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“Rejoicing in the God Who Has Taught Us” (Psalm 71:17-18)“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.” These words from Philippians remind us that we have much to be joyful over. And indeed we do. Think of it: It’s Advent, almost Christmas, and so we rejoice over the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, first at Christmas, coming in the flesh to be born and live and die and rise again as our Savior, and coming again at the Last Day, a day we look forward to with great hope and anticipation, knowing that God will raise our...

“Hope of the Gentiles” (Romans 15:4-13)In the reading from Romans that we just heard, there are two words that jump out at me. One of those words is found in the first verse of our text, which reads: “Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” And this same word that I’m thinking of occurs again--twice--in the last verse of our text, as follows: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power...

“Advent Trees” (Matthew 3:1-12; Isaiah 11:1-10)You’ve heard of Christmas trees. But have you heard of “Advent trees”? No? Well, I hadn’t either. In fact, I just made that term up as I was thinking about our lessons for today. For in both the Holy Gospel and the Old Testament Reading, there’s quite a lot of “tree” talk going on: “tree,” “root,” “fruit,” “shoot,” and so on. It’s like an Advent arboretum. So let’s see what we are to make of all this, under the theme, “Advent Trees.” We’ll start in the Holy Gospel from Matthew 3. There John the Baptist...

“Light in the Darkness” (Romans 13:8-14) Advent is a season of light. In fact, you could say that Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany--the whole three-month sequence centered around Christmas--each of these seasons could be called a season of light. Think of it: You’ve got the Advent wreath, with its candles for the four Sundays in Advent. You’ve got the Christmas tree, of course, with its tradition of being adorned with lights. And at Epiphany we think of the star that led the Wise Men to the Christ Child, and so we put an Epiphany star on top of the Christmas tree....

“Who Is This Jesus?” (Matthew 21:1-11)Today is the First Sunday in Advent. As it’s the beginning of Advent, and the word “Advent” means “Coming,” our readings today--particularly the Holy Gospel--focus our attention on the one who will be coming to us at Christmas, namely, the one who comes to us now in every church service, and who will come again on the last day at the end of time. So who is this one who comes to us in these ways? That’s what our text today gets at. And because today is the First Sunday in Advent, it is also...

“Great Is Thy Faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-33)“Great Is Thy Faithfulness”: The hymn our choir sang earlier and which we all will sing at the end of this service--this is definitely an appropriate hymn of thanksgiving and praise on this Day of Thanksgiving. How true are the words of the refrain: Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness! Morning by morning new mercies I see; All I have needed Thy hand hath provided; Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me! And since today is the Day of National Thanksgiving, we can also say the same thing about the Lord’s blessings on...

“Transferred to the Kingdom of His Son” (Colossians 1:13-20)Have you ever been transferred? People get transferred or relocated due to their work from time to time. The transfer can be a good thing or a bad thing; sometimes it’s a bit of a mixed bag. Just this past Friday, the third baseman for the Cardinals got transferred from St. Louis to “Los Angeles of Anaheim.” There will be plusses and minuses in this for Mr. Freese. On the downside, he won’t be a hometown hero out there, and the team he’ll be playing on is not as good as the...

“The Day Is Coming” (Malachi 4:1-6; 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13; Luke 21:5-28)“The Day Is Coming.” “The Day Is Surely Drawing Near.” What day am I talking about? Thanksgiving? No, nobody cares much about Thanksgiving anymore, except for eating turkey and watching football and getting a head start on . . . Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. Black Friday, the big shopping day of the season--now that’s a day that lots of people get excited about! But no, that’s not the day I’m talking about. Oh, OK then, Christmas, that must be it. Only 37 shopping days left till Christmas! The...

“The God of the Living and the Sons of the Resurrection” (Luke 20:27-40)In these days of November, as we near the end of the church year, our thoughts turn to the end times, the return of Christ, and, as we just confessed in the Creed, “the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.” Our Scripture readings during these weeks reflect this emphasis. So it is with our lessons today. In particular, I want to direct our attention this morning to the Holy Gospel for today, from Luke 20, where Jesus speaks of “The God of the Living and the...

“Who We Are and What We Will Be” (1 John 3:1-3)Today as we observe All Saints’ Day, we look back and remember with thanksgiving the saints who have gone before us, who now rest from their labors and are with the Lord. We look around us, and even though we cannot see them, we know that we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses to the faith, all of us united in the one great communion of saints, the whole church on earth and in heaven. And we look ahead, we look forward with hopefulness to the day...

“A Reformation in Catechesis” (John 8:31-36)“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” This is the word of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he spoke in John 8:31-32. His word is truth, and this truth sets us free. Free from all our sins, and from our slavery to sin. Free from the burden of the law, which would crush us with its demands we can never meet. Free from our bondage to death and the grave, free to live forever. Yes, “if the Son...

“A Parable of Persistent Prayer” (Luke 18:1-8)The parable Jesus tells in the Holy Gospel for today, from Luke 18, is traditionally called the Parable of the Importunate Widow. “Importunate” is an old-timey kind of word. It means “persistent in making a request,” even to the point of becoming something of a bother. And that would describe the widow portrayed in this parable. She was importunate. She was persistent in her seeking justice from an unjust judge. And Jesus is saying, through this parable, that this is how we in the church should be--importunate, persistent. Thus our text today is “A...

“Mercy for the Marginalized” (Luke 17:11-19)The Holy Gospel for today from Luke 17, about the cleansing of the lepers, happens to be the assigned Gospel for the Day of Thanksgiving. And that makes sense. Jesus’ words about the one who came back to give thanks make it a natural for that occasion. But this text also shows up as a regular Sunday reading during the three-year lectionary, and thus it appears today. So this morning we’ll take a slightly different approach to this text than we would on Thanksgiving. Today we’ll emphasize the text’s theme of “Mercy for the Marginalized.”...

“Faith for Living in Community” (Luke 17:1-10)In our Gospel reading for today, from Luke 17, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem, and he is giving instructions to his disciples. At first glance it may seem like these are just several disconnected sayings strung together rather loosely. First there’s something about woe to anyone who causes a person to sin. Then there’s something about forgiving your brother. Then there’s a request about increasing our faith and Jesus’ response about faith like a mustard seed. And then there’s something about unworthy servants who only do their duty. Now all this could...

“St. Michael and All Angels: Messengers, Worshipers, Warriors” (Revelation 12:7-12)Today in the Christian church year is the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels. It always falls on September 29, and since this year that date falls on a Sunday, that’s why we’re celebrating this festival today. Angels, thus, will be topic of this sermon: who they are and what they do and why we thank God for them. And we’ll even get into who this mysterious figure St. Michael is a little bit. So with that by way of introduction, we begin our theme today, “St. Michael and All...

**SNIP** I said yesterday at a press conference on this subject, I said: unless we – it was in Houston, I go to mass wherever I go, and at the pulpit, the priest said, in Houston, Texas – not one of your liberal bastions – he said: ‘I think it’s important for people, not just to come to mass on Sunday and pray, but when they leave here not to prey on people.’ And it isn’t exactly what they are doing: preying on people.

“Managing the Master’s Money” (Luke 16:1-15)Do you remember the name Bernie Madoff? He was in the news a few years back. Bernie Madoff was the investment-firm guy, the money manager, who, over the years, defrauded his wealthy clients out of billions of dollars--that’s “billions” with a “b.” Madoff made off with billions--for a while, at least. He finally was caught, and he’s in the jailhouse now, awaiting his release in the year 2159, when he will be 221 years old. But Bernie Madoff had to have been a rather shrewd character, he must have had something on the ball, to...

“Sound Doctrine: Law and Gospel” (1 Timothy 1:5-17)Today begins a series of weeks in which the Epistle comes from Paul’s two letters to Timothy. Paul we know, but who is this Timothy? Timothy was Paul’s younger assistant who often traveled with him and whom Paul would sometimes have oversee things in places while Paul was off elsewhere. This is the case when Paul writes this first letter to Timothy. Paul had gone off to Macedonia, and he had Timothy remain in the big city of Ephesus, in western Asia Minor. Ephesus was a very important city for the whole region....

Circuit Pastors' Conference Tuesday, September 10, 2013 “You Shepherds, Hear the Word of the Lord” (Ezekiel 34:1-24)The readings for this coming Sunday in the three-year lectionary are perfectly suited for preaching to a bunch of pastors. All the readings concern the role of a shepherd caring for his sheep. In the Holy Gospel, from Luke 15, Jesus compares himself to a shepherd who goes to find a lost sheep. This fulfills the prophecy of Ezekiel 34, the Old Testament Reading, in which the Lord says that he himself will search for his sheep and seek them out. Even the Epistle,...

Justin Bieber, 19-year-old pop music star, was apparently so moved by a sermon preached by Pastor Carl Lentz at Hillsong NYC church on Sunday that the Canadian recording artist "broke down." "Love to my guy @carllentzNYC for the amazing sermon at church this morning. Love you man. I broke down today. Thank (you)," Bieber tweeted Sunday night, adding a smiley face. The award-winning recording artist also uploaded a photo of himself and Pastor Lentz to his Instagram account that same evening, writing, "Love you bro" as the caption. Bieber has long been open about his Christian faith, and previously referred...