Lent

Sermons

Home > Worship > Sermons

About violence: We are thermostats, not thermometers

Thermostats set the temperature Today’s reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans goes like this: 1I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. (reasonable service)  2Do not be conformed to this […]

Table Scraps and Divine Mercy

Who gets God’s mercy? Not them! Jesus certainly seems to have a knack for upsetting the orthodox, religiously impeccable Jewish authorities. Their carefully defined practices for maintaining ritual purity have been debated by the wisest of rabbis over time and serve as their assurance that they will be received into the presence of the Most […]

A new mission statement on Pentecost Sunday

– June 4, 2017 – Text: Acts 2:1-42 – Today is Pentecost. We come to this Sunday that ends the Easter season in the church year anticipating an exuberant festival to celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit. Wait… did I say exuberant?? In a Lutheran church?? Let’s be honest here. Lutherans are not known […]

Jesus’ Ascension: Reality where God lives

– Ascension Sunday –  May 28, 2017 – Let’s talk about the ascension of Jesus. It’s one of those mysterious events that’s a source of awe and wonder for believers, and a source of skepticism and scorn from non-believers who consider the account of Jesus’ ascension to be a fantasy tale, constructed to support the […]

Do Not Be Afraid!

Easter Sunday, April 16, 2017 – Text: Matthew 27:62-66; 28: 1-10 In one of the parishes I served back in Pennsylvania, one of the most faithful members of the congregation was a woman whose husband almost never came to church with her. He told me once that something had happened in his past that had […]