Trinity 16, 2023

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In the Bill & Hillary Clinton Airpot in Little Rock, Arkansas, a large sign advertises a local church, with the slogan Expect an Experience. That captures perfectly the American religion: Emotivism. Faith means experiencing happiness. Big Evangelicalism equates faith with success, prosperity, health. If you lead a good life, good things will come to you. One slogan puts it this way: “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” The first part is true. But God’s plan for the disciples of Jesus might not be what the world calls “wonderful.” Bonhoeffer’s famous saying is more accurate: “When God calls a man, He bids him come and die.” Faith will not eliminate tribulations in your life. Afflictions come to the faithful to strengthen their faith further. Whom the Lord loves, He chastens….

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Homily for Matins, Teacher Work Week 2023

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Today is the commemoration of St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, and one of the greatest minds of the western church. It is fitting for us this morning to look to him to guide us on our task of forming minds in the classical Christian tradition.

Augustine teaches us that true education is listening to the Word of God, even—especially—when it tells us what we do not want to hear.

Your best servant is he who looks not so much to hear from you what he wants to hear, but rather to want what he hears from you….

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Trinity 12, 2023

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When Jesus takes aside the deaf mute, He takes aside all of humanity. Which means, when Jesus confronts the man who is deaf and has an impediment in his speech, Jesus confronts us. We have several problems: like the man in today’s Gospel, our bodies don’t work right – not the way they were created to work. Medicine helps – but it only delays the inevitable. We are all terminally ill. We are born that way….

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Eleventh Sunday after Trinity 2023

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What a mess! This congregation is divided. The congregation is divided about which pastor is better. There’s a deeply judgmental spirit. Some even boast about their sin!

This congregation has serious problems with sexual immorality. Some people give nothing, while others give begrudgingly. Some of the women don’t dress modestly.

In this congregation the Lord’s Supper is a serious problem. There are factions. How can Christians eat the same supper when there are divisions? People are rude, they don’t bear with one another, they keep a record of wrongs. There are many words spoken, but few are said to build others up….

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2023 LCMS Convention Sermon

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“And … Festus said with a loud voice, ‘Paul, you are out of your mind.’”

Isn’t that what this world keeps on saying to you? And perhaps it’s crept into your own thoughts, as well: On Sunday afternoon, when you wonder if it’s all worth it. Or when you’re sitting in a meeting at church and once again, they’re arguing and vying for control. Or when you pick up that piece of bread at the altar and the blasphemous words enter your mind: “How can this be the body of Christ…

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Cantate 2023

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Most people sense that something is deeply wrong in the world; everything from riots in the streets to the incredible rise of depression and suicide indicate this. The US surgeon general recently declared America has an epidemic of loneliness.

What’s been the response? American Christianity from Evangelicalism to the mainline churches set forth a vision of God as a feminized fuzzball of felicitous friendship. All have won and all must have prizes. Meanwhile, the “Tolerance” bumperstickers are gone, and politicians only make demands for reparations, recriminations, or retribution….

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Jubilate 2023

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The world hates Christians. “They speak against you as evildoers.” It’s tempting to want to argue with them. People don’t get argued into the faith. Arguing just pulls us down into the passions we are called to avoid. God’s Word today tells us not to respond to evil with evil, but to respond only with good deeds….

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Holy Thursday 2023

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Jesus, the enfleshed God, stoops down into our filth. The emperor becomes a servant. The earth is a graveyard filled with innumerable rotted corpses. Their dust clings to the soles of our feet. The ancient sin corrupts our hearts. But Jesus, the enfleshed God, cleans us and feeds us, as a father cares for his children. This is love. Not mere sentiment, but bold action. Action that costs….

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