Category: Pentecost Sermons

Text: Exodus 16:2-15
Date: Pentecost X (Proper 13) + 8/5/2012

Bread. On the one hand it’s the name of any sort of usually baked and leavened food made of a mixture of flour or meal. There is white bread, whole wheat bread, rye bread, pumpernickel bread and the like. But then the word can also refer just to food in general for physical sustenance as in the Lord’s Prayer, “give us this day our daily bread.” And that leads to an even wider definition that includes more than food but everything that contributes to your livelihood, and usually that brings up the subject of money, also referred to as dough. But what happens when you run out of bread? when there are literally no loaves or rolls or when the pantry is empty or you lost your job? Ever since the creation God created man as a hungry being. We need to eat. Eating is not an option. And when there is little or no bread there is poverty, weakness, starvation and ultimately death. Continue reading “The Bread of Life”

Text: Genesis 9:8-17
Date: Pentecost IX (Proper 12) + 7/29/12

What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you see a rainbow? Judy Garland? Leprechauns and pots of gold? Gay pride parades? Just the scientific wonder of “Roy G. Biv,” the acronym for the rainbow colors of red-orange-yellow, green, blue-indigo and violet? Or do you think of a promise of God? In our day of increasing Biblical illiteracy fewer it would seem think, much less even know, of God’s promise concerning the rainbow in Genesis 9. In fact this scripture has never been included in the lectionary until Lutheran Service Book included it for this Sunday. That means I’ve never preached on this text! Yet even more important than God’s promise and covenant with His creation never again to destroy the earth by water, today’s Gospel proclaims how this same, fearful almighty God who controls the forces of the universe by the command of His Word, “who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the sea” (Job 9:8), has come to us as one of us, in human form, not to threaten or judge us but to save us. Today we proclaim that Jesus is this same almighty God of creation come to deliver us from sin, separation and death, to the eternal life of holiness and righteousness as God’s new creation. The short prayer in the Lutheran Study Bible asks, “O God, for Jesus’ sake, grant that every sighting of a rainbow may bring to mind Your promises of grace and mercy” (p. 29). Continue reading “Roy G Biv”

Text: Jeremiah 23:1-6
Date: Pentecost VIII (Proper 11) + 7/22/12

My neighbor once complained to me about his pastor and said that he was the reason why he didn’t go to church anymore. Lately, however, he told me about how great their new pastor is and now he goes nearly every Sunday. Continue reading “The Righteous Branch”

Text: Ezekiel 2:1-5
Date: Pentecost VI + Proper 9 + 7/8/12

“God has spoken by His prophets,” but who’s listening? The record of the scriptures demonstrates how, through the ages, “no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but [certain] men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet 1:20-21). That their word is God’s Word is attested to by the Spirit of God Himself guiding and directing His people in the faithful preservation and transmission of those sacred writings that clearly agree with each other concerning God’s revelation, His justice and mercy, Law and Gospel, and ultimately all that attests to and is fulfilled in the Messiah, Jesus Christ. All of the Old Testament prophets knew they were called by God because the true God speaks and communicates in words. Today we heard a bit of the call of Ezekiel, St. Paul’s description of his ministry (2 Cor 12:1-10) and Jesus’ call of the twelve disciples (Mark 6:1-13). God has given gifts, namely, “the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers” (Eph 4:11) to proclaim repentance (Mark 6:12), to announce and preach the Word of God. Continue reading “Born to be Wild”

Text: Lamentations 3:22-33
Date: Pentecost V (Proper 8) + 7/1/12

What God ordains is always good:
His will is just and holy.
As He directs my life for me,
I follow meek and lowly.
My God indeed
In ev’ry need
Knows well how He will shield me;
To Him, then, I will yield me.

Words of faith sung in the conviction of faith, faith in a gracious God who has become our merciful Father in our baptism of faith in Jesus Christ, who we firmly believe not only provides us with everything we truly need in this earthly life but also has a plan and directs our lives working everything together for our eternal good. In our daily life the Christian usually most willingly says, “To Him, then, I will yield me.” Continue reading “After Grief God Gives Relief”

Text: Ezekiel 17:22-24
Date: Pentecost III (Proper 6) + 6/17/12

There are times when our lives seem to be going in a pleasant and positive direction: Ah, “Summertime and the livin’ is easy, fish are jumpin’ and the cotton is high.” In times like those it’s easier to believe that God is in control and blessing us with His grace. Then, of course, are those other times, times maybe of disappointment or the diagnosis of cancer, times of unemployment or of failure, times of depression or war. At times like those it’s easier to wonder whether God is even there much less in control. As God’s people God’s Word tells us that He is in control and in the business of blessing in bad times as well as good. It’s just that it’s harder for us to see in bad times, even to the point of the despair of faith, that there is any incentive to hope in God. Continue reading “God's Planting of Grace”

Text: Genesis 3:8-15
Date: Pentecost II + 6/10/12

The Word before us today requires your acceptance, agreement and belief that there is a person-ality behind all evil, conflict, hatred, mayhem and murder in the world. That person is Beelzebul, Satan, the fallen angel called the devil. Many, including Jesus’ own family, tried to explain His growing popularity, His miracles and even His casting out of unclean spirits. His family said, “He is out of his mind.” But the officials from the head shed in Jerusalem charged Him, saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” The truth is that behind all evil is the spiritual warfare of which the Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians, saying, “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph 6:11-12). The old evil foe continues his warring madness to this day trying to take down as many with him as he can before the final judgment. By faith in Christ our Lord Himself gives us the defensive armor to withstand the devil’s schemes and the one offensive weapon, namely, the Word of God. As you hear God’s Word today it is a most uncomfortable and troublesome moment for the prince of demons. Continue reading “Christ Came to Defeat Satan”

Text: Isaiah 6:1-8
Date: The Holy Trinity + 6/3/12

This day, the octave of (or first Sunday after) the Day of Pentecost, is the only day of the year named and dedicated to a Biblical doctrine, namely, the Holy Trinity, the triune nature of God. There is no “seat” (sedes) of this doctrine in one scripture passage. It is a mystery that takes three long paragraphs to describe in the Apostles and Nicene Creeds, and even longer in the Athanasian Creed. The three scripture readings appointed in the lectionary to be read today themselves only point to this mystery but do not attempt to explain it. In today’s Gospel Jesus speaks of God as having sent Him (the Son) into the world and that salvation comes to a person by being born from above by water and the Spirit. In Acts 2 we heard the continuation of Peter’s Pentecost sermon where, in explanation of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, he speaks of “God,” and of Jesus as the patriarch David’s Lord. First, however, in one of my favorite passages, the call of Isaiah in Isaiah 6, where it seems the Trinity is strongly hinted at in the song of the angels and at the end; “hinted at” but not “explained.” Continue reading “One is Holy, Holy, Holy”

Text: Ezekiel 37:1-14
Date: Day of Pentecost + 5/27/12

On the fiftieth day after His resurrection from the dead, on the tenth day since His ascension into heaven, and on the day of your Holy Baptism, our Lord Jesus sent the Helper, the Spirit of truth, the Witness, the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life who proceeds from the Father and proceeds also from the Son, who, with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, the same Spirit who spoke by the prophets. He spoke through Moses and Isaiah and Ezekiel, and through Matthew and John, Luke and Paul and through countless servants sent throughout the world with the Word, the eternal life by faith in Jesus. Through their word, through God’s Word, this Spirit creates saving faith when and where it pleases Him in those who hear the Gospel. Today we commemorate the day when God first poured out His Spirit on those gathered together in Jerusalem so that, filled with the Holy Spirit, He might get the ball rolling—the preaching of the Gospel and administration of the sacraments, the making of disciples of all nations beginning in Jerusalem and to the ends of the earth. So today is kind of like a family reunion with all those who have gone before us who have been reborn and made alive by the Spirit, the Wind, and the Breath. Continue reading “Fresh Breath”

Text: Matthew 25:31-46
Date: Last Sunday of the Church Year + Proper 29 + 11/20/11

On the Last Sunday of the Church Year we are interested in “the bottom line,” the answer to the question, “what’s it all about?” It is another way to ask about our destiny, the End Times, the Last Day, the Day of Judgment. Continue reading “Your Turn”