Sermon for Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 18
September 8, 2013, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas
Sermon Text: Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Sermon Theme: “What Do You Choose?”
(Sources: Emphasis online Illustrations; Believer’s Commentary; Concordia Pulpit Resources, Vol. 23, Part 4, Series C; original ideas; Nelson’s Three-in-One Concordance notes)
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
You did not choose to be born in Wallis. Or in East Bernard. Or in Dime Box. You did not choose to have Lutheran parents who made you memorize Luther’s Small Catechism, — parts of it, in German. You did not choose to have a father who could not read. You did not choose to have a mother who was like a marine sergeant. You did not choose many things in your life.
Some of us were able to choose the college we attended; some were not. Whether the young man, whose tragic story I’m about to tell, was able to choose the college he attended, or not, I don’t know.
His mother was very proud of him as he left home to attend Tuskegee Institute. She said tearfully to him, “Don’t forget who you are and whose you are. Study hard and do your best. Don’t settle for anything less.” She was a very devout Christian, and she warned him not to bow down to the false gods of the world.
Away from home for the first time, the young man had lots of choices. He began to party more than study. He soon lost all sense of responsibility and purpose; it no longer mattered to him why he was in college. He fell in with the wrong crowd, stayed out late and drank heavily. Continue reading →