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Showing posts with the label Epiphany IV

Sermon - Trinity IX, 2026 - Luke 16:1-13

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The Parable of the Unjust Steward , Marinus van Reymerswaele, 1540 Christian Wisdom Seeks Eternal Dwellings Wisdom is forward thinking and focused on the goal Christian wisdom employs every treasure, heavenly and worldly, for the sake of reaching the goal If there is a hardest parable, it might be this one; throws people off every time. The parable presents a rich man with a steward who was found wasting the rich man’s possessions. The job of a steward is to be faithful with someone else’s possessions, and this guy wasn’t cutting it. So obviously, he got fired. What’s crazy is the rich man lets the steward hand in the books, and he doesn’t hunt them down and take them from him immediately. The steward does exactly what you don’t want the steward to do, which is why normally the books get taken from the steward: the steward cooks the books. He meets some of the rich man’s debtors, probably tenant farmers, and in order to ingratiate himself with the debtors he adjusts how much they owe, ...
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Sermon - Ephiphany IV 2022 - Matthew 8:23-27

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Christ Calming the Storm , Juan de Flandes, circa 1500 Do you believe that Jesus is real and that He’s God and that He has authority over all this creation? Today’s lessons show us that those things are all true. Our readings also show us that we sometimes have a hard time believing it. Thus, the epiphany we have today is that Jesus has authority over creation. In our Old Testament lesson we heard the familiar story of rebellious Jonah fleeing from the Lord and getting on a ship going the opposite direction he was supposed to go. Because God is the Master of creation, “ the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. ” But where was Jonah? Asleep in the belly of the ship! Apparently Jonah did not know the Proverbs too well. Proverbs 6 says that if you get caught in a snare by speaking foolishly with your neighbor, immediately go to your neighbor and fix the situation. “ Give your eyes no sleep and your eyeli...
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Sermon - Epiphany IV - Matthew 8:21-27

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You and I, we’ve boarded a ship and have embarked upon the greatest voyage of our lives. On the day you were baptized, you were brought aboard the magnificent ship of Christ’s Christian church. Like a ship, the church sails from country to country. Christ is our captain. The pastors are the helmsmen, who steer the ship at Christ’s command. The gangplank which brought us aboard is faith founded in baptism. Hope is our anchor that keeps us from drifting. The cross is our mast upon which carries the sails of God’s Word. At the top of the mast, flies the flag of the creed, which identifies us to all the world as Christians. Our little ship is pushed along by wind, that is, God’s breath, the Holy Spirit. The Christians are the crew, each with a vitally important job. The harbor towards which our ship sails is heaven.  As the ship set sail, the waters were calm, the skies were blue, the sun shined brightly in the east. At times the voyage is nothing but smooth sailing. The waters are ...
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