Archives: Sermons

6-13-21 Trinity 2

June 13, 2021
It was the Sabbath, and Jesus was at one of the most awkward dinner parties the world has ever seen. The Pharisees and other important people were watching Jesus carefully, and for no good purpose. Jesus, for his part, healed a man with dropsy, which was a scandal to those who thought it was unlawful to expend such energy on the Sabbath. Jesus then rebuked the puffed up guests who sought the places of honor,…

6-6-21 Trinity 1

June 6, 2021
Dearest Jesus, Make us neither rich nor poor. If you give us riches, give us the heart to use them for your church and for our neighbor. If you give us poverty, keep from us all coveting and make us content with your provision. Give to us your Church the love with which you have loved us, who, being rich, made yourself poor for us, that we may find our riches in you. Remove from…

5-30-21 Holy Trinity

May 30, 2021
Jesus says that no one will see the Kingdom of God or enter into it unless he is born again, born from above. This of course assumes that this is the great goal of mankind, to see or enter into the Kingdom of God. And this is a remarkable thing. Because the Kingdom of God is not synonymous with heaven. It’s natural to assume people want to live forever, especially if given the choice between…

5-23-21 Pentecost (Confirmation)

May 23, 2021
Dear friends in Christ, especially you, Hunter and Debbie and Adam and Layne and David and Zana and Preston, grace to you and peace from God the Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Let us pray: Dear Lord Jesus Christ, you prayed in the garden that not one of your disciples should be lost. Grant this to us today. Look in your boundless pity upon these young men and women, for…

5-16-21 Exaudi

May 16, 2021
This past Thursday was Jesus’ Ascension. He prepared us for his Ascension by giving us the hope of seeing him again, by comforting us with the promise of the Holy Spirit, and by giving us the gift of praying in his name. This week in the brief time between Jesus’ Ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, we hear about the Holy Spirit’s testimony and the persecution that will follow. “But when…

5-9-21 Rogate

May 9, 2021
Jesus uses two different words for asking in our Gospel lesson. They get translated the same in English, as “ask,” but the two words are worlds apart. “In that day you will ask nothing of me, Jesus says, Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name, He will give to you.” So Jesus says it’s only when you have nothing to ask from Jesus, that you can ask anything…

4-25-21 Jubilate

April 25, 2021
We will end our service this morning by singing those beautiful words, “And then from death awaken me, that these mine eyes with joy may see, O Son of God, thy glorious face, my Savior and my Fount of grace.” This is the aspiration every Christian shares. Every Christian can say, “This is the goal of my entire life, that I and all whom God has given me, will awaken from the dead to see…

4-18-21 Misericordias Domini

April 18, 2021
We are sheep, and in this life we will have one of two shepherds: the wolf or the Good Shepherd. The Lord describes life in the devil’s flock earlier in Ezekiel 34, just before today’s Old Testament reading. In that section the Lord faults Israel’s pastors, and as he faults them we see how the devil had been at work: “The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you…

4-11-21 Quasimodo Geniti

April 11, 2021
Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. That’s a rather bland translation. They rejoiced when they saw the Lord is what the Greek says. The same word Jesus uses when he promises them three nights earlier, “But you will see me again, and your joy will be full and no one will take that joy from you.” This is the Joy O joy beyond all gladness that we sing. It’s a joy…

4-4-21 The Resurrection of Our Lord

April 4, 2021
Mary and the other women went to the tomb expecting to find a dead body. This is a startling fact. They had been with Jesus. They had followed him from Galilee. They loved him dearly. But Jesus’ words, his repeated preaching, that he must suffer, must die, and must rise again the third day, these words had not sunk into their hearts or convinced their minds. Instead they go to anoint a dead body that…
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