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Sermons
"Sir, we would see Jesus." [St
John 12:21]
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A sermon is a manner of oral communication
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Taken
by Surprise
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St. Luke
22:1-12 +
Easter, 2007
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The story is told of how
the people of England in June of 1815 were anxiously
awaiting the outcome of the battle of Waterloo.
In this battle, the British army, under the
command of the Duke of Wellington, was combating the
French army, under the command of Napoleon.
A series of stations, each one in sight of the
next, had been set up to send visible coded messages
from the battlefield in Belgium back to England.
Finally the message arrived: “Wellington
defeated...” But
as this was being spelled out, a sudden blanket of fog
obscured the signals. The people of England were heartbroken. Their commander and his army had apparently been defeated.
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Everyone
Loves a Parade
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St. John
12:12-19 +
Palm
Sunday, 2007
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While
Mary and I lived in the Detroit area, my sister-in-law
would take our children to the annual Hudson’s
Thanksgiving Day parade. It didn’t matter what the weather was; they went to the
parade. Often
it was cold, occasionally it would be raining or even
snowing, but they went anyway.
Everyone loves a parade – and everyone wants to
be physically present for one.
Better yet, everyone would love to be the guest
of honor in the parade.
For the Thanksgiving Day parades, that star is
Santa Claus, arriving in town to set up for all of the
sales before Christmas.
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Rewards
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St. Mark 9:30-37 +
16th
Sunday after Pentecost, 2006
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Let’s
talk about rewards!
Rewards
are a strange and uncomfortable topic for us Lutherans
to talk about in the Church, because we continually
state that we are saved by FAITH ALONE. The whole concept of getting a reward for works, then, seems
foreign to us – even heretical.
It can be. But
that doesn’t mean we should shy away from the topic or
even not talk about it.
The reason I am bringing this up this morning is
because of the argument the disciples were having as
they were traveling through Galilee to Capernaum.
Mark tells us that on the way they had argued
about who was the greatest. It seems like a strange argument to get into – and it
raises several questions.
Are rewards something that we should also talk
about and argue about or strive for?
This is the question that Jesus answers for his
disciples when the group gets to Capernaum.
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Rituals
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St. Mark 7:14-23 +
13th
Sunday after Pentecost, 2006
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How many of you have dealt with Orthodox Jews?
I mean the ones who still follow the strict guidelines of
the Old Testament law, and the restrictions of the various
traditions. Did you
know that meat and dairy must be served on separate dishes?
Meat – the flesh of birds and mammals – cannot be
eaten with dairy. Fish,
eggs, fruits, vegetables and grains can be eaten together with
either meat or dairy! An egg that contains a blood spot must be thrown away, not
eaten, because the Torah prohibits consumption of blood. The meat of the some animals, including the pig, is
completely forbidden – because
“it has a split hoof
completely divided, [it] does not chew the cud; it is unclean!”
(Lev 11:7) Some of these dietary restrictions that the Orthodox Jews
follow come directly from the Old Testament; some are tradition;
some are extrapolations of what the ancient Laws of the Torah
say.
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