Sermon for Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost

October 19, 2014, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon Theme:  “Render to Caesar and Render to God?”

(Sources:  Anderson’s Preaching Journal, Cycle A; Embassy of Heaven Midnight Rider Newsletter, 1995; “Heaven Is a Tax-Free Paradise in Oregon,” online article; Emphasis Online Commentary; Emphasis Online Illustrations; original ideas; Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation, 1986 edition).

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

“Paul Revere has established the kingdom of Heaven in Oregon!”  That’s what newspaper headlines said in 1994.  Of course it wasn’t the 18^th Century Paul Revere of the American Revolution we know from history.

It was a pastor in Oregon who established “the Kingdom of Heaven” on 34 acres of land about twenty miles from Salem.  Twice Revere was jailed for issuing his own license plates with the word HEAVEN embossed thereon and for failing to pay property taxes.  He insisted that the kingdom of Heaven is not of this world, and that it is impossible to serve both God and the State.  He urged that his followers should not be yoked by the government, so should throw away their state-owned driver’s licenses and Social Security cards, cancel their car insurance, bank accounts, etc.  He argued that Jesus didn’t pay any taxes so why should we.

Revere posted a regular online Embassy of Heaven newsletter on the internet, entitled Midnight Rider.  He advertised his 34 acres as “God’s Government on Earth, and apparently had many followers, who were promised they could live tax free forever, first in Oregon, then in Heaven.  Officials in Marion County were unconvinced by any of Revere’s arguments, and informed him that if he didn’t pay the $10,000 he owed in taxes, they would put the 34 acres of the Kingdom of Heaven on the market. Continue reading →

Sermon for Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Oct. 12, 2014

St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  Philippians 4:4-13

Sermon Theme:  “Rejoice!  Through Him We Can Do All Things”

 (Sources:  Anderson’s Cycle A Preaching Workbook; original ideas and examples; Emphasis Online Illustrations).

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

           When Tony Campolo was invited to preach at a Lutheran church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the pastor began the service calling the people to worship by saying, “Let us make a joyful noise unto the Lord!  Let us come into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise!”  You can imagine his surprise when someone in the balcony jumped up and yelled, “All right!  All right!”  and started clapping.  And before long there were several young people on their feet shouting praise and applauding wildly.

Dr. Campolo later said, “I don’t know what he was expecting when he told the people in the church to make a joyful noise unto the Lord, but I do know that the last thing he expected that Sunday night was that anybody actually would!” Continue reading →

Sermon for LWML Sunday, October 5, 2014

St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  Ephesians 5:1-9                                                                                        Sermon Theme:  “Fragrant Sacrifices and Offerings”

(Sources:  Online Meditation, entitled, “A Fragrant Offering”; 2014 LWML Sunday Sermon; “As Children We Imitate Our Father,” by David Ernst; original ideas and examples; Nelson’s Three-in-One; Harper’s Bible Dictionary; “LWML Mission Grants” online)

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

The dictionary definition of “fragrant” is simply “Having a pleasant odor.”  Of course we know that what is a pleasant aroma to some people is not at all pleasant to others.

Two wives, when talking about how their husbands deserted them for football and beer, decided they should try to find a perfume that smelled like beer.

When one of my aunts left her parents’ farm to work in Houston, she fell in love with an English/Irish city boy who had never been on a farm in his life and had never been around German Wendish Americans before.  My aunt brought him home to meet her parents, and her mother, my grandmother, fixed all of our family’s favorite dishes to impress him, including what we loved most, koch Kase , her delicious  homemade cheese which smelled like limburger while it was cooking.  Continue reading →

Sermon for the Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Sept. 28, 2014

St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  Philippians 2:1-4; 14-18

Sermon Theme:  “From Unity to Gladness and Joy”

 (Sources:  Concordia Pulpit Resources, Vol. 24, Part 4, Series A; original ideas; Anderson’s Preaching Workbook, Cycle A; Emphasis Online Illustrations; Introduction to Philippians, Concordia Self-Study Bible; Nelson’s Three-in-One)

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

           Ernest T. W. Hoffmann, the writer of the original stories in Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffmann, once visited the home of a person who had just come into considerable wealth.  The man loved to brag about how much money he had, and when he showed Hoffmann his palatial home he boasted about how many servants he needed to keep it going.

          The wealthy Berlin millionaire explained that he needed three servants for his personal attendance.  Hoffmann, convinced that sarcasm was the only way to respond to such a person, replied that he had four servants just to take care of his bath:  one to lay out the towels, one to test the temperature of the water, and the third to make sure the faucets were in good order. Continue reading →

Sermon for Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost and Baptism of Aubrey

September 21, 2014, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  Isaiah 55:6-9

Sermon Theme:  “God’s Ways Affirmed through Baptism”

(Sources: Concordia Pulpit Resources, Vol. 24, Part 4, Series A; Original Examples and Ideas; Anderson’s Preaching Workbook, Cycle A)

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

          When I was four and a half years old, in the late 1930’s, I found a family picture album I had not seen before.  One of the photos in it was a picture of my twin brother, our dog, and me, standing on the front steps.  Seated in front of us was a blonde-headed toddler, playing with his toes.  I didn’t recognize him, so I asked my brother who he was.

          My brother said he thought his name was Gary, but he didn’t remember much about him.  I remembered nothing about this little Gary, so I asked my mother about him.  With her eyes tearing up, she told us about “little Gary.”

          In the late Thirties, the tail end of the Great Depression, there were many, many people who lived like hoboes, uprooted from their homes, hitching rides on trains or with the few automobile drivers who could afford to travel by car.  With an unclear destination, they disembarked in small towns in their search for work or stability.  Some were single; some had family with them.  Little Gary’s parents were among them. Continue reading →