Epiphany 2021 (observed) There is no one Holiday in the Church that is big enough to celebrate our Lord Jesus entirely. The two biggest feast days, Christmas and Easter, in a way celebrate the beginning and the end of Jesus’ earthly work. But there’s so much more depth to the Gospel than we can possibly … Read more
Delivered by Seminarian Mark Gaschler. Grace and mercy be to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Today is the first Sunday in Advent, the season of the church year where we await the coming, the advent, of our Lord Jesus Christ. And today’s reading from the Gospel of Mark is … Read more
Last Sunday of the Church Year 2020 Typically we focus on our Gospel lessons. The Old Testament, the Psalm, and the Epistle readings are all certainly the inspired word of God, but there’s a reason we hold the Holy Gospels in the highest esteem. There’s a reason we stand for it and sing Alleluia before … Read more
Matthew 25:14-30 On these Sundays after All Saints’ Day, and before the beginning of Advent, we consider the End Times, and you’ll notice a pattern in our readings. The Old Testament reading is a word of judgement against the unbelieving world, but also towards those who do not truly follow God in their hearts, but … Read more
Matthew 25: 1-13 I know most of you don’t watch the news, but it’s been somewhat of a crazy week. I’m not here to preach the daily news, I’m not going to get too detailed into that. I assure you though, the fact that our readings are focussed around the end times are not because … Read more
All Saint’s Day 2020 The peace of our Lord Jesus be with all of you who are mourning the death of a loved one. Later we will commemorate the faithful departed from this congregation, and though that number may be small, I know of many other deaths on your minds. For you grieving, it’s one … Read more
Reformation 2020: Revelation 14, John 8 Out of all academic subjects, history is the most neglected. You know the quote “Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it”. History is easy to neglect. We treat it as simple facts and figures. Why try and memorize all of history if we have it … Read more
Matthew 22: 15-22 These past few weeks we’ve heard Jesus school the Pharisees on their understanding of the scriptures. Today, we heard about them regrouping and forming a new plan. If they can’t compete with his knowledge, they’ll set him up for failure with an interview. We’re all well aware today how easy words can … Read more
Matthew 22: 1-14 There are many misconceptions about Eternal Life. Mainly, what will it be like? What will we see, what will we do. What will it mean to be in God’s presence forever? I suppose some of the confusion comes from ourselves, because we all have different ideas of what we think paradise ought … Read more
Matthew 21: 33-46 We heard Jesus tell the Parable of the Vineyard Tenants earlier against the Pharisees. Jesus condemning the Pharisees; well that’s nothing new. \But Jesus didn’t start this dispute with the Pharisees. Go back in the verses preceding our Gospel Lesson, and we find these Pharisees confronting Jesus as he was teaching. By … Read more