Father, may your Word be our rule, Your Holy Spirit our teacher, and the glory of Jesus Christ our single concern. Amen. It was an incredible night for Mary and Joseph. Nine months earlier, the angel Gabriel had told Mary that, though a virgin, she would conceive and bear a son who would be the Messiah, the... Continue Reading →
Christmas Eve Sermon: Recognizing Jesus
Father, open our eyes to see Jesus. Open our ears to hear your word. Open our hearts to make room for the coming of the Savior. And Make our feet beautiful that they might bear good news to the world. In Jesus’ name, Amen. As far as the shepherds knew, there was nothing special about... Continue Reading →
Sermon: New Name, New Calling
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we long to hear a word from you. Open my mouth, free my tongue, and use these humble words to speak to your people. Dig out our ears, soften our hearts, and give us the feet we need to hear your word well and respond in faith. In Jesus’ name,... Continue Reading →
Sermon: The Song of Mary
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - open my lips. Take my words and use them to preach good news and to build up your church. Lord, please, open our ears and our hearts to what you have to say. Meet us where we are and lead us where you want us to go. In Jesus’... Continue Reading →
Sermon: Receiving the Favor of God
Good Shepherd, you know each sheep in your flock by name and your sheep hear your voice. As we hear your word this morning, we ask that you would open our ears to hear you speaking our names. We ask that you would open our hearts to receive your word in faith and give us... Continue Reading →
Sermon: Are You Ready?
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we come from so many different places this morning. Some of us come eager and waiting to hear a word from you, some of us come joyfully and grateful to sing together with the people of God, some of us come weary and waiting for relief, some of us come... Continue Reading →
Sermon: Happiness
I invite you to open your Bibles with me to Psalm 1. The book of Psalms is in the Old Testament, about halfway through the Bible, with Job on the left and Proverbs on the right. The name Psalms comes from the old greek title for the book, psalmos, which is the word for a... Continue Reading →
Sermon: Welcoming the Stranger
Without my glasses, I cannot see very well. My eyes are deformed a bit and anything more than an arms-length away starts to get blurry. (glasses off) Margaret’s lovely face is nothing but a blurry blob to me. (glasses on) But now I can see Jennifer clearly all the way in the back. That’s why... Continue Reading →
Sermon: Trials and Evil
This morning we reach the end of the Lord’s Prayer, but not the end of our praying. As we have journeyed this fall through the Lord’s prayer, we have seen how praying it bends us toward God in a way we would not have otherwise. We saw the heart of the gospel in the opening... Continue Reading →
Sermon: Forgive Us Our Debts
In our journey through the Lord’s Prayer, we have learned last week to ask God for our most basic needs, including bread, food. We also saw how our hunger for bread points us to our deeper hunger for God. This week, we are taught to pray for forgiveness and to pray that we can forgive... Continue Reading →
Etz Pri 