Sermons (Page 107)
Baptized to Death, Baptized to Life
For anybody who is a fan of baseball, or humorous things, or even just of an average-guy-done-good, you’ve simply gotta love Yogi Berra. No, I’m not speaking of the cartoon character with the sidekick named Boo-Boo, who tried to abscond with picnic baskets under the ever-watchful eye of the park ranger. I’m talking about the New York Yankees’ All-Star catcher in the 1940s…
The Word Delivered
Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God, our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, whose visitation by the magi is the text that we concentrate on and meditate upon as it is found in its context of the Old Testament reading. That last verse of that hymn is beautiful. What joy it is to know that He is the First and Last, and the journey that we’re on…
Ready and Waiting
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who is our hope and our strength—today, for all time, and forever. So… we’ve gone through several weeks at the end of the church year in which our lessons often spoke of the end times. Then we passed through the Advent season in a new church year which also spoke of…
Purified by the Firstborn
Grace, mercy, and peace to you on this First Sunday after Christmas, from God our Father, and from our incarnate Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ: It’s only been a few days from our celebration of the nativity of Jesus. In our Gospel reading for this morning, however, we are fast-forwarding some six weeks from that miraculous birth.…
Seen, Touched and Tasted
Grace, mercy, and peace to you on this blessed Christmas morn. Brothers and sisters, the text for this morning comes from the Gospel reading. Welcome home and merry Christmas to you all. Though many of you may not live in this town or attend this parish regularly, this is home for us as fellow believers in Christ. Knit together in the one communion of which we confess in…
Coming Attraction
Grace, mercy, and peace to you on this holiest of nights from our heavenly Father, from the incarnate Son, Jesus Christ, and from the Holy Spirit whose Word brought that Son into the flesh for our salvation. Amen. So, here we are. Christmas Eve. One of those services you can count on being considerably better attended than a typical Sunday morning. And that’s both good…
Let It Be Done to Me
Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God, our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters in Christ, the text for this morning comes from the Gospel reading. The choir sang right before the Gospel reading, “The virgin shall conceive and bear forth a Son and He shall be called Emmanuel.” Those words are the mystery of your faith. They are…
Empathy for the Carpenter
In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Put yourself in Joseph’s place. All you have wanted is to love Mary and to be loved by her. You have dreamed of the day when you would go with your friends to take her into your home for the wedding feast and then into your arms as your one and only beloved. You have imagined the joyous week…
A Witness to the Light
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Many of you know that I’m somewhat of a baseball fan. Well, it seems that the folks who put together the lectionary for this cycle of the Church Year have thrown us a curve ball, or maybe at least a change-up. You may have noticed that the first couple of Sundays in Advent…
Faithful in His Faithfulness
Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God, our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Fellow redeemed in Christ, who share the faith in which Marina has closed her eyes in. The text that she chose is her confirmation verse, from Saint John’s Revelation. “And be thou faithful unto death and I shall give you a crown of life.” If you know Marina, you know she…