SJLC Sermon – Advent 3 C

Luke 3:7-18

John’s preaching is a gut check back to reality. John, like many hermit preachers of his day, proclaims the Apocalypse with a doom and gloom message, a warning of repentance, a call to change our ways. John is not just hitting the crowds of the poor, of tax collectors and of soldiers with this guilt trip, but his message hits at home with us as well. He might as well be telling us, “Do not say yourselves that you are Christians, or Lutherans, or Germans, or Albertans” because these things are not what save you, these things are not what determine God’s love for us. John lays before us an epic warning of what is to come, and yet John’s preaching is truly standard apocalyptic fair. It is not any different than that of Isaiah or Jeremiah. John is lining up behind the prophets of old in order to hand over the same message about the end of time.

As we hear John the Baptist’s preaching about the coming wrath and judgment, we find ourselves with the crowds asking, “What then should we do?”. How do we get ourselves out of this mess? How do we save our skin from the coming wrath? What follows does not seem like the right recipe. Certainly, John could have given the desperate crowds more. Certainly, the people who have not gotten up and left by this point, the people who have endured John’s radical message deserve to know how to save themselves. And yet John gives advice on how to live together, not salvation. Share with one another, be fair to others, don’t bully your way through life.

(Sermons Archive)

SJLC Sermon – Advent 2 C

As sheets of snow blanket our land, the world quickly becomes a colder and more desolate place. Being outside is a much more hostile endeavour than it was just a few weeks ago. The cold and howling wind buffets us from all sides, the naked trees provide little shelter or relief from the blowing snow, and the short stocks of wheat that stick out above the snow are like little markers of a land seemingly dead for year. These signs of the change in weather all serve to give the land a wilderness feel, a desert feel…

Advent is a wilderness season. With its waiting and preparing for messiah, we wait and prepare in the wilderness. While snow may serve as desert sands, the hostility of the environment is the same. We wander through this season knowing that our destination is the stable with the manger, but not knowing how exactly we will arrive.

…read the rest (Sermons Archive)

SJLC Sermon – Advent 1C

In a small and out of way piece of the Canadian prairies, there lies a tiny little community that still has a church serving its people. The people who come to this church are warm and friendly, they all know each by name, they great each other with familiar “hellos” and handshakes. And if you are a visitor, they like to know who you are and where you came from. The people who come to church on Sunday morning, talk to each other about farming, about weather, about hockey and football, about the recent news from the community, friendly harmless gossip you might say. And when the time comes, they gather and they worship together, as they have been doing for as long as they can remember. But like other communities and churches, they too wonder about what their future will look like, what their future holds, and who will be worshipping there in the next generation.

Read the rest in my Sermons Archive

SJLC Sermon – Christ the King Sunday B

John 18:33-37

After a brief stay in the hospital, Kenny found himself before a Judge. The verdict he received was guilty, guilty of drunk driving. He was sentenced to 100 hours of community service. He would serve his time working every Monday night for six months in a soup kitchen serving the homeless.

Kenny could not believe it. Serving the homeless was the last thing a junior VP at an investment firm was supposed to do, he would rather have gone to jail. Yet, Kenny begrudgingly accepted his fate. He showed up his first Monday night, and he almost turned and ran. The people waiting on the street for the meal were dirty and smelly. Some were clearly crazy, talking to people that weren’t there or shouting obscenities at invisible presences. Kenny told himself, “I only have to be here 25 times and it will all be over”.

(Read the rest…)

Does that make sense?

By the light of the moon

The last couple nights out here on the spike, the moon has been very bright and low. Its almost like someone has put a street lamp in the sky. Its nice. When the moon is new, than its almost pitch black out here, even with outdoor house lights or even flashlights.

And even though the moon light streaks right into my bedroom at night, there is something soothing about it. Its not painful to look at like the sun.

When its dark St John looks ominous and foreboading, like some kind of scary haunted house. With the moon outside, it looks like beautiful serene country church, as its supposed to be.

It amazing to think that folks lived here 100 years ago, and that worshiped in this community, did a lot of their living by this same moonlight. I hope they rejoiced when the moon was full and they could see across fields and down roads, I hope they found the moon a welcome light in the darkness too.

BLC / SJLC Sermon – All Saints Sunday

Thanks to my friend Barbara for providing a sermon this week, during the insanity of my sister being in the hospital.

John 11:32-44

The recent movie Gran Torino centers on the life of Walt Kowalski, a jaded, embittered, and resigned war veteran. As a retired auto-worker, Walt fills his days with home repair, beer, and monthly trips to the barber. The people he once called his neighbors have all moved or died and have been replaced by Hmong immigrants from Southeast Asia. Walt openly despises them. And he is basically resentful of pretty much everything and everyone he sees – the shabby eaves, the overgrown lawns and the foreign faces surrounding him. His own children prefer to speak to him as little as possible.

We meet Walt for the first time at the funeral of his beloved wife. The young priest Father Janovich, a recent seminary graduate, had promised Walt’s wife to look out for her husband. Throughout the movie Father Janovich tries to connect with the old man. Walt doesn’t make it easy for the young man. But Father Janovich doesn’t give up on Walt. At one of his visits he says, “You seem to know a lot more about death than you do about living.”

(Sermons Archive)

SJLC Sermon – Reformation Sunday

John 8:31–36

Millie sat in the doctor’s office. She was stunned, she couldn’t speak. She had just been diagnosed with cancer. The doctor began to outline different treatment options, but Millie didn’t retain any of it, only the last words that the doctor spoke. As Millie was getting up to leave the Doctor said,

“If you stay positive and upbeat, we can beat this diagnosis”.

Over the next few weeks the showing of support was overwhelming. For Millie, she received cards and letters from old forgotten friends, she was constantly be phoned by neighbors and family, and her close friends were almost always at her side. But Millie was troubled the support was receiving. Most of the people who were trying so hard to be supportive would say things like,

“Stay Positive, be happy” “You will come out from this stronger” “This is actually a chance to learn and grow” “This is a blessing, this a good thing to happen to you” “God has a special plan for you, this a test to teach you how to have more faith”.

(Sermons Archive)

Little Lutheran Church on the Spike

So one of the projects that I decided to undertake for St John. the congregation where I am the pastor, was to create a website. So, I sat down a couple of nights ago and tried to see how far I could get. This is what I came up with. Check it out, and let me know what y’all think!

Little Church on the Spike

BLC Sermon – Pentecost 18 Year B

* This sermon was written by a dear friend of mine Barbara Groote, Intern Pastor of Bethel Lutheran Medsted*

…As we hear today, Job is the prime example of what suffering is all about. As the story tells us, Job and his wife lost 500 oxen, 70,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, their servants, and 7 sons and 3 daughters – all of this in one day. ONE DAY! And to add insult to injury Job is now left with nothing but a terrible skin disease. He has gone through one agonizing ordeal after another because God and one of his heavenly advisors, the Shatan had struck a deal. They had made a bet. They had gambled. And Job is the guinea pig for God and the Shatan to see who is right. The story of Job made it into the Bible because it touches profoundly on the dark side of human existence. It is a well-crafted piece that boldly addresses suffering and our struggling with it. The author of this story wrestles with the question: why do bad things happen to good people? Are we just puppets in a cosmic battle? How can God allow us to experience suffering and pain? Ultimately, this eloquent narrative is about God’s relationship with us and our response…

(Sermons Archive)