Category: Sermons
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Ash Wednesday
Readings: Joel 2:12-19 | 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10 | Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 Text: Joel 2:12-19; Job 13:23 Our forefather Job asked the Lord in the midst of his suffering, “How many are my iniquities and my sins? Make me know my transgression and my sin” (Job 13:23). This seems like a dangerous question and request. Don’t…
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The Transfiguration of Our Lord
Readings: 2 Kings 2:1-12 | 2 Corinthians 3:23-18; 4:1-6 | Mark 2:2-9 Text: Mark 9:2-9 Have you ever stared at the sun? I hope not, because it would burn your corneas and you’d be blind. Have you ever handled molten rock? If you did, it would burn your skin irreparably. Have you ever eaten highly…
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Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Lebanon, OR Readings: Deuteronomy 18:15–20 | 1 Corinthians 8:1–13 | Mark 1:21–28 Text: Mark 1:21-28 That Sabbath in Capernaum was a remarkable day. Jesus and his disciples came to the synagogue service, and Jesus began to teach. In an age when anybody with a webcam and some provocative things to say calls…
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St. Timothy, Pastor and Confessor
Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Lebanon, OR Readings: Acts 16:1–5 | 1 Timothy 6:11–16 | Matthew 24:42–47 Text: 1 Timothy 6:11-16 Today, we commemorate Timothy, a young man of a mixed Jewish-Greek marriage, whose believing grandmother Lois, and mother Eunice, nurtured in him a messianic faith that was kindled when St. Paul came to Lystra (2 Tim.…
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The Confession of St. Peter (observed)
Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Lebanon, OR Readings: Acts 4:8-13 | 2 Peter 1:1-15 | Mark 8:27-35 Text: Mark 8:27-35 Human opinions abound. In politics, in reaction to the pandemic, in parenting, in education. In each of these arenas, we each have strong convictions. Sometimes our views are so firmly held that we have difficulty even interacting…
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Baptism of Our Lord
Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Lebanon, OR Readings: Genesis 1:1-5| Romans 6:1-11 | Mark 1:4-11 Text: Mark 1:4-11 Now, you may think this is ten days late, but today we’re going to talk about beginnings. In the Beginning – Genesis 1:1-5 The Old Testament reading is the very beginning of the Bible. In fact, that’s the first Word written in…
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Second Sunday after Christmas
Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Lebanon, OR Readings: 1 Kings 3:4–15 | Ephesians 1:3–14 | Luke 2:40–52 Text: Psalm 119:97-104 When we see the boy Jesus in the Temple at 12 years of age, it’s clear he had an acuity for Scripture. After all, He was “sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.…
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First Sunday in Advent (Series B)
Text: Isaiah 64:1-8 “Enough is enough!” When things get so bad, you’ve tried again and again, yet you can’t see any way through, you might throw up your hands and say, “Enough is enough!” Maybe you’ve been feeling that way lately? It could be the many maddening topics in the news—election fallout, coronavirus scare and…
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Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 27A)
Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Lebanon, OR Text: Matthew 25:1-13 What a mess the world is. Thank God that we have the Church. Thank God that we can confess, “I believe…in the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.” Thank God for that…
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Feast of St. Luke the Evangelist
“The winged bull (or ox), recognized as the animal of sacrifice, was applied to St. Luke because his Gospel emphasizes the atonement made by Christ’s sacrifice of himself on the Cross. The bull (ox) is also synonymous with service and strength, which reminds us as Christians that we should be prepared to sacrifice ourselves in…