Matthew 24:36-44

A sermon for the Second Sunday of Advent

Many people know the 2002 movie, “Catch me if you can.” It’s the true story of a twenty-one year old young man, a skilled forger, who passes himself off as a doctor, a lawyer, a pilot and the FBI agent who pursues this young man over the course of several years.

There is also a children’s game: “Catch me if you can.” It’s similar to tag and hide and seek.

We play this game with God as well. Most of all, it’s a game of good works. The whole New Testament is full of exhortations to do good works. It says in the Sermon on the Mount:  “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). It’s not only there but is found throughout the New Testament. In 1 Peter 1:15-16: “As he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy’” (Leviticus 11:44). It’s the same in Romans 10:5 and Galatians 3:21.

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Romans 4:5

A sermon for Christ the King Sunday

Today marks the end of the season of Pentecost in the Christian calendar. We’re usually not conscious of the fact that the season of Pentecost is divided into four parts. The first part is about the greening, the awakening of nature, the second about seeding, the third part about growth, and the fourth part of the Pentecost season is about harvest. The same is true for the hymns. They, too, are about the harvest.

What will be the yield and the quality of the harvest? When will the end come? We know that people are calculating the time of the end. There was a time when some people misused the Mayan calendar to figure out the time of the end. And more recently New Age spiritualists have said that because of the alignment of the planets, we know the end is coming, and you had better get ready. We kind of smile and tolerate these prophets of the end times.

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Hebrews 9:27-28

A sermon for a Sunday toward the end of the Pentecost Season

At this season of the church year we look at “the last things.” What happens at the end? This means we proclaim Christ as the Almighty, but we also consider judgment and hell and the final sorting out of everything.

Hebrews 9:27 says it is appointed for all to die and then comes judgment. We know, however, that judgment and hell aren’t taken very seriously in the modern world.

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1 Tmothy 2:5

A sermon for All Saints Sunday

Fifty years ago Protestants didn’t celebrate All Saints Sunday. Now this Sunday has been transformed into a time of psychological comfort for those who have lost someone in the last year.

This festival raises three questions. First, who are the saints? Second, when they are no longer here, what is their situation? Third, can we communicate with them?

Behind such questions lies the big question: How do we decide such questions? How do you get there? Within the Christian church the real question has always been: What is salvation?

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A sermon for Reformation Sunday

The festival of the Reformation is often not celebrated today because it was long ago and things have changed. It took place in a university and involved complicated and abstract thinking. Now things are different. We are no longer fighting with the Catholics, and the important thing is to look to the future, work ahead, and not be focused on the past. But the “one thing needful” (Luke 10:42) has been lost.

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