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Showing posts from 2011

Feb. 19 Sermon for Service of Corporate Confession & Individual Absolution

Feb. 18-20, I was blessed to be a part of a Higher Things Retreat in Sheboygan. I was honored to be asked to proclaim God's Word at the Feb. 19 Service of Corporate Confession & Individual Absolution. I was asked for a copy of that sermon by someone who was in attendance. I post it here for all who might like to read it. Peace of the Lord be with you. The Lord Has Put Away Your Sin 2 Samuel 12:1-13 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. The pastor gives Johnnie a nod. When he comes over, Pastor asks him to take a walk with him while the rest of the youth group went off to work on the power point presentation they were going make to the congregation from their Higher Things Retreat – Angels & Archangels in Sheboygan. Pastor said, “Johnnie, there was a boy who decided he was going to give presents to all his friends, so he burned CDs for 20 friends of the 5 latest albums he’d purchased and gave them to his best friends. Thing is

Higher Things Weekend 2/18-20

Well, for about 40 hours, over 200 people (predominantly youth) were gathered at Trinity Lutheran Church in Sheboygan www.trinitysheboygan.org for a Higher Things retreat entitled, Angels & Archangels. You can go to their website and even view some of the services from that Retreat. Trinity was a very gracious host congregation - great folks there who made us all feel welcome. I could try and say thanks to those involved, but I really don't know all the names of everybody involved, so I will just say thanks to everybody who was a part of making this retreat. Thanks to: those who organized it, who planned the meals, stuck up posters, cleaned the building, cooked the food, gave directions to lost youth looking for a room, worked on the schedule, organized the speakers, planned the worship services, and generally pitched in and helped in any way whatsoever. Thank you! Also a big thank you to all the speakers who taught, imparting great insight through ongoing catechesis t

Weddings

In the past month I have had four couples either call me or come to speak to me about their upcoming marriages, and whether or not I'd do them. Of these three couples, only one individual was a member of either congregation of which I am a pastor. All these couples were living together without the benefit of marriage. My first question to each (on the phone with the three completely non-member couples)was, "Why do you want to get married in this church?" There were interesting answers given. One couple's first answer was, "Well, we really don't want to get married in the church, but as you are the pastor of the church in Embarrass and since you are the closest pastor to the park in Embarrass where we are getting married, we thought we'd offer the job to your first." I let them ask a couple questions about what I'd do at such a wedding and what I'd require. They said they needed to talk about it. I haven't heard from them. Another coupl