Our MinistriesRedeemer Lutheran Church Ministries
Sermon: Second Sunday of Pentecost 2012
Last Updated on Wednesday, 27 June 2012 12:43
The Second Sunday of Pentecost
June 10, 2012
Text: Mark 3:20-35
Two taxidermists stopped in front of a window where an owl was on display. They immediately began to criticize the way it was mounted. Its eyes were not natural; its wings were not in proportion with its head; its feathers were not neatly arranged; and its feet could be improved. Just when they had finished with their criticism, the owl turned his head...and blinked. It’s easy to be critical. It is easy for armchair Generals to criticize those in the middle of the battle.
For a short while, Jesus was very popular and attracted large crowds to witness His awesome power and incredible teaching. But even Jesus had his critics. Today’s lesson is a good example. His own friends and family thought He was out of His mind. His enemies thought He was positively evil.
Anyone that goes into the ministry has to know that he will be criticized. When I worked for the seminary as a recruiter, I used to tell prospective students that if they could imagine being happy doing something else, they should not come to the seminary. That might seem like a strange recruitment strategy, but Jesus told his disciples to pick up their crosses and follow Him. Anyone who serves Jesus Christ is going to be blasted eventually. The student is not greater than the teacher. If they world hated him, we can’t expect it to do cartwheels for us. St. Paul said (Galatians 1:10) that if he were trying to be a people-pleaser, he could no longer be a servant of Christ.
Sermon: The Holy Trinity 2012
The Holy Trinity
June 3, 2012
Text: John 3:1-17
So let’s say you went hiking through the woods one day in the beautiful wilderness of South Dakota. And suddenly, you poke through the pine branches and see before you a beautiful granite mountain. On the side of this mountain are four intricately carved faces of four American Presidents: Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln. And you just marvel at the power of nature, that over the course of thousands and millions of years, the rain pelted that mountain and the wind blew and over eons upon eons, nature sculpted these majestic images, with no direction, no higher power to guide it. That makes sense as an explanation of the origin of Mount Rushmore doesn’t it? Why not? What’s wrong with it?
Which would be easier for nature to produce on its own? The sculpture of a man? Or an actual man? Everyone knows that nature is never going to randomly produce a Michelangelo, but we’re supposed to believe that human beings just happened on their own?
Some people find these types of arguments convincing and others do not. I could go on giving logical reasons for believing in the existence of God, but I won’t do that right now. The only point I am trying to make is that there are good sound logical reasons for a person to consider that maybe, just possibly, the claims of Christianity are true. Maybe, just possibly, there is a God who designed, created and still preserves the universe. And maybe this God knows us and cares about us and has an opinion about how we live our lives. The least a person could do would be to give it a serious, honest and open-minded investigation.
Sermon: Sixth Sunday of Easter 2012
Last Updated on Wednesday, 23 May 2012 08:39
Sixth Sunday of Easter
May 13, 2012
Text: John 15:9-17
Back in the olden days, there was a famous movie actor, a former Vaudevillian, named W.C. Fields. His real name was William Claude Dukenfield. Toward the end of his life—in fact, while he lay on his deathbed—a friend stopped by to see him and was rather surprised to find him reading the Bible. Mr. Dukenfield was an atheist so the friend asked, "Why in the world are you reading the Bible? Are you looking for answers?"
"No," the actor said. "I'm looking for loopholes."
When we read the words of Jesus, we sometimes catch ourselves looking for loopholes. After all, He did make some pretty hard statements. Probably one of the hardest is his command, "Love one another as I have loved you." If he had just said, "Love one another," we could try to water it down to "love one another at least once a week," or "love one another when you have spare time," or "love one another when there’s nothing better to do." But the clause "as I have loved you" makes it absolutely clear what Jesus meant.
God takes love very seriously. He loves us, and he expects us to love one another. The reason the early church made such a difference in their world was because they loved one another. In fact, even their critics marveled at their love for one another.
Sermon: Fourth Sunday of Easter 2012
The Fourth Sunday of Easter
April 29, 2012
Text: John 10:11-18; Psalm 23
The theme for today’s sermon is worry. And I want to emphasize up front that everyone has to cope with stress, worry and anxiety. And I want to be clear that there is a difference between the stress and anxiety that we all have and a medical condition that needs to be treated with medication. As a pastor, I do believe there is a wholesome role that anti-depressant and anti-anxiety medication can play, when necessary. We need to avoid both extremes. The one extreme is that Christians should never need to take pills. We should just be able to pray ourselves into health. That is one extreme. But the other extreme is that pills are the answer to everything. Better living through psychopharmacology. Maybe you can’t always pray yourself into health, but you can’t tranquilize yourself into health either. If you feel like your life is being taken over by worry or anxiety or sadness, you should probably make two phone calls. One to your pastor. And the other one to your doctor. So that’s my disclaimer. Having said that, I want to talk about the spiritual element of worry.
When I was a pastor in Pittsburgh, one of my shut-ins had a cross-stitch of Psalm 23 on her living room wall that her mother had made for her. And every time I would visit her, I’d take her Holy Communion and then we’d look at that cross-stitch and pray aloud together Psalm 23. Every month for seven years, she and prayed that psalm together. Then when I took a call and left Pittsburgh, she gave me that cross-stitch and it’s hanging in my house right now. Psalm 23 is the most beloved passages of the Bible. We say it at every funeral. These are some of the most comforting words ever written.
The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall lack nothing.
Can we agree that worry is a problem for everyone? Worrying about finances – especially in these uncertain times, with food and gas prices rising. We worry about tomorrow. We worry about our health. What will the test results show?
Sermon: Fifth Sunday of Easter 2012
Last Updated on Thursday, 10 May 2012 12:33
Fifth Sunday of Easter
May 6, 2012
Text: John 15:1-8
When you think about it, we are dependent on so many people from day to day. We trust them to do their jobs so that we can live safe and happy lives. When we go out to eat we trust that the chef is providing good fresh food. We know there are times when this has not happened and people have become terribly sick.
Mike, a helicopter pilot was home on leave from the navy and over dinner was telling his father all about the choppers he flew often in very dangerous conditions far out at sea. He concluded by saying that his life and those of the crew depended on one bolt – the bolt that held the huge whirling rotor in place. The mechanics had named this the ‘jesus’ bolt. You can see why. Without the ‘jesus’ bolt they would be doomed. Their safe return home depended entirely on this one bolt.
That is a modern example of what Jesus is telling us in the reading from John’s Gospel today when he says, "I am the vine, and you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will bear much fruit; for you can do nothing without me.” You don’t have to know too much about gardening and plants to realize that a tree, shrub or any plant as far as that goes, depends on the trunk or the stem and the root system for it to be happy and healthy.
More Articles...
Page 4 of 15
