Sermon for First Sunday in Advent

November 29, 2015, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  Jeremiah 33:14-16

Sermon Theme:  “A New Branch; a New Name”

 (Sources: Anderson, Cycle C, Preaching Notebook; Emphasis Online Commentary; Emphasis Online Illustrations; original ideas; Online Jokes about Small Towns; Funny Names of Towns Online; Introduction to Jeremiah, Concordia Self-Study Bible.)

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

           Today’s sermon text is a very short, simple, but powerful prophesy from the Prophet, Jeremiah.  Through Jeremiah, God proclaims that He will fulfill the Promise He made, He will cause a Righteous Branch of David to spring up; He will save Judah, and Jerusalem will be safe; and He will give the Holy City of Jerusalem a new name.

This prophesy comes at a time when this capital city of Judah, Jerusalem, is doomed to defeat by the feared Babylonians.  In 605 B.C., the mighty Egyptians were crushed by Babylon, returning to Egypt with heavy losses.  That meant Babylon had a free hand in western Asia for the next 70 years, and could and did terrorize small nations like Judah.  In his prophesy, Jeremiah assures the people God’s Promise, made long ago, will be kept, and he speaks of a new name for Jerusalem.  It will be called “The Lord is our righteousness.”

What difference does it make what a city is called?  Social scientists have found that the name of a city makes a great deal of difference, both positively and negatively.

Years ago, Cincinnati was disparagingly called “The Sin (S-I-N) City,” – that is, until political and social leaders decided the name for their city was not what they wanted, so they cleaned it up, making it more morally pure.

Los Angeles was commonly called “the city of Angels,” which was a wonderful name.  But, in more recent times, L.A. seems to be the opposite of a city of angels – unless you’re talking about “Hell’s Angels.”

I grew up in Dime Box, Texas.  The name is very appropriate considering the size of the town.  A dime is even smaller than a nickel.  It fit all those “You- know-you’re-from-a-small-town-isms.”

You know you’re from Dime Box when the local phone book has only one yellow page.  You know you’re from Dime Box when 3^rd Street is on the edge of town.  You know you’re from Dime Box when “A Night on the Town” takes only 11 minutes.  You know you’re from Dime Box when weekend excitement involves a trip to the grocery store.  It may be small, but it was a safe, peaceful, and a caring place to grow up in. Continue reading →

Sermon for Thanksgiving Eve, November 25, 2015

St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  Deuteronomy 8:1-10

Sermon Theme: “Thank God during the Best of Times and during the Worst of Times”

  (Sources:  Concordia Pulpit Resources, Volume 12, Part 4; original ideas; Online Jokes about Thanksgiving; footnotes, Concordia Self-Study Bible; Rinckhart, Wikipedia.)

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

           Perhaps like some of you were doing earlier today, the mother of the family was pawing through some frozen turkeys at the grocery store, but couldn’t find one big enough for the huge number of family members coming the next day for Thanksgiving dinner.  So she asked the stock boy, “Do these turkeys get any bigger?”

“No ma’am,” the stock boy replied, “they’re dead.

One year, a couple’s four year old boy wanted to give thanks before the Thanksgiving meal.  Everybody bowed their heads, and the boy began his prayer thanking God for his Mommy and Daddy and Grandma and Grandpa.  Then he gave thanks for the turkey, the dressing, the mashed potatoes, the fruit salad, the cucumber salad, the cranberry sauce, the bread rolls, the pumpkin pie, the chocolate dessert and even the Cool Whip.  Then he paused.

Everyone waited.  And waited.  Finally, after a long silence, he looked up at his mother and asked, “If I thank God for the broccoli, won’t he know that I’m lying?” Continue reading →

Sermon for Christ the King, Last Sunday of the Church Year

November 22, 2015, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  John 18:33-38

Sermon Theme:  “What Do You Worship as King of Truth?”

 (Sources:  Anderson’s Cycle B Preaching Workbook; Emphasis Online Commentary; Emphasis Online Illustrations; Online “Snoopy and the Meaning of Life”; original ideas)

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

           One of the most all-time favorite Peanuts comic strips shows Snoopy in the lead-in box lying on top of the “u” in a stone sculpture of the word “truth.”

Then the strip actually begins with Snoopy lying on top his dog house, staring at the stars, unable to sleep.  “Rats,” he says, “it’s 2 o’clock in the morning and I’m wide awake!”

“Were am I going?  What is the meaning of life?,” he asks suddenly.

So he trots to the back door of Charlie Brown’s house, and kicks the door loudly, “Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam.”

Inside the house, Charlie Brown is awakened from his sleep by the noise and says, “I recognize that kick.  That is the kick of someone who has awakened in the middle of the night and wants to know the meaning of life.”

Charlie goes to the door, sticks his head out, and says to Snoopy, “The meaning of life is to go back to sleep and hope that tomorrow is a better day!”

Then Charlie adds, as he slams the door in Snoopy’s face,” And if you’re thinking about eating, forget it!”

Snoopy walks back to his dog house muttering, “Wouldn’t that unplug your heating pad!”

All of us no doubt have had nights like that and can identify with Snoopy, especially in the unsettling times of recent weeks, — ISIS brings down a Russian passenger plane; ISIS causes mass murder and destruction in Paris; Al Qaeda terrorists take hostages in a hotel in Mali; and with 27 killed; ISIS says on the day your wife leaves for New York that they will suicide bomb Times Square.  Yes, these are unsettling times!

What does all of this mean?  What is the meaning of life?  What is truth? Continue reading →

Sermon for Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost

November 8, 2015, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  Mark 12:38-44

Sermon Theme:  “Life Without ‘Spiritual’ Social Security”

 (Sources:  Brokhoff, Series B, Preaching Workbook; Anderson, Cycle B, Preaching Workbook; Harper’s Bible Dictionary; Believer’s Commentary; Nelson’s Three-in-One; original ideas and examples; Online Jokes: Stewardship of Life; Online Religious Humor about Church Tithing; Luther’s Small Catechism and Explanation.)

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

           “It’s always about money!,” an early teaching colleague of mine used to say whenever he talked about his church, which was a denomination other than Lutheran.  “In my church, we’re always being hit up to give more money, more, more, more,” he continued.

Being Lutheran and having grown up in the Lutheran Church, I searched my memory, and said that I never heard any of my pastors talk about giving more money.

“What did they talk about?”  he asked.

“Oh,” said I, “our old Herr Pastors always talked about sin, repentance, hell fire, and get yourself to church!”

As an immigrant church, still holding most of our services in German, and living right after the Great Depression, we couldn’t talk about money, because we didn’t have any.

Before Concordia Junior College in Austin became Concordia Lutheran University, each fall my grandmother would tithe several dozen jars of home-canned pickles to the Concordia cafeteria.  As one of only a few musicians in all of Dime Box, my mother tithed her playing the organ for every service all year long.  My grandfather would tithe ham, bacon and sausage to the pastor and his wife every time my family killed hog.

You see, while stewardship was expected and talked about, money never was. Continue reading →

Sermon for All Saints’ Day, November 1, 2015

St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  1 John 3:1-3

Sermon Theme:  “Everything You Wanted to Know about Saints”

 (Sources:  Emphasis Online Illustrations; Concordia Pulpit Resources, Vol. 25, Part 4, Series B; Nelson’s Three-in-One; What Luther Says, CPH; Lutheran Cyclopedia, CPH; Believer’s Commentary; original ideas; SermonCentral.com; Online Christian Jokes about Saints)

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

 Last night was All Saints’ Evening, or All Hallow Eve,’ transliterated into “Halloween,” and transmigrated into trick or treating frivolity.

A priest told the little kids they could come trick or treating at the rectory this year, but they must dress up as one of the Saints.

So the kids arrived.  One little boy was dressed up like St. Anthony, another was disguised as St. Joseph.  A little girl arrived as St. Clare of Assisi.  The priest was pleased, and then a little boy shows  up in a dog costume.

So the priest asks him, “Where’s your Saint costume?”

The little boy replies, “I’m Saint Bernard!”

Today, All Saints’ Day, is the day yesterday was the Eve of.

In these post-Christian times we live in, if you mention the word, “Saints,” people think you’re talking about the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League, who in their early history were almost a laughing stock, but have since won five divisional championships, two conference championships, and one Super Bowl.  Their behavior hasn’t always been “saintly.” Continue reading →