Synod Assembly
SERMON Easter 5C 2019 Nobody hates church meetings more than I do, and in years past I have managed to find an excuse to skip our synod’s annual assembly. For one thing – an important thing to me – we always meet in a big Read More …
SERMON for Easter 3c 2019
John 21 This is the last scene in John’s gospel, and a very precious and poignant scene it is. John’s stories are always rich and revealing, full of feeling and ringing true in a way that most Bible stories don’t. If Mary’s anointing of Jesus’ Read More …
Sermon on April 28, 2019
SERMON Easter 2c 2019 I was surprised looking through my sermon files this week. After 30 years of preaching, I have as many as ten sermons for some Sundays, but almost nothing at all for this one. Well, silly me: of course not! I’m usually Read More …
SERMON Easter Day 2019
Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas! What a beautiful season …(Pastor! It’s not Christmas, it’s Easter!) Oh, right. Rats. It’s not Christmas? Well, let’s take a vote; who likes Christmas better than Easter? It’s the presents, right? Who cares about a chocolate bunny, we want the Read More …
SERMON Good Friday 2019
Well, at least they saved the crown of thorns. By now everybody in the world knows that the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris burned on Monday. The footage of billowing smoke rising between the twin towers of the façade reminded me of 9/11. So Read More …
Sermon Maundy Thursday 2019
I’m guessing nobody knows the name Carla Faye Tucker … she died on February 3, 1998, executed by lethal injection by the State of Texas. She was on death row for 14 years. Carla Faye’s case was much in the news as her execution approached. Read More …
Senseless Suffering Meets Senseless Love
SERMON Lent 5c 2019 Mary of Bethany Anoints the Feet of Jesus I might call this sermon: Senseless suffering meets senseless love. Sitting on the edge of her hospital bed, struggling with one of those beautiful gowns they make us all wear, hooked up to Read More …
On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand
A Devotional Testimony By Muriel Davis “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and his Righteousness; and all these things will be added unto you”. Matthew 6:33 As a Christian I pride myself as being religious, spiritual, dedicated and faithful. For the past two years Read More …
For Thine is the Kingdom
“For Thine is the Kingdom, and the power and the glory forever. Amen!” Matthew 6:13 I am often moved by these words of praise that conclude the Lord’s Prayer. This is not to say that the petitions in the Prayer are less moving or less Read More …
And Deliver Us From Evil
AND DELIVER US FROM EVIL (Mt. 6:13b) by Emmanuel N. ILAGAN Another translation of the verse is “Deliver us from the Evil One”, namely the devil. The apostle Peter attests to the reality of the devil as he advises the believers who were exiled in Read More …