Matthew 4:1-11; Romans 5:12-19

A Sermon for the First Sunday in Lent

What is the problem? That’s what the texts for today are asking.

Paul Tillich said that Luther’s question: “How can I find a gracious God?” may have been true in Luther’s time, but that’s no longer true today. Rather the question today is: Is there a God at all? Does God exist?

There have been a number of public intellectuals, atheists, who have taken up the question: Does God exist? And they have answered: No. Most well-known are those called the New Atheists (Harris, Dawkins, Dennett, and others). Each of them in their own way makes what’s called a category error. They judge religion by the rules of a certain kind of logic and science. It’s like judging the Mona Lisa by analyzing the chemistry of the paint Leonardo Da Vinci used. That’s a category error.

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Matthew 17:1-9

A Sermon for Transfiguration Sunday

On this festival Sunday we have this strange text in which Jesus goes up the mountain and he is transfigured, whatever that is. It seems to have something to do with glory, with brightness. But in any case, what is this about?

We find this account in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, but not in John. It helps us end or close the season of Epiphany, this season of the light coming forth, and it helps us look forward to the glory of Easter.

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Corinthians 1:18-31

A Sermon for the Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

When we have funerals here, we expect that some of the friends of the deceased who come will not be Christian but people of other faiths or no faith.

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One of our supporters is an early modern historian (a few still exist), who became alarmed at the evangelical tone of Advent study materials used in her LCMS congregation. She wrote to us, where her letter is given below.

Dear Lutherans: Stop Co-opting Evangelical Language

American Evangelicals are both numerous and loud—which means that their language for religion and faith has come to dominate the public sphere. Because this Evangelical rhetoric is so readily available, it is often the first language that we grasp for. It dominates “Christian” education, music, literature, art, and spirituality. But Lutherans—and other high-church and confessional Christians, such as Catholics, Orthodox, and Presbyterians—need to be careful about parroting such language. Not only does it erase our own unique confessional identity, but it also confuses us about the most important issues of faith and belief.

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1 Cor 1:10-21

A Sermon for the Third Sunday after Epiphany

In our 1 Corinthians text for today, Paul is talking about all the quarreling among the Christians in Corinth. There were factions. There were those who say they belong to Paul, and others who belong to Apollos, and still others who belong to Peter, and those who belong to Christ. Things weren’t going well. It had become a matter of personalities.

Paul had to deal with that throughout his career because it had become evident that he wasn’t an impressive person. It seems he might have been an epileptic, or he might have stuttered, or he might have had bad eyesight.

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