Sermons (Page 110)
Persistent Faith
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Children, it seems, know the value of persistence. As youngsters, often our continued pleading with a mother or father would bring us the response we wanted. That’s not to say that everything we ever asked for was given to us, because sometimes our choices might have been…
Fear or Faith?
In the holy name of Jesus (+). Amen. It’s a fearful story. Not really a ghost story, but the disciples thought it was a ghost. When Jesus came walking on the water toward their boat, they were afraid. They cried out in fear. Jesus calmed the fears. “Don’t be afraid. It’s just me!” Peter – for whatever reason, we can only guess, but it is Peter, after all – decides he…
True Satisfaction
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son (+), and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. “I can’t get no…satisfaction.” So sings Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones. For an Englishman, he uses awfully poor English, but such is the license of poetry and song lyrics, it seems. I don’t think anyone is going to confuse Jagger’s prose with William Shakespeare’s. In our Gospel lesson today,…
Election anxiety or comfort?
+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + + Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. These days it seems like we can hardly pick up a newspaper or newsmagazine, or…
Simul Good Wheat et Bad Weeds
What is it that makes Jesus’ parables so appealing to us? For one thing, of course, they’re the Word of God—spoken directly to human beings by the incarnate God—and recorded for us and all His Church by the power of the Holy Spirit. I think another thing that we like about them is that they’re rather accessible to us. Even without the explanations that Jesus often…
More Than Just a Power
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. I’m sure you’ve all heard the phrase, “Two’s company, but three’s a crowd.” Most of us, at one time or another, have probably been in a social situation where we felt like the odd person out. Maybe you were tagging along with a married couple or dating couple, and making…
A Free People
Fourth of July weekend. The celebration of Independence Day. The weekend when many of our fellow countrymen declare that they’ve had enough of the “oppression” of coming to hear God’s Word and receive the gifts of His Absolution and of His body and blood for the forgiveness of sins. They revolt from His kingdom by disappearing from our midst for several weeks. Some will…
Confessing and all with Saints Peter and Paul
+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + + Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Probably since about the middle of the third century, June 29 has been celebrated as The Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, Apostles. On this date, apparently both of their remains were moved for a time to a vault on the Appian Way, the…
Fools for the Lord
From the book of the prophet Jeremiah, the 20th chapter: O Lord, you have deceived me, and I was deceived; you are stronger than I, and you have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all the day; everyone mocks me. (Jeremiah 20:7) There’s an old adage that goes, “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.” The supposed wisdom in that statement is…
A Compassionate Harvest
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our compassionate Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. In today’s Gospel lesson from St. Matthew’s account, we have heard a description of the kind of person Jesus is. We learn that our incarnate Lord is one who loves people. He enjoys being with them. He enjoys helping them. Matthew wrote about his master,…