Tag Archives: Advent

Sermons

Advent 3: Gaudete (Mt 11:2–11)

Advent 3: Gaudete (Mt 11:2–11)

Immanuel Lutheran Church—Bremen, KS || AUDIO
Bethlehem Lutheran Church—Bremen, KS || AUDIO

INI + AMEN.

Today seems a bit disconnected. We’ve got our joy candle of rose with our pink joy clothes. We just heard Isaiah sing of “Comfort, comfort My people.” We sang that, too! We heard Paul tell us to “Rejoice in the Lord always.” We sang of a “thrilling” voice. So, what’s the deal with our Gospel lesson? John. Prison. Going to be beheaded. Not much joy there. Death row. Comfort. Joy. One of those things is NOT like the others.

The text isn’t about John at all, though. John’s only important for one reason: He points to Jesus. In Jesus there is enough—more than enough—comfort and joy to go around, even for John in prison.

The joy and comfort of our Gospel text is all about what Jesus says and does and wants. It’s pretty simple. Simple enough for John, his disciples, for you, and for me, too.

JESUS WANTS YOU TO HEAR, SEE, AND RECEIVE HIM. Continue reading →

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Sermons

Advent 2: Populus Zion (Lk 21:25–36)

Immanuel Lutheran Church—Bremen, KS || AUDIO
Bethlehem Lutheran Church—Bremen, KS || AUDIO

INI + AMEN.

((5. Oops!: The signs are beginning to show.))

Things are starting to blossom, bloom, and grow. We’ve entered that season. A season of the world we try not to think about. The season that leads to the end. To the time and season when there is no more time or season or this world, at all. Just like a tree in spring, so our world blossoms and buds. Continue reading →

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Sermons

Advent 1: Ad Te Levavi (Mt 21:1–9)

Advent 1: Ad Te Levavi (Mt 21:1–9)

Immanuel Lutheran Church—Bremen, KS || AUDIO
Bethlehem Lutheran Church—Bremen, KS || AUDIO

INI + AMEN.

Advent. Coming. So it was in our text: Passover, so everyone came. To Jerusalem they came. Many from Galilee were there, and then a whirlwind of excitement—Jesus came, too! “The entire city was shaken” by His coming. Their hearts were afire with passion, their cries echoing throughout the hills of Jerusalem.

Distracted. The events swirling in our story distract us from the Lord, but the Lord isn’t in the “wind” of excitement, nor the “quaking” of Mt. Zion, nor the “fiery” passion of the crowd. Compared to the cacophony of “Hosannas,” Jesus’ Word is a “whisper,” a “still small voice.” But what He says, and what He tells His disciples to say—His Word—tells us all that we need to know about Him and His Coming. Continue reading →

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