Prepare Ye

This is the written text of my message for our Service of the Ashes services. Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, is a day when we remember how truly lost we would be without Jesus Christ. I have a phrase for you to ponder. You are dust, and to dust you shall return. This is my least favorite action as a pastor. I have to individually tell people whom I have come to know and care about that you are going to die. We know that we will all eventually die. We just don’t talk about it. Except on this day, I tell you, “You are dust, and to dust you shall return.” And in case that was too subtle for you, I take ashes and mark your foreheads with a cross. It’s not just that you will die, but you are going to decompose as well. But Ash Wednesday is also one of my favorite days to preach on. Because I want to take that depressing proclamation, You are dust, and to dust you shall return,” and show you how this is a good thing because it all comes from God. I’m going to die and deco...

This is th e text I worked from for my sermons (I serve 2 churches) on Su nday, Decem ber 17, just two days after the school shooting in Newto wn, CT. Because of the program put on by the very talented children in our Sunday School program, I had intended only to speak a message to our children, although the adults are always welcome to listen in, focusing on the reading from Philippians 4. We were going to talk about rejoicing. That’s why the Hymn of the day was, “Rejoice, Rejoice Believers!” While our children did an excellent job, and told a glorious story, I don’t think today is a day for rejoicing, given the tragedy that occurred on Friday in Newtown, CT. I have heard from friends and strangers, in person, on TV, through social media, people have asked “How could God allow this to happen?” “Where was God?” I will admit that I have asked that myself. And I’ve prayed. I still do not understand why. Why would someone feel the need to kill innocents? ...

--> This is my manuscript for the Reformation Sunday services. The actual sermon was pretty much like this.   Today we commemorate the Reformation of the church. We remember it’s beginning from October 31, 1517, when Father Martin Luther, a Catholic priest, nailed his 95 Thesis to the front door of the Wittenberg Castle Cathedral. Copies of those theses have been included in your bulletins, as well as attached to the doors of our church. I didn’t think it was a good idea to put them on the doors at St. Mary’s. If you read through Luther’s 95 Thesis, you will see that they have to do with the forgiveness of sins, and abuses he believed the priests in Germany were taking in requiring penance and selling indulgences, granting forgiveness for sins that you had not yet committed or purchasing the forgiveness of sins of those who have died. Luther was concerned that the act of forgiving sins was focused too much on the priest granting people forgiveness, and what the pers...

And here is the sermon I wish I would have given. From the Sarcastic Lutheran .

This is the manuscript I wrote for my sermon for Sunday, October 9, on Matthew's Parable of the Wedding Banquet and the Underdressed Guest, but also touching on the other lessons for the day ( Isaiah ,  Psalm 23 , and Phillipians 4. ) The final product resembled this, but I cut parts of the opening. On my computer, my screen saver is called “Best Pics.” It is a random slideshow of around 200 pictures that I have selected. Most of the pictures are from my time at Seminary, because I got a digital camera from the people I worked with as a going away gift. (Which says something – but that’s a different topic.) Now, I have a really good camera on my cell phone, so I can take picture almost anytime. In the slideshow, there are pictures of me at various events and locations, and pictures that I took. I’ve scanned in some pictures that were taken by cameras with actual film. Some people have their collection of pictures displayed on the walls and tables of their homes, or tucked a...

For some reason, I've started writing my sermons as manuscripts, and then making outlines out of them.This week (for Sunday, September 18), I'm trying something REALLLLLLLLY different. My sermon took the form of six one-person monologues. The text is the Parable of the Vineyard Workers, ( Matthew 20.1-16 ) Worker Who Was There All Day (The person is on the phone, and waves to the congregation.) Hey yeah, c’mon in. I’m on hold. Did you hear? Did you hear what happened today? I’m calling the Labor Relations Board. About the vineyard and how unjust that man is? The landowner that’s who. You DID hear what happened? I get up early, like I always do, and go down to the marketplace to wait for the managers to come and hire people. The owner shows up … yeah, the big guy. He picks me and a bunch of other guys. We’re out there by 6 am, and we are working all day. And you know how hot it was out there today. Hold on, sorry, still on hold.  So every few hours some more guys keep com...

  This is the manuscript I wrote on Saturday to create an outline from which to preach from on Sunday, September 11, 2011. I didn't stick to it. (I never do.) I've added in some of what I remember saying at the two services. Some of this I used, some I didn't but it all went into the stew, and each congregation got a different mix of veggies and meat in service today. Peter asks Jesus how often you must forgive someone who has sinned against you. This comes from the passage just before this, last week’s Gospel lesson, about what you are to do if someone sins against you. For those of you who weren’t here, let me recap: You are to talk to the person face to face so they understand what they did and how it affected you. If that doesn’t work, then you are to take a couple of friends with you and talk to the person again, again so they understand how what they did has wronged you. Should that not work, then bring the matter, and the person, before the congregation, again pres...

Here is the manuscript version of my sermon from today (September 4) based upon the Matthew 18:15-20 text.) Once upon a time, there was a young man who came from the land of cars, who decided to wander about. He went from the land of cars to the land of where a great battle was fought, then he went and lived on a mountain in the South for a while, then wound up in the land of milk, cheese and butter. And he enjoyed himself in the land of milk, cheese and butter. The people in the land of milk, cheese and butter were nice to the young man from the land of cars. They even let him be their leader one day a week. But then they found out something about the young man from the land of cars. He didn’t pay honor and tribute to the rulers of the land of milk, cheese and butter. He did not bow in reverence when their name was called. “The Green Bay Packers.” He did not ritually wear the Green and the Gold. He did not tremble at the name of Rodgers; he was not in awe of the golden locks of...