A RIGHT BEGINNING OF REPENTENCE
After this sermon we will all be given the invitation to the observance of a holy Lent. The holiness of the season is observed and maintained by six things: self examination and repentance (these two go together), by prayer, by fasting, by self denial and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word. And […]
THE RETURN OF WONDER
We’ve been growing some wild invasive trees in our backyard. Wonderful flowers. Not sure what it is called. The hummingbirds love them. But they are shading out our Indian Hawthorn shrubs. They are slowly dying back, more and more each year. They are gradually losing what keeps them alive. They are wearing out. Life can […]
THE RIVER
I remember learning how to swim. It was a painful, long and drawn out process, spanning several summers when I was 5 and 6 years old. When my Dad learned to swim he claims that his dad just threw him into a lake up near River Falls, traumatic, quick and very effective. I have always […]
Five Pictures
If a picture is worth a thousand words, and if today’s Gospel lesson has at least five pictures of Jesus then this sermon should be only about five thousand words long. Preacher humor is a sad thing. But seriously Mark gives us quick pictures of Jesus today, five snap shots that say something about who […]
RESTORATION
Sometimes our world falls apart. Sometimes our lives fall apart. The flood waters rise and everything washes away, we are overwhelmed. In the days of Noah the world fell apart, the world dissolved, and all that was left was this little colony of life on Noah’s Ark, until God spoke the word that restored the […]
(extra) ORDINARY
It’s Christmas Eve at Joe’s All Night Stop and Shop. Tim, Phil and Noreen were in charge of the whole place. Which was plenty considering that it was empty. They were really just kids, put in charge of the place because no one else would work Christmas Eve. Normally Tim and Phil did aisle […]
YES
It isn’t every day that an angel pays a visit. Let alone an archangel. What if Mary had told her visitor that she needed to check her calendar, or that she didn’t have time, or that I’ll get back to you? Or that she had other plans. The Annunciation. That is the title […]
LIGHT FALL
John the Baptist woke up Sunday Morning. It was Advent again. That time of the year. He staggered and bumped his way to the bathroom, looked in the mirror at the train wreck of a wild man. He tried to tidy up a little, then he remembered how St. Jerome had called him a “Shaggy […]
KEEP AWAKE
It is a late night, they wait in the living room, dozing off, waiting for the child to come home. They have waited so long. They got up early one day, walked in the dark to the top of the mountain and waited for the sunrise, slowly filling the sky with colors. He […]
THE SURPRISING KING
Surprise! Do you remember a big surprise? Perhaps an unexpected gift or a sudden glimpse of beauty that takes your breath away? Then there is the other kind of surprise, a bad surprise, the surprise that breaks our heart. The vision of Divine Judgment as surprise. That is what Matthew leaves us with this […]
EMERGENCY
There is an epidemic. A cure is found, a wonderful treasure that is beyond measure. The medicine has to be shipped out to save the lives of those afflicted. One person is put in charge of five trucks of the medicine. He sees to it that the medicine quickly finds its way to those […]
ALL LOVE
A twelve gauge Remington automatic shotgun, when I turned sixteen that was my birth day present. When I turned seventeen I was given a leather bound Bible, the new King James version, the red letter edition, the words of Christ being in red. The shotgun scared me, I’ve always been nervous around guns, […]
WHERE’S THE WATER?
You may have noticed the Bible has this thing about water. The Spirit brooded over the waters at the creation. The flood of Noah. The Nile turned to blood. The parting of the Red Sea. The crossing of the Jordan River. Jonah being cast into the sea. Jesus baptism in the Jordan. Jesus’ command […]
Infuriating Grace
Mrs. Turpin. At sunset one evening she is washing out the pig pen with a hose and she is given the gift, the gift of a glimpse of the eternal procession of the Saints into God’s Kingdom. She sees a vast crowd all sorts of misfits and sinners processing and dancing into the kingdom with […]
ON YOUR MARKS GET SET…
On your marks. Get set…Go! Running the race. I’ve always loved running. Playing tag or racing as a child, running for exercise, competing in Cross Country and Track, running with my children, I’ve always loved running. I’ve never really been all that great at it. I just sort of plod along and keep on going, […]
THE MEANS OF GRACE
What are the means of Grace? How does God’s Grace touch our lives? How do we know Jesus Christ? For 160 years Grace Church has been a means of grace, carrying and proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ as witnessed to us in both word and sacrament, especially in the word of the […]
MOSES
Beginnings and endings. We make a big deal about beginnings and endings. Births. Deaths. Anniversaries. Memorials. Christmas and Good Friday. Genesis and Revelation. Parting the Red Sea and crossing over Jordan into the Promised Land. Today is a beginning. The beginning of the story of Moses, the one who would be the Law […]
REJECTION AND INVITATION
Have you ever noticed that sometimes those who are rejected end up becoming very welcoming and inviting people, the kind of people who have the true gift of hospitality of reaching out and inviting in? We hear today part of the story of Joseph. “I am Joseph ”, he says. And boy you could […]
JOSEPH
All families are dysfunctional. Especially God’s family. I have always found comfort and encouragement in this biblical truth. Today and next Sunday we hear some of the story of Joseph, the dreamer, his family, his angry brothers and the beginnings of God bringing good news to a world full of bad news. This story […]
The Sower
When it comes time for planting pole and bush beans I till the soil and mound it up, dig a trench and carefully space the seeds evenly in the trench pressing the seeds an inch or two in the soil. Then it is up to sunlight and rain. Sowing seed is a careful thing, a […]
THE VICTORY OF GOD
Good-bye. Don’t go. When will I see you again? We never spoke again. We lost each other. We just sort of passed each other by. Endings. Loss. Leaving. Departures. Divisions. Separation. So much of the life that we know is about losing one another, sometimes we get to say good-bye, sometimes we don’t. […]
THE VISION THING
What do we expect from Church? What do you expect from Church? … I really can’t speak for everyone, but I can speak for myself and I suspect I hold this in common with many others. What I expect from Church is a vision of God. I long for a vision of God that sustains, […]
SPEAKING THE LANGUAGE
How do we give gifts? Usually we think of wrapped presents for birthdays and Christmas or for a wedding or a baby shower. But there are other gifts, a dinner or an invitation. Food and money to care for the poor and needy. The stewardship to support the ministry of being the Church. A visit […]
BELIEF
“I have seen the Lord!” Those are the words of the first proclamation of the Gospel. Mary Magdalene made that first proclamation, making her the apostle to the apostles, the Gospel bearer. And what did the disciples do? They hid behind locked doors in fear. Not afraid of Jesus, but afraid of the religious […]