Sermon Audio 2/9/2014

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo

Fifth Sunday after Epiphany, Lectionary Year A

Isaiah 58:1-12

As Lutheran Church of the Savior prepared to hold our Annual Meeting after worship today, this sermon reflects on what faithfulness looks like. For those listening to Isaiah in today's lesson, their traditional practices of fasting had ceased to be a faithful life in response to God's law. What can we learn from the hard lesson Isaiah had for them?

Isaiah 58:1-12

58Shout out, do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet! Announce to my people their rebellion, to the house of Jacob their sins. ²Yet day after day they seek me and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments, they delight to draw near to God.

³“Why do we fast, but you do not see? Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?” Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day, and oppress all your workers. ⁴Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist. Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high. ⁵Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself? Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush, and to lie in sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? ⁶Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? ⁷Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?

⁸Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. ⁹Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am. If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, ¹⁰if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday. ¹¹The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. ¹²Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in. 

Sermon Audio 2/2/2014

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo

Presentation of Our Lord

Luke 2:22-40

Simeon's prophetic praise about the baby Jesus in the Temple has become one of the most enduring songs in our Christian gatherings. My wife and I sing it to our baby every night as part of our bedtime ritual. Why do we do that? What is it about this song, quoted below, that expresses the deep truth of the Gospel?

“Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”

Sermon Audio 1/26/2014

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo

3rd Sunday after Epiphany, Lectionary Year A

Matthew 4.12-23

On a Sunday when inclement weather and a brand-new, not-quite-working-at-full-capacity boiler led us to worship in the fellowship hall, so many people pitched in to make worship happen that it gave us a glimpse of the Kingdom of God.

Matthew 4:12-23

¹²Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. ¹³He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, ¹⁴so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: ¹⁵“Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— ¹⁶the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.” ¹⁷From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
¹⁸As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. ¹⁹And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” ²⁰Immediately they left their nets and followed him. ²¹As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. ²²Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.
²³Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.

Sermon Audio 1/19/2014

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo

2nd Sunday after Epiphany, Lectionary Year A

John 1:29-42

In this season after Epiphany our lectionary stories reveal who Jesus is. Today we hear John the Baptist proclaim that Jesus is the Lamb of God. For those of us who've hung around church long enough, this title is familiar - we sing it almost every Sunday! - and we can fool ourselves into assuming we know what it says about Jesus. As usual, however, God has some surprises in store for us, even in this common name for Jesus.

John 1:29-42

²⁹The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! ³⁰This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ ³¹I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” ³²And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. ³³I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.” ³⁵The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, ³⁶and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!”
³⁷The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. ³⁸When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” ³⁹He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. ⁴⁰One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. ⁴¹He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). ⁴²He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).

Sermon Audio 1/12/2014

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo

Baptism of Our Lord, Lectionary Year A

Matthew 3:13-17

Every year we celebrate Jesus' baptism by John at the Jordan River because we need to hear anew that God's words for Jesus are for us also: we are beloved children of God. To make this point, I used one of my one-year-old son's favorite books, Water, Come Down! by Walter Wangerin Jr. as the basis for the entire sermon, and afterwards everyone came to the font to remember God's promise to them baptism.

Though the book plus the ritual took longer than I had planned, feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and the book is rocketing to the top of the congregation's best-seller list (or it would if such a list existed). In fact, I've decided that for the rest of this season after Epiphany we will begin worship with a Thanksgiving for Baptism based on the book's text. Micah even found a copy of the book in our church library! Really, he was toddling around while I was just sitting in a meeting in that room, and all of a sudden he plopped the book onto my lap and wanted to read. I had no idea we had a copy, but it's available if folks want a closer look. 

Sermon Audio 1/5/2014

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo

2nd Sunday after Christmas, Lectionary Year A

John 1:1-18

On this Sunday of Twelfth Night, I had the privilege of sharing my sermon with Rev. Sarah Friesen-Carper, the North/West Lower Michigan Synod of the ELCA's Assistant to the Bishop for Congregational and Leadership Excellence, and also my amazing wife. We talked about Epiphany traditions. Some of these traditions may seem at first to be quaint or silly, but if you understand them, they can show forth the good news about God's love in Jesus Christ. Did you know the song The Twelve Days of Christmas was secretly an illegal Catholic catechetical text? Also, check out my impassioned plea for more worship outdoors around a fire at night.

Sermon Audio 12/24/2013

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo

Nativity of Our Lord - Christmas Eve A

Luke 2:1-20

Every year we gather on Christmas Eve to celebrate the birth of Jesus, so you'd think we'd have it all figured out by now, but I have a few questions: What, specifically, is the "good news of great joy for all the people?" Why does the answer to that question matter so much to me, personally? Why have we been doing yoga on Wednesdays for the past few weeks and calling it worship? What does "faith in God" even mean? You know, it's Christmas eve, so I figured I should just keep it light and simple, a goal at which I seem to have pretty obviously failed. Oh well. It turns out the birth of Jesus brings me back to the very foundations of my faith.

I'm usually pretty skeptical of Christmas Eve sermons, but I admit I'm really quite proud of this one, and I hope you'll check it out.