Sermons (Page 102)
What Is This Word?
Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. I hope you listen carefully at the beginning of the service, and maybe like some of us, we kind of space out sometimes in quiet moments, but the collect of the day that is on the front of your bulletin insert is kind of a summary prayer of the readings and the theme of…
Attentive Ears
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. From the book of the governor Nehemiah, the 8th chapter: “And [Ezra] read from [the Book of the Law]… from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the…
You Are Rejoiced Over
Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen. First of all, don't worry. The kickoff time for Minnesota and Dallas is at noon Eastern Time, not noon Central Time, so we'll be all right. Not that you guys would absolutely be thinking about that at this time. This is an unusual miracle indeed. And of all…
The Real Thing
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Slogans come and slogans go, but no doubt some of you remember those old commercials for Coca-Cola. “It’s the real thing!” they said. The advertisers were saying that Coke was the real cola, and all the others were imposters. Organic foods, too, claim to be the ‘real…
Whom Do You Seek? What Do You Bring?
“We Three Kings of Orient Are.” Catchy little tune with a nice lyrical ‘hook,’ isn’t it? There was a time not so many years ago when you’d hear it piped over the loudspeakers of shopping centers during Advent, or played every few hours on the radio as part of their holiday music rotation. Nowadays, if you hear it at all in a public setting, it’s most likely just going to…
Within the Father’s House
Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen. Just like last month was the first month in a long time we've had a blue moon, which is two full moons in the same month, today is something that's somewhat unusual too. We don't always get to celebrate the second Sunday after Christmas because the way…
Prepared in the Presence of All People
Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen. Whenever families get together there is always a regaling of stories of times past. Being the youngest of four kids, it was always about what I did. How I did this or that. How they changed my diapers and so forth. You oldest ones have got it going on, I'm telling…
The Word made Flesh Dwelt with Us
Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on this blessed day of His birth. Kind of like Easter morning, Christmas morning always makes you smile. It's so exciting to get up at the fresh new day. This morning, I was talking to my son in Iraq and asking him how his Christmas went because the sun was setting there…
Glory to God in the Highest
Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. You've heard that song over and over probably in Wal-Mart or maybe on the radio. It goes like this: "There's no place like home for the holidays." And there really isn't, is there. So, I say to you, "Welcome home!" Here is where you were…
Great Things He Has Done
Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And so, it comes to an end, the fourth Sunday in Advent, our last opportunity to gather together before we celebrate the great birth of our Lord. We tend to think of ourselves in this chasm of time as if everything is happening in the last 100 years, or maybe we think in…