Main Text: Ephesians 3:1-12 (Isaiah 60:1-6; Matthew 2:1-12 One of the complaints often heard about the church is that the church only wants more money. If this is true, then the church is most to be pitied. The riches of God are worth far more than any riches of the world. The riches of the…
Text: Luke 2:41-52 (1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26; Colossians 3:12-17) The Christmas presents are open, and the treasure is revealed. Some of that treasure will give joy for days, weeks or months to come. Other treasures will or already have been returned. One of the biggest retail dates next to Christmas is the day after Christmas,…
Text: Luke 2:1-20 (Isaiah 9:2-7; Titus 2:11-14) Years ago, a famous violinist was commissioned to go into the New York subway system in cognito and play his 3 million-dollar Stradivarius. He played the same music from the same instrument that a week earlier people paid $100 a ticket for in the cheap seats. In the…
Main Text: Luke 1:39-45 (Micah 5:2-5a; Hebrews 10:5-10) We often feel deserving when good things happen, as if we earned these blessings. When bad things happen, we tend to wonder why this happened to me. What would happen if we reversed that proposition? In our baptismal service, we say that we are born children of…
Main Text: Luke 3:7-18 (Zephania 3:14-20; Philippians 4:4-7) Why would they pick this passage about John in the wilderness right before Christmas? This is supposed to be a season about the little baby being born. It does not seem appropriate to have John yelling at everyone. Certainly, this does not seem like a good “Lutheran”…
Main Text: Luke 3:1-6 (Malachi 3:1-4; Philippians 1:3-11) We often hear these words calling for preparation as our sole responsibility. It is good to ask the question of how we are preparing for God’s presence in our lives. The readings for today, however, are not focused on how we are preparing for the coming of…
Advent & Christmas 2018-2019 The Lord is Near Overall Theme: Many speak of heaven as if it is a long way away in both time and space. Bette Midler’s song “From a Distance”, pictures a God who is watching all of this from a distance. Though God is not entwined in our circumstances, our faith…
Main Text: Luke 21:25-36 (Jeremiah 33:14-16; 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13) It is important to distinguish the circumstances and brokenness of this world and life from the presence of the Lord, without separating them completely. Our readings today do a great job of doing that. The reading from Jeremiah speaks to the people of Israel already displaced…