St. Mark's Lutheran

Biblical Text: Luke 11:1-13 Ok, I start off with something a bit hokey – Tony Stark/Iron Man – but this is about Fathers and Sons. (And yes it includes daughters, but the language we are given in Father.) The Lord's prayer in Luke is a revelation of the Father of Jesus Christ. The Father of … Continue reading The Father of Jesus Christ is Yours

Biblical Text: Luke 10:38-42 The text is Mary and Martha which is usually taken as a compare and contrast of two symbols. Martha representing the active life and Mary the contemplative life. But I think that is a bit facile. And I'm basing that on both the immediate context – largely Luke 9-10 – and … Continue reading Contemplated Action

Biblical Text: Luke 10:25-37 The Text is the Good Samaritan. When you are preaching on such a story you really have to be content with telling the old old story. And as a Lutheran that Old Old story is captured in this incredibly compact story of law and gospel. The law story is clear and … Continue reading The Old Old Story

Biblical Text: Luke 10:1-20 The text is Jesus sending out the 70, or is it the 72? That is one of the few textual questions of the New Testament. Which like all textual questions is ultimately unanswerable. It becomes a matter of faith. But if you side with the King James Version and the manuscript … Continue reading 70 or 72? Call, Authority and Mission

Biblical Text: Luke 8:26-39 The Gerasene Demoniac is one of those stories that is so vivid for me it stands a proof of the rest of the biblical story. Nobody could make it up. And it is such a perfect living symbol that only God could be behind it. This sermon ponders the demonic for … Continue reading Among the Tombs

Text: The Athanasian Creed It was Trinity Sunday. Probably the one Sunday a year where I don't have a very specific biblical text as the basis of the Sermon. That's ok, because the Creeds in the Lutheran tradition are part of the Confessions, sometimes called the symbols. The Bible is the Norming Norm, but the … Continue reading Solid Spiritual Words

Biblical Text: Acts 2: 1-21, 22-47, John 14:23-31 This Sunday continues a couple of series. It continues our study of the book of Acts even if we have been “jumping around” in that book. This sermon ends up following up on last week. If last week was about the Spirit's work “inside” the church before … Continue reading Spirit Power: Courage, Teaching, Peace

Biblical Text: Acts 1:1-26 This Sunday on the church calendar – the 7th Sunday of Easter – to me is the strangest one in the entire calendar. The sermon gets into that a bit, so I won't spell it out here. But sitting between The Ascension and Pentecost is a time of internal preparation. God … Continue reading Courage of the Spirit

Biblical Text: Acts 16:6-15 The text as I read it had two parts. The first being something of a travel itinerary. And it was travel that was done under some uncertainty and stress. First Paul wanted to go West, but the Spirit stopped him. And he drifted north. When he runs out of North he … Continue reading Discipleship Itinerary

Biblical Text: Text: Acts 11:1-18, John 16:12-15 Change in the church is always a contentious issue. But even Jesus assumed that it would happen. And the book of Acts gives an example of a significant change. What these biblical texts give us is a Spirit Led pattern. This sermon takes Jesus' words as the basis … Continue reading Spirit Led Change: Vision, Experience and the Word

Biblical Text: Acts 20:17-35 This Sunday is typically “Good Shepherd” Sunday. The Gospel text comes from John 10. The key verse of that being “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” The first reading assigned in from the end of Acts. And why it is paired up with the … Continue reading Hearing the Voice of the Shepherd

Biblical Text: Acts 9:1-22 This sermon takes on a topic that is probably a little far afield for most Lutheran churches, conversion. And in thinking about conversion we have to think about things above and things below. What I mean by that is we live in a sacramental world. The reality above breaks into our … Continue reading Living Signs

Biblical Text: Acts 5:12-20 The assigned texts for the Sunday's after Easter this year selectively read through a couple of books. The Epistles are coming from the book of Revelation. At least right now I'm trying to write about those in the weekly newsletter. The “first lesson”, replacing the normal Old Testament reading, is a … Continue reading All the Words of Life

Biblical Text: Isaiah 65:17-25 The inspirations for this sermon were the Isaiah text, Chrysostom's Easter sermon and a common conversation we have in confirmation class on the distinction between mercy and grace. Easter is grace.

The service is a Tenebrae, which means there is a dowsing of the lights after each of the seven readings until the we are in darkness at the end. It is a moving service in person. I've left the recording complete. In most of the service posts I edit things to the sermon, readings and … Continue reading Good Friday 2022

Biblical Text: John 13:1-20, 31-35 Maundy Thursday, at least when I do it, is usually about the institution of the Lord's Supper. This is still that, but this year I picked the alternate text. This text is the foot washing from the Gospel according to John. It is a more challenging text, but worth it … Continue reading Maundy Thursday

Biblical Text: Luke 23:1-56 It was Palm Sunday which has morphed into the Sunday of the Passion. The Triumphal Entry is the Gospel of the Day in Advent 1. Maundy Thursday (the institution of the Lord's Supper) and Good Friday (the crucifixion) have their own days, so I try to preach on the arrest and … Continue reading Three Ring Failure

Biblical Text: Luke 2:40-52 This sermon is a reworking of one given by Luther in 1523. I took from that one its main points and the general outline. But the flesh of it I had to rework for 2022. I did this because I felt the main point was both one that we rarely hear … Continue reading Consolation Under the Cross

Biblical Text: Luke 2:22-40 This sermon is some ways continues the contemplation between fortune and blessing started last Sunday, but it stands by itself, that continuation is just the pattern of the Chistian life. One person's praise becomes the next person's blessing and promise. This sermon focuses on the characters of Simeon and Anna, and … Continue reading Waiting for Consolation

Biblical Text: Isaiah 52:7-10 This is a Christmas Day mediation coming from the Isaiah Text which has a very specific context behind it: the decisive battle of a War. Christmas Day is the day that the messenger appears on the mountain with a message. Victory is ours. The victory has been given to us. And … Continue reading Comfort, Redemption, Peace

The recording is most of our Christmas Eve Lessons and Carols service. The sermon is a meditation on the difference between how we tend to celebrate Christmas and what we are looking for vs. the Christmas gift. This is done through a staple modern carol “We Need a Little Christmas” which has the correct diagnosis, … Continue reading We Need a Little Christmas

This sermon first examines what a blessing is. Elizabeth blesses Mary, and she blesses all those who believe the words of the LORD. A blessing is far more than fortune or well-wishes. A blessing is a form of promise. And it is that promise that is part of a cycle of the Christian life. Promise … Continue reading Promise, Fulfillment, Praise

Biblical Text: Luke 7:18-28 This is a stand alone sermon (most of mine are) but with John the Baptist at the center it is something of a pair with last week. It is a scene of taking stock. John's in prison and going to lose his head. Has his work been at all meaningful? The … Continue reading Scandalized by Me

Biblical Text: Luke 3:1-15 What this sermon attempts to do is recreate the experience of John the Baptist. For a long time I don't think this was really possible. We were too comfortable. But today, maybe we can start to hear John. Today we might just be able to listen to a Word in the … Continue reading Desperate for One True Word

Biblical Text: Jeremiah 33:14-16 It's the first Sunday in Advent. The Gospel text is traditionally Palm Sunday – the triumphal entry, which is Jesus the King coming to Jerusalem. This sermon is based off of the Old Testament lesson from Jeremiah. Jeremiah is traditionally the prophet of doom and lamentation. But here he tells of … Continue reading Anticipation

Biblical Text: Colossians 1:1-17, Small Catechism 1st Article Thanksgiving in connected to creation. It is also connected to the New Creation in Christ. Either everything falls apart, in which case Thanks and Praise are offensive, or is all hold together in Christ – the one thought whom is was all created and the firstborn of … Continue reading Thanksgiving

Biblical Text: Mark 13:14-23, 24-37 The day on the church Calendar is the last Sunday of the Church Year, sometimes called Christ the King. The sermon completes our reading through Jesus' last things sermon from Mark 13. You might call it the distinction between the end of a world, a time of tribulation, and the … Continue reading Christ the King

Biblical Text: Mark 13:1-13 It is the end of the church year. Two Sunday's hence, the start of Advent, is the church new year. And in the last two Sundays the texts turn to last things. In the year of Matthew you get the parables. In the year of Mark you get Jesus' sermon itself … Continue reading Two Ditches of the 2nd Coming

Biblical Text: Revelation 7:1-17 This sermon is about the book of Revelation, specifically chapters 4:1-8:5, but more about what we feel when our minds wander to that book's supposed subject. When we hear apocalypse we think endings, we think things that are incomprehensible, and we fear. But all of that is exactly the opposite of … Continue reading Apocalyptic Assurance

Biblical Text: Romans 3:19-28, John 8:31-36 What exactly is Reformation Day? It has been a lot of things. This sermon mentions a couple of them. But almost of of the alternates are corruptions of what it really was. Which is a recovery of the Apostle Paul. Which is a new birth of freedom in hearing … Continue reading A Reformation of the Heart

Biblical Text: Mark 10:46-52 The text is the capstone both to Mark 10, which is the toughest chapter in the gospels, and the ministry of Jesus. The rest of the gospel of Mark is passion week which really is something separate. What we've seen in the rest of Mark 10 is a bunch of ways … Continue reading Where Are the Disciples?

Biblical Text: Mark 10:23-31 The text contains a couple of Jesus' classic aphorisms, but this sermon really isn't about those aphorisms. Those aphorisms are given to heighten the shock that the disciples are feeling. They can't believe what has just happened between Jesus and the Rich Young Man. Even less can they believe what Jesus … Continue reading Of Camels and Needles

Biblical Text: Mark 10:17-22 You become what you love. We either love God, and with loving God love the truth and love our neighbor; or we have something else we love. And whatever else that something is, it isn't enough, not to be the primary love that forms our souls. The biblical text is Jesus' … Continue reading Questions of the Soul

Biblical Text: Mark 10:2-16 There are lots of biblical texts about human sexuality. There are also lots of texts about freedom. This text has more to say about both and their intersection than any of the rest. This is Jesus talking about how God made it, and this is Jesus giving the gospel key to … Continue reading Forming Institutions – Marriage

Biblical Text: Mark 9:38-50 The text for the day feels like one of those collections of aphorisms. The sermon attempts to place them within the larger gospel narrative. But then spends the majority of time meditating on how the aphorisms “those who are not against us are for us”, “if hand/foot/eye cause you to sin … Continue reading Tribal Counsels

Biblical Text: Mark 9:30-37 The text is probably a familiar one, at least it contains a couple of Jesus' aphorisms that still have public purchase. “The one who wants to be first must be the servant of all” and “who ever welcomes the little child, welcomes me and the one who sent me.” These two … Continue reading Sanctified Ambition?

Biblical Text: Mark 9:14-29 The Gospel text assigned for today is the second half of a pair that occurs in all the Synoptic Gospels (Matt, Mark and Luke). The first part is the transfiguration, when Peter, James and John are taken up the mountain and see Jesus transfigured in glory. The second part is this … Continue reading Coming Down the Mountain

Biblical Text: Mark 7:31-37 Sometimes the smallest thing in the text can inspire a thought. Here it is the travel notice -“He returned from the region of Tyre through Sidon…”. Jesus goes north to return south. But the travel notice state or implies a much longer journey, something of a great circular route, a long … Continue reading Taking the Long Way

Biblical Text: Mark 7:14-23, Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9 Both of these texts are holding up the law. Moses encouraging Israel about to cross the Jordan to remember it, to keep and do it. And the Jesus describing the natural state of our hearts in regard to the law. Out of the heart come all evil thing. … Continue reading Keep Your Soul Diligently

Biblical Text: Mark 6:30-44 Blame it on reading a little Boethius recently, but in reading the feeding of the 5000 two things jumped out at me. The first was the repetition of “a desolate place.” Jesus wanted to bring the disciples to a desolate place, and when the action starts the disciples mention that they … Continue reading Are You Satisfied?

Biblical Text: Amos 7:7-15 The image from the Text is a plumb line, something that checks if you built straight. The Northern Kingdom, specifically the house of Jeroboam had not, and their time was short. Amos was sent by Yahweh to tell them. But in Amaziah, the Northern Priest, and Amos' MMA style confrontation we … Continue reading A Plumb Line on the Soul

Biblical Text: Mark 6: 1-13 It happens occasionally, July 4th falls on a Sunday. And unless you've got your head in the sand, the role patriotism and nationalism is a cultural divide or some magnitude. This is my attempt to think through a Christian patriotism. The divide is between those from somewhere and those from … Continue reading Stay There Until You Depart

Biblical Text: Mark 5:21-43, Lamentations 3:22-33 The text is one of the “Markan Sandwiches” – an outside story interrupted by an inside story. That gives us a chance to reflect on things exterior and things interior. In the biblical text the the outside and the inside stories interact and intensify each other. They are told … Continue reading It's Free; and Costs Everything

Biblical Text: Job 38:1-11, Mark 4:35-41 The text of this sermon is really the book of Job. The lectionary makers had a moment of inspiration in their OT and Gospel pairing. What does it mean to fear the LORD? I feel that is an uncommon topic. Even more I think that when it is taken … Continue reading The Fear of the LORD

Biblical Text: Mark 4:26-34 All of Jesus' parable to some extent are elaborations of the parable of the sower, at least his Kingdom parables. But I feel that is even more the case with the Gospel according to Mark. The Sower and the Soils is Jesus' picture of the Kingdom in this world. The parables … Continue reading The Seed of His Teaching

Biblical Text: Mark 3:20-35 I put the title as “the Spiritual Crisis of the Christ” because just the existence of Jesus and his claims puts everyone in the position of having to make a choice. The technical term for what I try to describe in the sermon is a Chiasm. It would normally be outlined … Continue reading The Spiritual Crisis of the Christ

Biblical Text:  Isaiah 6:1-8, John 3:1-17 The Sunday is Trinity Sunday, which is the final “Festival” in the Festival half of the church year. It is set aside to meditate on the Truth that captured the imagination of the first six centuries of the church – The Trinity. Part of that in the Lutheran church … Continue reading The Year Uzziah Died…

Biblical Text: Ezekiel 37:1-14, Psalm 25:10, Acts 20:32 The day is Pentecost, which for us is also confirmation day. So the message today has three movements. The first is a mediation on what Pentecost means for us with the focus on the distinction between the Holy and the Common. The second and third movements are … Continue reading The Holy and the Common

Biblical Text: John 17: 9-19 The text is from Jesus prayer on Thursday of Holy Week in John. It is picked because this past Thursday was ascension day, the day 40 days after Easter when Christians mark Jesus’ return to the Father. 10 Days later, next Sunday, is Pentecost when the Spirit is poured out. … Continue reading Grace Upon Grace

Biblical Text: John 15:9-17 The core assertion in the text is that you did not choose Christ, but Christ chose you. And there are three things that flow from that election: joy, love and friendship. Joy in that we have been given both the victory and a vocation. Love in that we are to emulate … Continue reading I Chose You

Biblical Text: John 15:1-8 Why does faith feel attenuated or faint today? What is different today than even say 100 years ago? It is a question that I find myself asking over and over. And I think that that answer is what we refuse to take seriously. We will take faith itself seriously, sometimes so … Continue reading Abiding in the Vine