Luke 2:14, Romans 16:25-27

A Sermon for the Fourth Sunday of Advent

What makes Christmas? First of all, there are the things we commonly do, the traditions, made up of colors like red and green, silver and gold that glitter and shine, and call to mind what is precious. There are also lights and candles and tinsel that sparkle and twinkle. There are special foods and desserts. There is the great music of Christmas, and, of course, the presents, which makes everything mysterious and exciting. It’s a time when families get together as the older generations connect with the younger ones as they together help make Christmas what it is.

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Additional Christmas sermons can be found on the Series B sermon page.

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John 1:6-8, 19-28

A sermon for the Third Sunday in Advent

This year on the First Sunday of Advent we had the verse from Isaiah that Luther lifted up repeatedly: “All our righteous deeds are filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). Then the Second Sunday of Advent we had that Advent message: “Wake, awake for night is flying.” Wake up. But we don’t wake up and we can’t. Rather, God does it. As we can see there is a real progression in this season of Advent – our best works are sinful, we don’t wake up as we should – which means that we are now faced with a huge question: Since God does it, does that mean that everybody is saved? We can quote Scripture, for example, 2 Peter 3:9 that God’s will is that “none should perish.” Or does this mean, as the Psalmist says, that if the Lord would count iniquities, who could stand? None of us. Is there then really no hope?

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2 Peter 3:8-15a

A Sermon for the Second Sunday in Advent

In this rather unusual text in 2 Peter, the question is raised: How come it keeps on going? How come life continues as before? After all, the Lord has come. He has sent his Son to die on the cross to settle the whole thing. How come it keeps on going?
One of the answers the author gives, quoting Psalm 90:4, is that God thinks in different kinds of time. One day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day (2 Peter 3:8).

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A Sermon for Christ the King Sunday

In the church year this Sunday is New Year’s Eve and the new year begins next Sunday, the first Sunday of Advent. As we typically do on New Year’s Eve, we take stock of what has been and look ahead at what is to come.

Looking back at this past year we see that Christian churches in our country and elsewhere are struggling, as we are individually, due to a volatile world, financial pressures, and a corrosive secularism. On top of all that is the ominous rise of Islamic jihad and a timid, confused response by many Christian leaders.

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