Baptism

Trinity 3 sermon

June 20, 2010

Texts: 1 Pt. 5 and Luke 15.1-10 Note: William Henry Theodore Naumann was baptized during the Trinity 3 Divine Service. The discipline of the shepherd had gotten rather stifling. “Why did he put me with these sheep? They smell. They are noisy. They are most certainly not good traveling companions. If only I had some [...]

Read the full article →

Baptism of Our Lord

January 13, 2010

January 13 is the traditional date for the observance of the Baptism of Our Lord. The following is the sermon preached at Immanuel’s Divine Service for the Feast. The Gospel reading is Matthew 3:13-17. One of the first things to go when pastors start tinkering with the church’s liturgy is the absolution. Some pastors are [...]

Read the full article →

Trinity 23 sermon

November 15, 2009

Trinity 23 texts: Proverbs 8:11-22; Philippians 3:17-21; Matthew 22:15-22 Bianca Ehling was baptized at this Divine Service. It’s early in the week – just a day after Palm Sunday, the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem. The crowds hail Jesus as their king. All Jerusalem is abuzz. “Messiah has come!” It is time, the Pharisees decide, [...]

Read the full article →

Trinity 22 sermon

November 8, 2009

Text: Matthew 18:21-35 Note: There was a Baptism at this Divine Service. Louis Armstrong once said, “If you have to ask what jazz is, you’ll never know.” The question Peter asks shows that he doesn’t know what forgiveness is. Forgiveness doesn’t ask, “How many times do I forgive?” Love keeps no record of wrongs. Jesus [...]

Read the full article →

All Saints Day

November 7, 2009

Sermon from last Sunday, November 1, 2009. Text: Matthew 5:1-12 Death puts everything into perspective. Death reveals that all of our accumulated treasures on earth are worthless, all of our medicine cannot heal, everything done outside of God’s Word and will was a waste. All Saints Day is about the dead. It is about the [...]

Read the full article →

Trinity 18

October 17, 2009

This sermon is from Oct. 11. We had a Baptism on this day. The Gospel was Matthew 22:34-46. I saw a bumper sticker that said, “Try Jesus.” The Lutheran in me immediately thinks of the Catechism question, “What does this mean?” But let’s just make it simpler. “Try Jesus”? Why? Why should I?

Read the full article →

Psalm 31

September 10, 2009

The actual sermon preached on Ps. 31 ended up being quite a bit different from this, but here was my manuscript for the sermon at last night’s Evening Prayer: The center of tonight’s Psalm is found in the words, “Into Your hand I commit my spirit.” In Luke’s Gospel, these are the final words of [...]

Read the full article →

Pentecost

May 31, 2009

Note: Linden Katherine Hemingway was baptized during the Divine Service at which this sermon was preached. Spirit – it seems impossible to grab hold of what that really is. Spirit is something shapeless and ephemeral, usually synonymous with enthusiasm or excitement: like team spirit or school spirit. Precisely because you can’t nail “spirit” down, it’s [...]

Read the full article →

The seal of the grave is broken

April 12, 2009

“This is the night” rings out over and over again in the Great Thanksgiving of the Easter Vigil. Tonight it was a great blessing to have Chaplain Richard Townes and Chaplain Jonathan Shaw serve at Immanuel’s Vigil. One of our catechumens, James, was also baptized tonight, filling me with great joy. This is the night [...]

Read the full article →

When the Husband performs the duties of a wife

April 9, 2009

In his commentary on the footwashing account (John 13, Gospel for Holy Thursday), Lightfoot notes that footwashing was the duty of a wife towards her husband: It was an unusual thing for superiors to wash the feet of inferiors. Amongst the duties required from a wife towards a husband this was one, that she should [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries