathering of clergy here in town, and the message he sent us was that the lectionary, the assigned readings of each Sunday for this year, has Romans in it for weeks, starting this week and going through to the end of the summer.  And really, it would have started earlier but Easter was so late this year.  And he said, “I’m going to focus on Romans in my preaching and study, and I think it would be neat if all of you did too.”  So he issued that challenge, and Dan and I talked about it, and we decided to do the same–sort of a one Holden, one scripture summer.  So, while we’re not tied to it, for the next about 10 weeks, up through the beginning of September, we’ll be looking at the book of Romans.  And I invite you to dwell in it with us too this summer; we’ll certainly be exploring it in worship on Sundays, but it’s worth reading at home too.  It’s that book of the Bible that, when Luther first read it, that’s when he got it and said, “Oh, the good news of Jesus Christ really is good news!”  So, Romans really is a good book, it’s worth making a part of your life, and I hope you enjoy this journey as much as I’m sure I will.