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Sermons
Up one levelFollowing Jesus to Samaria
Delivered on August 26, 2010 at the "New Directions for Lutheranism" Conference (TEXT: JOHN 4:27-42)
Berthold von Schenk's Kindgom Plan - "Majors and Minors"
Berthold von Schenk's Kingdom Plan - A Sermon Series on "Giving" Sermon 6: "Majors and Minors"
Berthold von Schenk's Kindgom Plan - "The Offering"
Berthold von Schenk's Kingdom Plan - A Sermon Series on "Giving" Sermon 5: "The Offering"
Berthold von Schenk's Kindgom Plan - "A Wonderful Law Which is a Way of Life"
Berthold von Schenk's Kingdom Plan - A Sermon Series on "Giving" Sermon 4: "A Wonderful Law Which is a Way of Life"
Berthold von Schenk's Kindgom Plan - "Money and Dues"
Berthold von Schenk's Kingdom Plan - A Sermon Series on "Giving" Sermon 3: "The Attitude Toward Giving"
Berthold von Schenk's Kindgom Plan - "Money and Dues"
Berthold von Schenk's Kingdom Plan - A Sermon Series on "Giving" Sermon 2: "Money and Dues"
Berthold von Schenk's Kindgom Plan - A Sermon Series on "Giving'
The Rev. Dr. Berthold von Schenk is probably most famous in Lutheran circles for being one of the key catalysts for liturgical renewal among 20th century American Lutherans. But if you were to ask him, what his greatest legacy was as a parish pastor, he would likely reply that it was his “Kingdom Plan.” The Kingdom Plan was based on this simple rule: every parish must be the Church. Word and Sacrament were to be the content of every official meeting of the congregation... To address the topic of tithing and its role within his Kingdom Plan von Schenk preached a 6-part sermon series on offering and giving. Over the next six Wednesdays, Lutheranforum.org will be reprinting each of von Schenk’s Kingdom Plan sermons. Though the illustrations are at times a bit dated, nevertheless his approach to the dreaded topic of “stewardship” remains valuable...
Leaven in the Lump: A Sermon
In the refrigerator of my childhood lived a jar. A big Mason jar with a screw-top lid not fastened down all the way. Inside the jar lived what we called “our pet.” The pet had been living for almost forty years by the time it got to us, handed down from my great-grandmother. Each week, my mother would remove the jar from the fridge and carefully lift the lid, remove the waxed paper from under the lid, and measure out a cup of grayish-white, gloppy substance, which she would then set aside in a bowl covered by a damp kitchen towel. Back into the jar went a half-cup of flour and a half-cup of warm water. Sometimes, she would pour off a sour-smelling yellowish liquid. Sometimes, she’d stir the liquid back into the goop in the bottom of the jar. She never needed to add anything else, and frowned upon my aunts who also had a jar of the pet, but fed theirs yeast water and sugar with the flour...
Learning from Mary in Advent: A Sermon
The focus of the Fourth Sunday of Advent is on Mary. Our Gospel reading recalls the meeting of Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, and Mary. These were two unknown, unimportant women in their own society, but God uses them as the means to begin His work of salvation in Christ. The Gospel begins in the maternity ward. The Psalm today is Mary’s song, praising God for what He has done for her and His people. It is a subversive, revolutionary hymn, for it tells of how God overturns all our ideas about who is important and who is not, Who takes the side of the poor, the lowly, the weak, the outcast, Who fulfills His promises to His people to be their help and salvation...
Sermon for Holy Cross Day 2009
It may seem ironic or perhaps irenic, that on a day when we gather to consider the future of this church and our place within its ministry and mission, we find ourselves at the foot of the cross, in the place of suffering and in the place of death. While we would rather be anywhere else, spending our time and effort on other more productive aspects of our church life, this, brothers and sisters, is where Christ has led us. To put it bluntly, if we dare to dream or claim that we are “a Resurrection people, who pray first and walk together,” we must admit to ourselves and proclaim to the world, along with Christ, that there is no resurrection without death...
Take the Test: A Sermon on Genesis 22:16
Today we’re radicals because we’ve read Genesis 22 out loud in church on the near sacrifice of Isaac. Many Christians today are saying that these Bible verses shouldn’t be read in church because they scare children–traumatizing them with the thought that God might also ask their parents to kill them. So why have we today, blithely and a bit recklessly, waded into these deep and dangerous waters?...
Christ beyond Fear: A Sermon
Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." The peace that Jesus brings is not the sort of peace we could ever think up for ourselves, St. Paul tells us. Writing to the Philippians, Paul tells us that “the peace of God passes all understanding” but it “will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (4:7). That doesn’t sound like the peace we mean or the peace we want. It doesn’t sound like the peace that will make the fears and chaos and struggle of our lives today go away and make us solvent, safe, and secure again. How can our hearts and minds feel peace when everything around us is going to pieces?...
Sermon of Straw #16
Here we are at the end of James. Let’s take a look at what we’ve figured out about this little book so far. It’s true James doesn’t have a lot to say about Jesus. In fact, the book mentions Jesus only once! It doesn’t give us any details about his life or reminders of his crucifixion for our sins or hope based in his resurrection. That is, of course, what prompted Luther to say that James is an epistle of straw. But straw isn’t worthless; it’s actually quite good food for your livestock. You just don’t want to build a house out of it in case the big bad wolf comes around...
Sermon of Straw #15
Today James urges Christians to pray – to pray for ourselves as we confess our sins and cry out for healing; to pray in happy times with songs of praise; to pray for one another in the church; to ask the pastors (the elders) of the church to pray for the sick and anoint them with oil; to pray for those that have wandered away from fellowship in the Gospel. James presents prayer as a great gift from God’s gracious hand, for surely God wants to hear our prayers. James tells us that the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working...
Sermon of Straw #14
Children can be rather impatient, as you all know. There is really only one exception to that rule, and that is when somebody is baking Christmas goodies. Then kids are not rather impatient; they are totally impatient. They can’t wait until the goodies come out of the oven: they come back to check the timer every minute or so, hoping that ten minutes have gone by; they give orders to take the cookies out of the oven right now, because they are sure the cookies really are done; and when the cookies finally do come out, they ignore any warnings about how hot those cookies might be. Stuff one in the mouth; run around like a wild man because it’s hot, hot, hot; then do the same thing with another one. A mom looking to stock up on cookies for Christmas Day has to be careful to keep hungry hands off of the cookies, or they’ll all disappear before they’re needed...
Sermon of Straw #13
James seems to give us a sure-fire guaranteed method for health using oil, which was the medicine of the day. Jesus has a radically different solution for our problems, and his solution involves the use of a well-oiled chain saw...
Sermon of Straw #12
One of the things I enjoy most about my annual vacation is worshiping with other congregations. I feel kind of like a homemaker who, after planning, preparing and serving family meals day after day, welcomes the chance to go out and enjoy a meal planned, prepared and served by someone else...
Sermon of Straw #11
Today James tells us perhaps the most obvious fact in the world. Words have power. Indeed let me say it again. Our words have power! Today James wants us to do more than to recognize the obvious. James wants us to pay attention to the obvious. Both how we speak and what we have to say has tremendous power to heal or to destroy. As tiny as the human tongue is, it can be a lethal weapon or a skilled tool for building people up and even restoring them. James reminds us that we Christians are not our own. We belong to God...
Sermon of Straw #10
My wife and I have a friend from our seminary days whose mother kept telling as she grew up, “You’re going to marry a pastor.” The young woman kind of scoffed at the idea— nothing wrong with pastors, you see, but being married to one, that was a different story. She went off to college, and she met a man, and she married him—and the guy wasn’t even a Lutheran! Here she was, her life in her hands, and her mother’s predictions proven false. Then life threw her a curve ball—or maybe her husband pitched it, or maybe even God himself...
Sermon of Straw #9
The second lesson for the past few weeks has come from the letter of James, the brother of Jesus, an often overlooked gem of the New Testament. In today’s text, he continues to write very practical words about the struggles that we Christians face as we seek to live as God would have us live, and as we want to live. One particular verse here is on my heart this morning, verse 16 of chapter 5: “Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed.”...