Sermon: In Memoriam +Agnes Elsa Morrison (Timm)+ 1916-2011

Died: March 21, 2011

Service: March 25, 2011

In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Chilling. Somber. Confusing. Peaceful.

I'm describing for you the experience of watching a human being fall asleep in Jesus, at least this was the case on Monday afternoon when the soul of our beloved sister in the faith, +Agnes, when her soul left her body and went to be with +Jesus, in peace and joy forevermore.

We prayed for healing, and that's what happened. We prayed for mercy, and so our Lord has had mercy. +Agnes is with +Jesus. Her baptism held strong, or rather, the Lord +Jesus, the One into whom blessed +Agnes was baptized, our Lord held strong, held on to +Agnes, and never let go. He is faithful, the Good Shepherd has carried his lamb, Agnes, into the promised land where she enjoys peace and rest and complete protection, never ever again having to bear the burden of sin.

Sermon: Lent 2.2011

Text: John 3.1-17
Calendar Date: 3.20.2011

Listen to the sermon here.

He who has been born from the Spirit,

is Spirit.

In the Name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“Ephphatha,” that is, be opened. And so the senses are opened up to God.

Jesus spoke, and the man born deaf was healed, he could now physically hear; something was changed in the man, he could now do something that wasn't possible before. It was real, it was powerful. Jesus' Word did this.

So in the Baptismal rite, the pastor speaks Jesus' Word, Ephphatha, that is, be opened, and the senses are opened: not only to the hearing of God's Word, but the seeing and perceiving, the tasting and touching and smelling. We Christians experience God in real things: what used to be ordinary bread and wine, we hear the Words, “this is my Body, this is my Blood”, and so they are, we see how God has taught us to see / by hearing Him. Baptism opens the senses.

Sermon: Ash Wednesday.2011

Text: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21; Joel 2:12-19; 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10
Date: 3.9.2011

Listen to the sermon here.

For where your treasure is,

there your heart will be also.

In the Name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“When you fast,” Jesus says. He's making an assumption, here. And, He's giving Himself as an example. Jesus did fast. For forty days and forty nights, out in the wilderness/desert; but that's the Gospel reading for Sunday, so I won't speak much about it now, just enough to point out to you that when Jesus assumes anything about His followers, first the disciples, then also we who are Baptized into His name, when He makes an assumption about us, He fulfills it all first. So Jesus fasted. And He assumes that His followers will do the same.

Sermon: The Transfiguration of Our Lord.2011

Text: Matthew 17.1-9
Date: 3.6.2011

Listen to this sermon here.

This is my beloved Son...

Listen to Him.

In the Name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

The Festival of the Transfiguration of Our Lord marks the end of the Epiphany Season and so also the end of the Time of Christmas, as called in the Church Year. The reason it is placed at the end: the Transfiguration is the most dramatic Epiphany, or revealing, of our Lord Jesus. The point of the Transfiguration, and the whole point of Epiphany, actually the whole point of the Time of Christmas (beginning way back in Advent), is that Jesus is God. Our life together here is founded upon and centered in this very truth. It is no wonder than that every single one of the 101 days of Christmas Time this year, they are focused upon this One truth, teaching us who Jesus is, that He is God, / so that, (as we move on in the Church Year) every single one of the 102 days of Easter Time can teach us what our God Jesus has done for us and for our salvation.

Sermon: Epiphany 8.2011

Text: Matthew 6.24-34
Date: 2011.2.27

Continue seeking first 

the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.

In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

There is an evil that constantly befalls God's children. To use the imagery Jesus uses as He continues His great Sermon on the Mount, this evil is: double-mindedness (confident in Jesus, while at the same time distracted by worldly concerns); this concept is often translated “do not be anxious”. Whatever the specific wording, the point Jesus is making is that we ought to be of one mind; unified by the Holy Spirit in what we say, do, believe; in the things we love, grounded in the same faith, confessing together as the Church, but also unified in our own mind and heart. Embracing the things of God (His kingdom and righteousness), while also renouncing and repenting completely of the things of Satan, of the evil world, and most especially of your own fallen sinful flesh.

Sermon: Epiphany 7.2011

Text: Matthew 5:38-48
Date: 2011.2.20
Occasion: Baptism of Nolan George Bayer

You will be perfect,

as your heavenly Father is perfect.

In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

A Christian has no enemies.

Jesus is infinitely profound here as He continues to preach to His disciples. As He speaks, He weeds out the immature disciples from the mature ones. It's as if He says, Do you really know what it is to be Christian. I've already told you the key to understanding who you are in Me, now I'm getting a bit deeper into the mystery. If you fail to understand even these things, then you prove that you really don't get it, that you really haven't been paying attention.

Sermon: Epiphany 5.2011

Text: Matthew 5:13-20
Date: 2.6.2011

I have not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets,

but to fulfill them.

In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

And Jesus continues preaching to his disciples: “you all are the salt of the earth...You all are the light of the world.” You are these things because I am these things in and through you. A saying not unlike what preceded it in this sermon, Jesus just uses some illustrations now.

“You all are the salt of the earth, but if the salt might be made dull [or lose it's saltiness], with what will it be made salty? It is good for nothing more except being cast outside and trampled down under men.”

Salt, a preservative and a preventative, also adding flavor to common nourishment. A hard analogy, for salt is salty, that's just the way it is; it can't be anything else and if it is to remain salt, then it can't ever lose it's saltiness. On the other hand, if salt does somehow cease to be salty then surely it is no longer salt. It's completely improbable then, that there would be salt-less salt. And that's Jesus' point. I'll say it another way, to explain the illustration: A Christian has Christ, nothing else makes Him a Christian except Christ, and if he is to remain a Christian, he can't ever lose Christ. If a Christian does lose Christ, then surely he is no longer a Christian. It's completely improbable, no what's more it's completely impossible then, that there would be a Christ-less Christian.