Sermons (Page 102)
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…
No Longer Silent; No Longer Barren
No one likes to be ignored. No one likes to be without the things which he or she believes will make life better, more fulfilling, or happier, either. Yet that’s the way Elizabeth and Zechariah might’ve viewed their lives as our Bible text for today opens. According to St. Luke, this aging couple was the sort of folks that others would look up to. They were “upright in…
Baptismal Preparedness
Grace, mercy, and peace be yours 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 temptation is very much there to take this text and turn it into a fire and brimstone sermon with the arms wailing and the words flailing and loudness abounding in order to bring and…
Faithful in Waiting
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 song and the prayer that was chanted by Pastor is the text for this evening’s sermon, the prayer of Hannah. One of the big tasks or skills of our kindergarten teachers here and, for that matter, any kindergarten teacher is to teach…
