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 →

Sermon for Reformation Sunday

October 25, 2015, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  1 Corinthians 10:1-5

Sermon Theme: “The Reformation and the Rock of Our Refuge”

 (Sources: Luther: His Life and Times by Richard Friedenthal; Rocks, PhysLink.com; Online Lutheran Jokes; Online “You Know You Might Be Lutheran If”; Online Rocks and Gems; Footnotes from the Concordia Self-Study Bible; Protestant Reformation, Online Theopedia; my original ideas; “It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over,” Online Bible.org; Nelson’s Three-in-One).

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

           We Lutherans are a unique group of Protestants, maybe not so much now as we were in the past.  I wonder if we have changed very much.  When I was growing up Lutheran in the 1940’s, you knew you might be Lutheran if a midlife crisis meant switching from the old hymnal to the new one.  You knew you might be Lutheran if you were 57 years old and your parents still wouldn’t let you date a Catholic.  You knew you might be Lutheran if you believed the Eleventh Commandment was “If we’ve never done it that way before, thou shalt not do it.”

You know you might be Lutheran if you actually think your pastor’s jokes are funny.

Today, Lutherans are unique in that they are no doubt the only Protestants who still celebrate Reformation Sunday, and, of course, Catholics, for obvious reasons, never did.  The Reformation, led by Martin Luther, began in Germany and spread first to the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Scotland, and parts of France before becoming a world-wide “revolution.”   The Reformation is much more complicated than just a German monk nailing 95 theses on the Wittenberg church door.

The Church, which Jesus wanted to remain One, was split in two and soon would be splintered even further, ultimately into more divisions than you can count on both hands and both feet.

There’s a funny story that shows what it’s like after the Reformation.  It seems that Pastor Hubert, a Lutheran Pastor, Father Joe, a Catholic Priest, and Brother Bob, a Baptist Preacher, were fishing together in a boat not far from the shore.

Pastor Hubert had to make a trip to the port-a-potty located on the shore, so he got out of the boat, walked across the water, and, in the same manner, came back to the boat after he was finished.

A little later, Father Joe had to make the trip also.  He got out of the boat, walked across the water, visited the bathroom, and in the same manner, came back to the boat.

Still later, Brother Bob needed to go ashore.  He got out of the boat and immediately sank.  Pastor Hubert looked at Father Joe and said, “Do you think we ought to tell him where the rocks are?”  I guess that’s one way to lead into the subject of today’s sermon – rocks.  And The Rock. Continue reading →

Sermon for the Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost

October 18, 2015, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  Mark 10:23-31

Sermon Theme:  “Is It Mission Impossible?”

 (Sources:  Brokhoff, Series B, Preaching Workbook; Concordia Pulpit Resources, Vol. 25, Part 4, Series B; original ideas; Nelson’s Three-in-One Bible Reference; Online 25 Inspirational Quotes on Wealth and Money; Online Revelation.Co, Regarding a Rich Person Entering Heaven; Online Charlie Brown Quotes; Online Religious Jokes; Believer’s Commentary)

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

           It is not uncommon for Jesus to say something that really slaps us in the face.  In reading today’s sermon text from Mark, some of us felt a pretty hard whap!  And so did the disciples.  Jesus made this jaw-dropping statement:  “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”  We have to take this in context of the entire Bible and its teachings, and understand it in context.  Otherwise, we might promote a welfare state, and that’s not what God wants.  Folks during the time of Jesus would have seen wealth as a sign of God’s favor, so it’s no wonder His statement would have startled them.  Let’s see what we can make of this.

Keeping in mind that 1 Timothy 6:10 says the LOVE of money is the ROOT of all evil, not that MONEY per se is EVIL, let’s first look at the world’s wisdom on this subject before we plunge into a theological explanation.

Jim Rohn says, “Time is more valuable than money.  You can get more money, but you cannot get more time.”

One of my favorite quotations from the world’s pool of wisdom was written by an anonymous commentator:  “The person who doesn’t know where his next dollar is coming from usually doesn’t know where his last dollar went.”

Norman Vincent Peale once said, “Empty pockets never held anyone back.  Only empty heads and empty hearts can do that.”

I saved Eleanor Roosevelt’s for last:  “He who loses money, loses much; he who loses a friend, loses much more; He who loses faith, loses all.”

The world’s wisdom understands the importance of money, as well as the limitations of money, but you could read a thousand quotations about wealth and money and not understand what Jesus meant.

In the text, Jesus seems to say it is impossible for a rich person to enter heaven.  Impossible or difficult?, you ask.  Jesus would answer, “Impossible.”  But then, if we asked Jesus, ‘Is it possible for ANYONE to enter heaven by himself, He would also answer, “No, it’s Mission Impossible!”  Just as the camel cannot make it through the eye of a needle no matter how hard he works at it or how much he struggles, so we cannot work our own salvation.  We can enter heaven ONLY by God’s grace through faith.   Continue reading →

Sermon for LWML Sunday

Pentecost 20, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas, Oct. 11, 2015

Sermon Text:  Proverbs 31:10-31

Sermon Theme:  God’s Idea of the Perfect Woman

(Sources:  LWML Facts, Online, lwml.org; Men Versus Women Jokes Online; Original ideas and examples; Online Peanuts Comic Strips; Introduction and Footnotes to Paul’s Letter to the Romans; Online Commentary on Proverbs 31:10-31; my devotional given to LWML Zone Rally 10-3-15; U. S. Congregational Life Survey; U.S. Census; Barna Research; Lifeway Research)

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

Ever since John Gray wrote his best-selling book, Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus, many folks are convinced of a planetary difference between men and women.  That difference is the subject of hundreds of jokes, most of which are told from a man’s point to view.

Let me tell you several of the jokes, and then I’ll tell you some facts.

In the beginning, God created the earth and rested.  Then God created Man and rested.  Then God created Woman.  Since then, neither God nor Man has rested.

Men see the telephone as a communication tool.  They use the telephone to send short messages to other people.  A woman can visit her girlfriend for two weeks, and upon returning home, she will call the same friend and they will talk for three hours.

Here’s one more.  A woman walked into the kitchen to find her husband stalking around with a fly swatter.

“What are you doing?”  She asked.

“Hunting flies,” he responded.

“Oh,” she said, “killing any?”

“Yep,” he replied, “three males and two females.”

Intrigued she asked, “How can you tell?”

He answered, “Three were on a beer can, and two were on the phone.”

Those were some slanted jokes.  Now let me tell you some facts.

These facts come from three different national surveys.  The typical Christian congregation in the United States is made up of 61 percent female and 39 percent male.  And the gender gap is found in all age categories.

So, on any given Sunday, there are 13 million more adult women in American churches than there are men.  Less than 25% of married women worship with their husbands on Sunday.  Also 70 to 80 percent of the female members of a church participate in midweek activities.  Only about 25 percent of the men do.  While those percentages seem a bit startling, it doesn’t mean that the majority of American men are atheists, as 90 percent say they believe in God.

Does it mean church isn’t very important to men?  I can’t answer that. Continue reading →