Acts 2:1-11

A Sermon for Pentecost Sunday

Today is a festival Sunday, Pentecost, when we celebrate the Holy Spirit who descends like the rush of a mighty wind and with tongues of fire.

A month ago, the ELCA Church Council elected a new executive for administration; her name is Rachel Wind. The press release about her election quotes her saying: “I am humbled by the opportunity to step into this position at this moment in the life of the church. The Holy Spirit is up to something, and I’m grateful to be part of it.”

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John 17:1-11

A Sermon for the Seventh Sunday after Easter

Today is all about glory. It is the last Sunday of the Easter season. Last Thursday, May 14th, was the Festival of the Ascension, which marks the end of Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances and the bodily ascension of Jesus into heaven.

Today we celebrate the fact that the victory is his, and we are in him, and therefore the victory is ours as well.

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John 14:22-31

A Sermon for the Sixth Sunday after Easter

The universal sign of Christian faith and Christian people is the cross, and rightly so because it is only through the cross that we know what sin is, and it is only through the cross that we know about salvation. “It is finished” (John 19:30) through the cross.

It comes to us in Baptism. And we wonder: Does it work? How does it work?

We have the idea that Baptism is like a kick start. It’s like how you would kick start a motorcycle, but then you have to drive it and make it happen. Surely, we have to do something today to make it real, to make it work.

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John 14:1-14

A sermon for the Fifth Sunday after Easter

It was just a year ago (May 8, 2025), that the Roman Catholic Church elected a new pope. He took the name Leo XIV.

Ten days after his election there was an elaborate ceremony called an investiture or inauguration, in which he was given the authority and regalia of the papacy.

During this ceremony a pallium is put around his neck. A pallium is a white “Y” shaped stole worn backwards. It’s important because a pallium was also traditionally put around the neck of a new Roman Emperor when he was crowned. The pallium is a relic of the fact that the Roman Catholic Church was established in the image of the Holy Roman Empire.

Another regal papal symbol has been a crown or tiara. All popes from the 9th century (Nicholas 1, 858) until the 1970’s were crowned with a papal tiara or triple crown. But back in 1978, Pope John Paul I (Pope for only 33 days) discontinued that practice, and popes after him followed his lead.

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Psalm 23

A Sermon for the Fourth Sunday of Easter

“We do not grieve as others do,” writes Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:13. “We not grieve as others do who have no hope.” Hope is a tentative word by which we mean: Maybe yes, but maybe no. Or: “I hope so,” but it may not come to be because there there’s a lot that could go wrong.

In 1 Peter 1:3, it says: “We have a living hope.” We can then use Psalm 23 to bring out what that “hope” is and the promises that are there.

We read this Psalm as New Testament Christians. In order to be very clear about it, we’re using the RSV which is very dependent and properly so on the KJV over against other translations.

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