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Today the last two prophets, Simeon and Anna, see the baby Jesus, and prophecy now ceases. They were ready to see Him. Are you?

Have you ever wondered about God's timing? Of all the times in human history when God could have, might have, sent His Son into the world was it 2000+ years ago? What motivated or moved God to prepare for that night?

Today we have three messengers to deal with in our text from Malachi. How do you distinguish between these three is important, for only one is the messenger of the covenant who will be born on December 25th. Why is Malachi's prophecy so important in helping us know who to follow and when?

Wow. What an election year. The legacy news and social media alike brewing and breeding fear across the nation. FEAR! "Be afraid for whoever wins will destroy your world!" I swear, it's as if the sky were falling in on all of us. What should you do?

The 4 last Sundays of the Curch year, before Advent begins, are difficult texts to deal with. They talk about the Lord God's return to the final judgment in which those who believe in Him will go to eternal life with Him, but those who do not will face their judgment. To that end, Jesus tells the parable of the Fig Tree, providing one last chance for eh Jewish unbelievers to faith in Him and live. Today we discuss "barren fruit".

All Saints' Day is the day we Christians remember those who have passed from this world into their eternal rest, having confessed Christ as their Savior. An old hymn refrain sings, "How I want to be in that number." But "want" seems to imply that there might be some doubt that you will be numbered with the saints. Scripture offers you tokens to claim when doubt enters in so that you know that you definitely will be numbered with the saints. Listen.

We know the parable as the importune or badgering neighbor. Is it about the neighbor? Or is it about his neighbor whom he wakes up at midnight for a loaf of bread? How does this relate anything to the Lord's Prayer? Middle Eastern context gives us clues as to what Jesus was getting at, and it has nothing to do about persistence or badgering.

This 19th Sunday in Pentecost is dedicated to St. Michael and All Angels. September 29 is the Archangel Michael's time to shine along with all the angels who protect Christians daily in their walk through life. What is YOUR angle on angels? Listen up.

In the 1960s, I believe it was comedian Flip Wilson who coined the phrase, "Here comes the judge!" He used it often in his routines. Today, in Jesus' parable, a widow seeks justice against her adversaries from a judge but barely finds it. The Lord promises that justice will come quick when he returns to the earth. Will God's children be spared? Will they also be judged? How will they be judged? Find out.

Decades ago, George Carlin had a comedy sketch about "stuff". The accumulation of "stuff", the storage of "stuff", etc. why do we have so much "stuff" AND what are we going to do with it? Jesus parable answers that question.

Are you a baby? Do you cry all the time? Why?

We all know the story of the Good Samaritan. But who is the Good Samaritan? Do you want to be like him, rather than the priest and the Levite who pass by the injured man on the road? Well, you can't, and you never will. Here's why...

We all know the parable of the Prodigal Son, but what is the final outcome of the older brother. The parable leaves us hanging without a conclusion. The question is WHY? Jesus knew what He was doing when he did this. This parable is the last of three parables Jesus tells in succession, and the punch line is the key in the Prodigal Son. Listen why.

This begins a series on parables found only in the Gospel of Luke. Today, the Pharisee, Jesus and the sinful woman are at a banquet feast. Things don't go as planned for the Pharisee when a prostitute enters the room. What will Jesus' reaction be to this banquet gone awry?

Are you "into God?" Christians say we were baptized in the name of the Triune God. Do we merely carry His name upon us as believers? This Trinity Sunday, we explore the riches of the what if means to believe in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit by taking a look at St. Patrick and Shakespeare.

If you get Christ right, you get the right Christ. It's simple. When you hear God's own testimony concerning His som you avoid the pitfalls of falling into traps of false prophets telling to do this or that in order to be a Christian. Do you get Christ?

A celebration of life for Doris Evans, 93 years old called to Jesus side.

Rev. Greg Klotz accepts the invitation from Resurrection Lutheran Church in Brentwood, California, to today's sermon on a familiar post-Easter text: Doubting Thomas.

Rev. Andrew Mundinger of Holy Cross Lutheran in Concord, California, preaches on one of the "I Am" texts in the the Gospel of John. "I am the Good Shepherd" is the theme of this Sunday's worship.

The original ending to MARk's Gospel probably ended at verse 8. Mark 16:9-20f may have been added by Mark at a future date. Earliest manuscripts indicate the shorter reading...why would Mark end his Gospel with the fear and bewilderment of the women who came to the tomb? AND...nobody saw Jesus. We explore how this shorter ending fits into Mark's overall goal in keeping it short and to the point in a remarkable yet bewildering way.

Pastor Mundinger preaches on the story of Thomas who doubting wants to see Jesus in the flesh before believing in His resurrection. But, did Thomas doubt? Or, was Thomas requesting to confirm and affirm what He knew to be true by faith; namely, what He has to look forward to in the end.

Today is the last Sunday Grace Lutheran Church will be worshipping in this building. In 1931, when Grac eLutheran Church began, nobody thought they would go to sleep, and wake up to the last Sunday they would be in their church building. On Good Friday, Jesus went to "sleep" and "woke up" on Easter Sunday replacing death with life, sin ridden bodies into imperishable and incorruptible spiritual bodies. We don't know, however, when we go to sleep, when, or where, or how we will wake up. But for those who believe in Jesus Christ, we are only strengthened in our faith that we will wake up in God's arms as JEsus did.

Palm Sunday and Jesus rides into Jerusalem. “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” (John 12:13). Wow, the crowds were ecstatic! But today is also called the “Sunday of the Passion,” because by the end of the week the crowds are shouting, “Crucify him!” (Mark 15:14). Have you ever wondered why the crowd changed its tune?   The Bible doesn't explicitly tell us why, butwe can make several intelligent guesses.

Back in 1925, Eddie Cantor took the nation by storm with his roaring-twenties hit:  “If you knew Susie, like I know Susie, oh, oh, oh what a gal!”  Everyone wanted to know Susie, and who wouldn't. She was lively, fun, a party girl.  She was the center of attention when she walked into the room.  This was the 1920s – a decade of extravagance, free and wild living, and she was wild.  Whatever it was that Susie had, it was working for her.  She smiled when she was supposed to, posed for the camera at every opportunity.  She did all the right things at the right time to get noticed in all the right ways.  Every girl wanted to be like Susie: popular, fun, energetic.  Who wouldn't? But…after the last kiss at the door and her suitor drove away. Susie probably entered an empty apartment, turned on her bedroom light, peeled off her flapper fringe party dress, her eyelashes.  She then sat at her vanity, took her cold cream from the top drawer, and began removing the makeup from her face. 

Lent is a somber time, although we do know this season ends in joy, don't we?.  Yes, Christ is risen; your Savior is alive but in LENT you take the time to focus on repentance and your need for what you know is coming on Easter.  Lent is part of your journey toward eternity with Christ.  Paul says, “God's patient kindness [towards all those living] is meant to lead you to repentance.” (Romans 2:4). So, during this time of year, you reflect on you and your life with a repentant heart. And, obviously, your repentance should be sincere – not just going through the motions, for God searches your heart. In a nutshell, Lenten repentance is done, knowing with confidence that God forgives those who look up to Him. John's Gospel passage today presents you with two reminders to carry you through your Lenten journey: (1) you remember your sins, and (2) you look upon on the cross of Christ for the forgiveness of those sins.  

In preparing for today's sermon, I came across a Bible passage that describes me very well. At least it describes me most of the time. Psalm 14:1 says, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.'” Yup, sometimes that thought has crossed my mind. It's not that I'm a thoroughgoing atheist. Church people get upset by atheism and there's been a new surge of atheism in recent years. But I have plenty of atheist-like moments meaning, I don't trust the power of the cross of Jesus Christ, as if it were never there – never happened. Paul says, “The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18).

When you travel, there are some things you need to leave at home. You need to travel lighter. You may leave your rock collection, for example.  But, you might want to take your blood pressure medicine.  Those are physical things.  What about leaving behind attitudes or emotions.  For instance, you're going to a family reunion for 2 weeks and uncle Ned who talks non-stop, or cousin Genie who can't stop smoking in close quarters.  When you get in the car or plane, you prepare yourself emotionally, and adjust your attitude, “It's only going to be two weeks.  I can handle it.”  And when you get there, you check your attitude at the door.  But on our journey through this world, as Christians, let's talk about our possible attitude: complacency. Let's leave complacency behind.

I remember walking through the woods near our house several times in the Fall, trying to find a cocoon.   We studied about it in science.   I wanted to find one, put it in a jar, and watch it turn from caterpillar to butterfly.   I never found one, and I never saw it happen. In the early Christian church, the symbol for the resurrection was, you guessed it, a butterfly.   Before becoming a butterfly, a caterpillar falls into a death-like swoon and encloses itself in a tomb-like casing only to emerges later a beautiful butterfly. The early Christian symbol was an expression of faith, that believers too will awaken from their sleep with new lives in transformed glorified bodies, as was Christ when He walked out of the tomb. The transformation process from caterpillar to butterfly is called metamorphosis.

I hate interruptions.  Don't you?  Interruptions distract from your final goal and purpose.  Sometimes I get so absorbed in what I'm doing, I just can't be distracted until I'm finished.  For instance, the interruption of having to go to the garage to find the tool you need, and then when you're there forget why you're there.  Man, that's the worst interruption.  Now you must take time, think and retrace your steps, go back to where you started to jog your memory of what you needed.  You remember and start out once again for the garage.  I hate interruptions. There is an interruption in our reading today.  It's the Sabbath, and Jesus takes his first disciples – Simon, Andrew, James and John – to church with Him. It was an interesting experience, to say the least. For all the times that these four men had gone to church, they had never seen anything like what they were about to see on this Sabbath Day.

When you were a child, did you ever play King of the Hill?  Do you remember the game?  We used to play it on the monkey bars at recess or climbing to the top of a mound of freshly plowed snow in the bank parking lot – that's how we played most of the time.  The rules were, first one who pushed and shoved their way up to top was King of the Hill.  But the game didn't end there.  It continued because the king had to show his or her dominance by pushing off all pretenders to the crown.  It was a show of strength and power.  Well, most childhood games reflect on and prepare us for life in the real world. I'm saying that individually, and so also in society, we can't help but play King of the Hill.  It's in our flawed DNA.  It reveals our true nature: “someone has to be on top and it's going to be me.” Today we talk about POWER and AUTHORITY as it appears in our Gospel texts.   

Jesus spoke to a crowd of people on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. For everyone to see and hear Him preaching he asked Peter to let him board his boat and push out a bit from the shore.  With people standing on the shore, and fishermen in the boat, Jesus preaches and teaches about the kingdom of God – to repent and believe for the Kingdom of God was at hand. Then, in a seemingly random way, Jesus tells Peter, “Push out to deeper waters and let down your nets.” Peter does, and the nets nearly broke from so many fish that they had to call James and John to help them pull in the catch. We might think, “OK, Jesus did this to show that He was the Messiah so that they would follow Him.”  People look for signs, wonders, miracles to prove things.  But there is something much deeper the way Luke tells the story, deeper than the sea of Galilee.  Jesus links the nets of the fishermen with the preaching of His Word. Let's revisit the story.

Can anything good come out of Pittsburg? Can anything good come out of Antioch? Or let's be more specific: Can anything good come out of Grace Lutheran this year? Those may be the kinds of questions in the minds of the people with whom we meet and talk. And the attitude behind the questions would be a rather dubious one. Believe it or not, some people may think of an old Lutheran congregation with an old church building, without a large contemporary music and worship services the way they think of seemingly backward and rural towns…..worthless and out of date. Grace Lutheran?  Where's that?  And this, in turn, can create doubts and even embarrassment in your own minds. You might become reluctant or even ashamed to speak up for and invite people to our church.

Who is your favorite superhero, or hero? Do you have one? Can Jesus be considered a superhero? What might the difference be? As we remember His Baptism on this day, we understand the reason why God decided to gift us our Baptisms. Our Baptism is meaningless unless Christ goes into the water with us. Find out why.

Timing is everything.  To be funny, the punch line of any joke needs to be said at the right time.  If not, the whole joke is ruined, the point doesn't get across.  When delicate discussions need to take place, you choose the right moment to begin the conversation. Just like you carefully consider when and how to deliver a punch line to a joke, or when and how to approach someone to talk about a potentially explosive subject, Paul considered which Greek word to use which, in English, simply translates as “time”.  In English we have only this one word, but for Paul the Greek language offered two choices.

It's Christmas Eve! Tonight's sermon features Caravaggio's Nativity painting you can find here: https://mwerickson.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/caravaggio-nativity1600.jpg

Arching over the life of every Christian is the great sacred story of the mighty acts of God. This sacred story is highlighted by the displays of power and strength which mark God's victories over God's enemies. And in scripture, with God's victories, God's people sang in response. The victory songs of the Bible are not rich with personal bravado or chest-pounding strength. They are not even celebrations of nations like a national anthem. Rather, these victory songs all celebrate God—who God is and what God does.

For the next three Wednesdays there will be an ADVENT DEVOTIONAL of storytelling.  Please take time and reflect as we await Christ's birth. Music used in this devotional: “Lo, How A Rose E'er Blooming,” Vocal Majority, from the album The Spirit of Christmas “Breath of Heaven (Mary's Song),” Amy Grant, from the album Home for Christmas “Sleep Precious Babe,” George Beverly Shea, from the album A George Beverly Shea Christmas “Mary did You Know,” Vocal Majority, from the album The Spirit of Christmas “What Child is This,” Gaélica, from the album Luz Navidad Celta Venezolana

Much like being lost in a dead-end trail deep in a forest, David prays for deliverance and rescue from his oppressors by asking God to be is rock and fortress to guide and lead him. He confesses that this is exactly what God is for him, a rock and fortress. He has complete trust that God will lead and guide him out of this situation.  David's specific plea is that God lead and guide him “for His name's sake.”  What does David mean; what is it to pray "according to His name sake?"

For the next two Wednesdays there will be an ADVENT DEVOTIONAL of storytelling.  Please take time and reflect as we await Christ's birth.  Music used in this devotional: “Joseph Dearest, Joseph Mine [feat. Ted Williams],” The William's Duo, from the album A Pennsylvania German Christmas “Joseph Dearest, Joseph Mine,” the Festival Consort, from the album Renaissance Glory – Christmas with the festival Consort “Silent Night,” Frank Sinatra, from the album Jolly Christmas From Frank Sinatra “Away in a Manger,” Alan Jackson, from the album Let it Be Christmas “All is Well,” Vocal Majority, from the album The Spirit of Christmas

This second Sunday in Advent we focus on being renewed through Christ in us. Images abound throughout Scripture as metaphors for descriptions of the human condition. Strength is easily depicted as a lion, or an eagle soaring through the air. But how might you picture weariness or hopelessness? What object, animal, part of nature, might describe weariness or hopelessness? Isaiah has a message for you, as we explore some of these images.

For the next three Wednesdays there will be an ADVENT DEVOTIONAL of storytelling. Please take time and reflect as we await Christ's birth. Music used in this devotional: “It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas,” Bing Crosby, from the album Christmas “Here Comes Santa Claus,” Gene Autry, from the album The Christmas Album “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” Gene Autry, from the album The Christmas Album “O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” Vocal Majority, from the album The Spirit of Christmas “Put Christ Back Into Christmas,” George Beverly Shea, from the album A George Beverly Shea Christmas “Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne,” George Beverly Shea, from the album A George Beverly Shea Christmas

Our series opener this Advent season fosucing each week on Be Born in Us Today. what does Christ bring us? today we focus on His blessings. From among the many, he calls Abraham to carry the seed of his promise to save the world. He calls you, out of the darkness, to enter His marvelous light.

The concept of eternity is difficult to grasp.  We could describe eternity as “timeless” but we use “timeless” differently than “eternity”.  For example, a diamond ring is timeless beauty.  The ruins of Egypt are timeless.  But Pastor Greg's sermons are an eternity; they are not timeless. Jesus had 33 years of time to teach about the impending day of judgment.  We have, at best, 80 years to come to terms with faith and judgment.  Today, we end the church year; next Sunday we begin a new year with Advent.  Today, we focus on the Judgment Day and the coronation of Christ our King of eternity; next Sunday we focus on the birth of that king and begin another cycle of the church year.

I love a phrase from Charles Dickens' Christmas Carol.  Scrooge says to Marley's ghost, “There's more gravy than of the grave about you.”  Scrooge doesn't believe what he sees standing before him, namely Marley's ghost.  He thinks the apparition is caused by some bad foo he ate.  This thanksgiving, I'm sure more than one of us will be like Scrooge, not believing what we're seeing because we are more stuffed than the turkey we ate. The traditional Gospel text for Thanksgiving is from Luke 17 about the healing of the Lepers.  As we read it, our attention is specifically drawn to the Samaritan leper as the one who returned to give thanks to Jesus. Luke makes sure we know that this leper is a Samaritan. 

Pause for a moment and think about a most beloved gift you've received.  For me, it was a camera.  I always played around with my dad's camera, my mom's camera, my dad's Bell and Howell 8mm movie camera – not video.  Finally, when I was thirteen, my parents gave me a Honeywell Pentax Spotmatic 500 Single-Lens Reflex with a screw-thread lens mount developed by Zeiss and Praktika corporations during World War II.  Sharing joy is one part of the message in our parable of the Talents this morning.  The way Jesus tells this parable, it flows out of the prior parable; the parable of the Ten Virgins.  It lets us know we should consider this parable as an extension to the parable of the Ten Virgins.

Even for the most devout Christian, today's parable and the next three makes us feel insecure, fear, or perhaps doubt.  They make us take account of our faith and our actions, our sincerity, our devotedness to follow Jesus.  Both Jesus' and Matthew's intent, however, is to prepare themselves for Judgment Day with vibrant faith which fuels their daily lives and relationships with others.  You, and only you, are held accountable to be faithful both in your confession of Christ as your Savior, and in leading a life of love and mercy, fueled by that faith. These next three parables are a call to be prepared and to not let your guard down in a world that would swallow you, and your faith, whole.  It is Christ who overcomes fear and doubt and you must keep your eyes and live your lives on Him.  He is the prize.

Our parable is the last of a series about mercy and judgment.  Jesus tells this parable sometime between Palm Sunday and Good Friday.  This parable not only summarizes Jesus' earthly ministry but also anticipates His upcoming resurrection from the dead.  It focuses on the wedding feast of His second coming and a king who sends out invitations to the that festal day.

Don't shoot the messenger.  What a great saying.  Say it and you evade all responsibility related to the message.  “Don't blame me, I'm just the messenger.”  However, killing the messenger would be the most effective way of killing the message.  This is what lies behind Jesus' parable today: the Parable of the Tenant farmers, as it is commonly known.

As a child, I was asked to do chores around the house.  I was asked, and then didn't do them.  But, as a child I enjoyed watching my dad plant the garden, pick fruit from the tree, and mow the lawn with the cylinder blade push lawn mower we had.  I studied how he mowed and collected the grass on the hottest of summer days.  Although I neglected to do chores most of the time, one summer day, when I was around 10 or 11, I decided to work in the yard and be like my father.  My dad was at work, and my mom was not home.  I decided to help mow the lawn.  I got the lawn mower out of the garage and started cutting back and forth across the front lawn, just like my dad.  In part, this illustration may serve to help understand our parable for today.