Got behind again with posting sermons. So, here are a bunch, with a tidbit from each. There is no 5th Sunday after Pentecost Sermon as I was on Vacay for my sis' wedding.
Sermon Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost
Some times the works of Christ wear upon us, the anxieties of all that must be done overwhelm, and we weep for those who die. But, the lives we change shine greatly. The crosses we bear into weary places lift other crosses. Our giving of ourselves leads to others new lives. The giving of Christ's life leads to new life for all.
Sermon Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
When we declare Jesus as Messiah, as the one who frees us, it puts us to work. We are free, to serve. We are free, and mission begins. In communion we are fed, and we go out to nourish. We are freed from the chaos of sin, so that we can go out into the chaos of those hurting around us showing them the messiah that frees them.
Sermon Ninth Sunday after Pentecost
In this text we are that woman afraid and concerned about the welfare of her child and the world around us, afraid when people insult us and tell us we are not worthy, tell us that we are not the ones Christ is sent to. And in this text Christ gives us a crumb, all that is needed. But, Christ does not stop, for now we are that crowd, and Christ feeds us and even though only a crumb would suffice, Christ now gives us the hunger filling bread of life and the thirst quenching wine of compassion. Where Christ's mission was only to a few, with grace sufficient for all, now Christ's mission is to all nations, still with grace overflowing.
Sermon Eighth Sunday after Pentecost
Jesus may send us into the waves of life, into the storms of chaos that surround us, but when he does so, Jesus sends us out together, in the boat of the church, united in Christ's Death and Resurrection. And when, not if, we think we know better, we get out of the boat, heading out on our own path, the storms overwhelm us, and we sink. Immediately, as we sink, Jesus reaches out to us. Jesus reaches into the storms of life, into the waves which pressure us, the winds that buffet us, and gives us calm and brings us back into the fold, back into the boat.
Sermon Seventh Sunday after Pentecost
Christ's feast is a place where all are equal and all are welcome, where we will not be sent home because there is not enough. It is a place where we do not have to whole in order to feast, a place where we do not need to pay in order to eat. It is a place where Christ takes a few loaves of ordinary bread and through them does wonders. Christ does such great wonders with ordinary people like us, like those around us, like those in the rest of the ELCA, and all Christians throughout the world. Through being fed in simple abundance we have the strength to show that the love of Christ is enough for all the world.
Sermon Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
Our expectations tell us that we have work to do, that we have to plant the correct seeds, that we have bread to make, and we fail at those things. Our expectations are dashed, destroyed, devoured. And to that God tells us, I love you, nothing can take that love away from you. God takes the little that we are capable of doing, things so small that we cannot even see them, places where we think we have failed and creates abundance from them. God takes our expectations and exceeds them beyond our very comprehension.
Sermon Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
In this parable what we learn of God is that God sows. God sows, and sows and sows and sows. God never stops sowing. And with wild abandon, God seems to not be concerned about where the seed lands, just that it is spread. God throws the seed of the word to every corner that we can hide ourselves. Sometimes it does not connect with us at that moment, at times when we may be on rocky soil, or on the path, but at the time when we need it the most, when we sit on good soil, it stays and grows within us, bringing forth life abundantly. Every time we read the word, every time we receive the bread and wine, every time we feel a curious twitch run through us, every moment of every moment. God sows into us grace. God sows into us love.
