Category: Sermons

Matthew 20:1-16

A Sermon for the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

What does “mission” mean? It means “to be sent.” We know that a majority of Christians are now in the Southern Hemisphere even though we should also point out that because Chinese Christians are being persecuted, their numbers are increasing (Tertullian: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”). Many in the Western world leave Christianity every day because they become secular. The table has also been turned over the source of missionaries. The largest number of missionaries proportionally, except for small groups, is from South Korea. The whole world of mission is different from what it used to be a generation ago.

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We offer three different sermons for Shepherd Sunday:

1. A Sermon for Shepherd Sunday
2. The Lord is My Shepherd
3. The Good Shepherd Lays Down His Life for His Sheep

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Luke 24:35

A sermon for the Second Sunday after Easter

What do we talk about when we get together?

The weather, for sure. And gas prices and grocery prices. We talk about unusual accidents or happenings around town and in the wider world. We avoid politics and religion, except when we are among like-minded friends. For the most part we talk about things that are important to us, that affect us.

When we have particularly good news to share, we are like that woman in the parable in Luke 15, who, when she found the coin she had lost, called together her friends and neighbors and said (15:9): “Rejoice with me for I had found the coin which I had lost!”

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A Sermon for Palm Sunday

Yesterday was April Fools Day, the day for pranks. One of the great pranks of all times was the spaghetti-tree hoax in 1957. That day the leading BBC anchorman began the news with a story about the spaghetti growing on trees in Switzerland. He reported that there was a good crop because it had been a mild season, and they had conquered the spaghetti weasel. The newscaster then showed pictures of people taking the spaghetti off the trees. They talked about the problem of growing each strand the same length. It was magnificent because at that time there were many people unfamiliar with spaghetti because it was an exotic food for Great Britain. People watching the news accepted this news story as true.

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A sermon for Maunday Thursday

In 2005 a group of atheists produced a film titled, “The God Who Wasn’t There.” They claimed that religion is oppressive and should be eliminated. In their ad for the film, they say that the Jesus of the Gospels is a myth and bears a striking resemblance to mythical heroes.

A few years ago a report on the BBC said that in England over a billion Easter eggs would be sold to celebrate the birth of Jesus. There were complaints about the report: To celebrate the birth of Jesus? The BBC issued a correction: “To celebrate the rebirth of Jesus.” Finally someone got to them and said: “How about the resurrection?”

There is an appalling ignorance among us about what the Gospel stories are about. (The people behind the film, “The God Who Wasn’t There,” these well-known figures, Dawson, Danet, Harris, and Christopher Hitchens, have a point.) We are unaware of origins and similarities. On the other hand, it is all really old hat. What they are saying today was said at the time of the French Revolution in 1790 where there was a school of thought that said Jesus did not even exist. It was all a myth. This occurred again between 1900 and 1910. This is old stuff. Nevertheless, we can easily be confused because we have not bothered to learn what the Gospel accounts are and how we sort it out.

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