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7-5-20 Trinity 4

July 5, 2020
A professor at seminary liked to stress that a pastor’s whole job is to prepare people for death, which I thought was an unnecessarily morbid job description. But there is some truth to it. We all have to face death unless our Lord returns first, and it’s what we receive at this church that will give us the power to face it with courage and confidence and peace. Death is the wages of sin, but…
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Passage: Luke 6:36-42
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6-28-20 Trinity 3

June 28, 2020
The Pharisees despise the sinners coming to Jesus for the same reason Planned Parenthood despises unborn babies. They don’t understand the worth of humans. They think people are worth something because of what they do, what they make of themselves, and since these sinners have made nothing of themselves, and babies have done nothing to distinguish themselves, they consider them worthless and expendable. So Jesus tells the Pharisees three parables about the worth and value…
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Passage: Luke 15:1-32
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6-21-20 Trinity 2

June 21, 2020
It was the Sabbath, and Jesus was dining at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees. Jesus had just spoken of eternal life and the resurrection, and one of the dinner guests exclaimed, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” Blessed indeed! At his banquet the Lord says to humble sinners who sit in the lowest place, “Friend, move up higher!” and exalts them in his presence with his…
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Passage: Luke 14:15-24
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6-14-20 Trinity 1

June 14, 2020
I once again heard sad news of a Christian I know abandoning the faith because, she said, ours is a fear-based religion. Now, she says, she is free from fear and can live her life as she wants to live it, independent and proud. This is a very common, very woke, accusation against traditional Christianity, as if our religion puts the fear of hell into people in order to keep them in line and force…
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Passage: Luke 16:19-31
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6-7-20 Holy Trinity

June 7, 2020
There’s a wonderful contrast between how a baptized baby enters the kingdom of God and how Nicodemus tried to enter it. When babies are baptized they’re born again, born from heaven. They don’t come to Christ by their own reason or strength, obviously, because they’re weak and don’t have the use of their reason, but the Holy Spirit calls them by the Gospel, puts the name of God on them, makes them children of the…
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Passage: John 3:1-15
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5-31-20 Pentecost

May 31, 2020
The great sorrow of Jesus’ disciples on the night of his betrayal was that they would no longer be with Him. Jesus says it again and again, “I am going to the Father. I am leaving the world. You will see me no more.” And it breaks their hearts. They have experienced what we look forward to, what we sing about, “And then from death awaken me, that these mine eyes with joy may see,…
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Passage: John 14:23-31
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5-24-20 Exaudi

May 24, 2020
Alleluia! Christ is risen! Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. In today’s reading Jesus speaks of two things. First Jesus tells us about the Helper, the Paraclete, the Spirit of truth: “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.” The Holy Spirit will bear witness about…
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Passage: John 15:26-16:4
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5-17-20 Rogate

May 17, 2020
You should pray for what you sincerely want God to give you. That is, prayer should come from your heart. Otherwise prayer is a sham, a religious exercise totally disconnected from your actual life and thoughts and wants and cares. When Jesus commands us to pray – and he does, “Ask and you will receive” is a command – he’s not laying some religious burden on us. We often turn prayer into this. OK, it’s…
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Passage: John 16:23-33
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5-10-20 Cantate

May 10, 2020
When the Comforter comes, Jesus says, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. It’s simply beautiful how Jesus puts it. The Comforter will convict the world of sin because they do not believe in me, Jesus says. First Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the Comforter or the Helper, and then He says this Comforter will convict the world of sin. You see the irony here. If you were to make a…
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Passage: John 16:5-15
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5-3-20 Jubilate

May 3, 2020
Our Gospel repeats the words “a little while” seven times. Now seven is a holy number. This is consistent throughout the Bible. This isn’t overly pious speculation, some cabalistic spiritualizing of the text, reading into it some meaning it doesn’t have. It’s quite the opposite. The number seven matters and the Holy Spirit uses it here with specific purpose as He does throughout the Bible. Three is the number of God, because God is three…
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Passage: John 16:16-22
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