My dear friends: Life is like a pair of bookends. We all begin the same way: we are conceived. And what’s true for one is true for all: we are all conceived in sin. And the end comes in a thing called death. Death takes different modes. Sometimes it can be catastrophic, sometimes painful, often it’s just like falling asleep. But it’s still death. It’s the closing bookend. The final chapter.
Unless you are a Christian. The beginning is still the same. We are all conceived in sin. At that point, we are “one of the crowd.” …For more, click on the title above.
Tag: Pastor von Hindenburg
Rightly calling on God in our day of trouble
The verse “If the world hates you, know that it hated me first,” is from our Gospel text appointed for this day as we celebrate the Feast of Saints Simon and Jude.
Let me be honest. That’s not a very uplifting verse to open a sermon on a festival day in the Church. However, when you compare it to our Psalm appointed for this day, it sounds rather tame.
Did you listen to that Psalm. I’m going to repeat some of the verses because I know that in a rather long reading it’s easy to be tuned out for a portion. The psalm opened with these words,
“Contend, O Lord, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me!”
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Who is your master?
Our selected verse upon which we will meditate this day reads as follows: “Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God.”
Another translation of that passage changes the first word from “blessed” to “happy.” You can see that on the bulletin cover.
Happy is he whose help and hope is the God of Jacob. I like that translation because our Gospel text for today kind of explores the opposite of choosing the God of Jacob—the one in whom we put our trust—to be our Master….For more, click on the title above.
The pharisee and tax collector
Our meditation this morning is based on our Gospel text from St. Luke. Now, this account is introduced as a parable by Luke, but it’s not a comparison like many other parables.
Let me explain. Luke doesn’t begin, “The Kingdom of God is like two men going to the Temple to pray.” Nope. It’s just a story. One day this happened. One day, two men, one a Pharisee, the other, a tax collector, went to the Temple to pray. …For more, click on the title above.
Necessity for worship
The focus of our meditation during Lawrencetide is Sanctification and Holy Absolution.
God calls His people to offer their sacrifices with thanksgiving, to keep their vows to Him with faith, and to pray to Him in their time of need. To put it simply, “What do we do?” and “What do we receive?” as we gather to worship here in the Lord’s house? After all my years in the ministry, this is still one of my favorite questions: What are we doing here?
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‘Let all the earth fear the Lord’
Well, what do you think? Is it a good idea to lead with the LAW? Of Him all the inhabitants of the world should be in dread.
I guess one could say that it does grab one’s attention. But if that was all we heard it would leave us living a life of fear and trepidation. One can justify having these words as the antiphon, if, as we have discussed especially during this year of the Psalm, it points to the theme of the Divine Service. But this can only be true when it is guaranteed that these words will be expounded on and not just left hanging for people to figure out what they mean…and especially, what they mean to you….For more, click on the title above.
Cast me not away
I ask you to join with me in prayer….Really, actually Please, I want you to join me as we pray together the words of the antiphon. (You can find that on inside of your bulletin.) These words also serve as the theme of our worship service:
O Lord God heavenly Father – (together) Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Amen. …For more, click on the title above.
Who is your Shepherd?
This can be a dangerous thing to do in a sermon—especially right at the beginning—but I’m going to ask you to close your eyes and visualize this scene: A shepherd is standing on a hillside surrounded by his flock. They are laying or grazing on green grass and in the distance is a shimmering lake….the water as still as a mirror, reflecting the bright light of the sky. …For more, click on the title above.
Do we need more evidence?
Can these bones live?
Ezekiel is brought to a massive bone heap—dry bones scattered from one end to the other of the valley. Lest we forget, they were people once. They lived and breathed, they laughed and loved and played, they fought and died.
Now all that is left of them are these bones – dry and brittle. Not yet turned to dust, but well on the way. And the big question put to the prophet by the Lord: “Can these bones live?” …For more, click on the title above.