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Showing posts from 2013

As We Remember

Nothing Can Separate Us From the Love of God! Memorial Service for Rescue Workers of 9/11 - October 2, 2001 Romans 8:18, 28-39   (I preached this sermon at a memorial service conducted with Rev. Steve Hyvonen three weeks after the horrific events of September 11, 2001, at St. James Lutheran Church. Both of us were serving as chaplains to the Shawano County Sheriff Department, and planned this special service for the emergency personnel of Shawano County. While this sermon was for a specific purpose, it has been requested by many as they deal with other traumatic life situations. As it has even been requested recently, it is being placed on the website that others may read it as well. There are those who found comfort in these words then, and there are those who still find this sermon to bring them comfort in their times of trial and anxiety. It is offered here in the hope it will bring you God's peace.)   Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Sa

Sermon for Holy Trinity

                   A Thorough Mouth Cleaning                                  Isaiah 6:1-7 Isaiah finds himself before God and he exclaims, "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. @ You know, I feel for Isaiah. To be before God in all His glory and majesty, I can see exactly why he would say such a thing.   I can imagine myself in his shoes, I can envision how I might have responded, “Heavenly Father, beloved Son, and Holy Spirit; in fits of rage, I have taken Your holy name in vain. In attempts to be funny, I have soiled my lips with profanity and vulgarity. With the mouth you have given me, I have belittled and made fun of others whom you created and for whom Your beloved Son gave His life to redeem in pain and suffering on the cross. Woe is me! I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. @   How easy it is to say stuff that we regret. In

Oculi Sermon - 3/3/2013

Given a couple conversations I had this week, this past Sunday's sermon for Oculi seems appropriate to post here.  Set Apart Exodus 8:16-24 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.   Amen.   Whenever we read anything from Exodus, I cannot help but think of Charlton Heston as Moses.    I have a picture of him in my mind going before Pharaoh and telling him that God is going to send a plague of flies as the fourth plague.   I see him before Pharaoh with his red, black, and white striped robe explain that with this particular plague, Egypt will be afflicted, but the Israelites will be spared.   God’s people will be set apart, and no swarm of flies will afflict them.   And so it was, throughout the land of Egypt the land was ruined by the flies.   But where the Israelites were, where God’s people were, there were no flies. While I text doesn’t go any further, it does not end there. The 5 th plagues is upon the livestock of Egypt, but the I