Ephesians 1:3-14

A Sermon for the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

One of the greatest engineers of all time was Archimedes (287-212 BC). We know that he shouted “Eureka!” when he figured out how to weigh things in water, and we know his statement about the lever: “Give me a long enough lever and I will move the world.”

But what happened at the end of his life is equally as important. According to the story, he was in the gymnasium in Syracuse in Sicily, during the Siege of Syracuse. At that time, it was a Greek colony. He doing calculations in the sand when the barbarians stormed into the gymnasium. Engrossed in solving his math problem, Archimedes held up his hands and said: “Don’t disturb my circles!” But they didn’t speak Greek and thought he was resisting them, so they killed him.

That is in a way what this text in Ephesians 1:3-14 is about. This is the classical spot, the place where it says: “God did it; God does it.” It says there in verse 4: “. . . he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.” Well, what does that say in terms of what’s happening around us today?

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2 Corinthians 12:2-10

A Sermon for the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

Here we are on a hot Sunday in July, and many others are off vacationing in the shade. Why are we here? Perhaps you wish you were on vacation in the shade, but it’s good you are here because life and death issues are at stake.

The assigned Epistle lesson for today is about the “thorn in the flesh.” People have heard that phrase, that metaphor. It’s familiar in our language. Most people, however, don’t know where it is, and what it’s about. Is it like a painful sliver or hangnail? No, that’s not what it’s about.

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Lamentations 3:23-33

A Sermon for the Sixth Sunday of Pentecost

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him’” (Lamentations 3:22-24).

We think of prayer as “asking,” but prayer is also about “praising.” We are familiar with the hymn “Great is thy Faithfulness,” which has been around for about a hundred years. People are often surprised to find out that this hymn is based on these verses I just read from the third chapter of Lamentations.

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Mark 4:35-41

A Sermon for the Fifth Sunday of Pentecost

One again, we are asking: What is the problem? Without a problem you have no need for an answer. This Sunday we come to a very particular kind of problem, that is, nature. Of course, all the events in our lives have to do with nature, but here we have this unusual event, and that event is in the fourth chapter of Mark.

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Mark 4:26-34

A sermon for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

It’s early summer and the crops in the fields are growing. But if a dry heat comes, the crops can all burn out. Insects and hail can also wreak havoc. Farmers better buy crop insurance. Who know what the market will be? It’s a guessing game. You could just as well go to Vegas, but then you’d lose the fun of farming.

Once again, we ask: What is the problem? If there’s no problem or no question, then there’s no great need of a solution or answer. We have seen in this Season of Pentecost that we have a serious problem.

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