Author: Bethlehem Lutheran
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Fourth Sunday in Advent
~ Rorate Coeli ~ Readings: Deuteronomy 18:15-19 | Philippians 4:4-7 | Luke 1:39-56 Text: Philippians 4:4-7 No doubt this week, we will be hearing the phrase, “Merry Christmas.” Take a moment to think about it: Is this a statement or a command? I mean, what should you do when there’s nothing to be merry about? When…
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Third Sunday in Advent
~ Gaudete ~ Readings: Isaiah 40:1-11 | 1 Corinthians 4:1-5 | Matthew 11:2-11 Text: Isaiah 40:1-8 It’s important to understand that Isaiah was not preaching at a time of peace in Israel. Not many chapters (chapters 36-37) before this, Isaiah has the job of announcing to the starving, besieged inhabitants of Jerusalem that the Assyrian…
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Second Sunday of Advent
~ Populus Zion ~ Readings: Malachi 4:1-6 | Romans 15:4-13 | Luke 21:25-36 Text: Luke 21:25-36 The return of Christ is utterly inconvenient. It ruins our plans for the future. It ruins all of our imagining that life will just continue as is has been. Most of all, it completely obliterates our delusion that we…
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First Sunday in Advent
~ Ad Te Levavi ~ Readings: Jeremiah 23:5-8 | Romans 13:(8-10) 11-14 | Matthew 21:1-9 Text: Matthew 21:1-9 Christ, our Lord, is the promised King who reigns on the throne of David forever. So it is that, as He rode into the City of Peace to be executed as the King of the Jews,…
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Holy Cross Day
~ Observed ~ Readings: Numbers 21:4-9 | 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 | John 12:20-33 Text: 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 The Word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing. Yeah…them unbelievers! Aren’t they terrible? Aren’t they foolish? But to us who are being saved, the cross is the power of God. Yes! Lift high the…
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Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity
Readings: 1 Kings 17: 8-16 | Galatians 5:25-6:10 | Matthew 6:24-34 Text: Matthew 6:24-34 We’re so stressed today. There are so many things to be worried about, fueling anxiety, so that you don’t even want to get out of bed! Can you relate? What I wonder is, Is it that the world is more complex,…
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Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity
Readings: Proverbs 4:10-23 | Galatians 5:16-24 | Luke 17:11-19 Text: Proverbs 4:10-23 We’re starting to see a pattern: Jesus points out Samaritans. Is it that He’s showing favorites? Are they the Good Teacher’s pet? Not because of who they are, but because of what they demonstrate. A flesh-and-blood story teaches much more effectively than a…
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Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity
Readings: 2 Chronicles 28:8-15 | Galatians 3:15-22 | Luke 10:23-37 Text: Luke 10:23-37 In the collect for today, we pray, “Almighty and everlasting God, give us an increase of faith, hope, and charity; and that we may obtain what You have promised, make us love what You have commanded; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our…
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Second Sunday after Trinity
Holy Baptism of Seth & Wayne Burton and Jonathan Womack Readings: Proverbs 9:1-10 | 1 John 3:13-18 | Luke 14:15-24 Text: 1 John 3:13-18 The word “love” has taken on a life of its own. It’s as if everyone has their own private dictionary of what they want it to mean. So many interpret it…
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First Sunday after Trinity
Readings: Genesis 15:1-6 | 1 John 4:16-21 | Luke 16:19-31 Text: Genesis 15:1-6 “The Here and Now for the Now and Not Yet.” St. Paul comments on these verses in Genesis by saying, “In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall…