God’s grace and peace be with all of you. There are a lot of differences among Christians on all sorts of things. How we worship, what we teach, how we make decisions, who is allowed to lead—these matters look very different in a Lutheran church compared to a Baptist church, a Catholic parish or a … Continue reading Come, Follow Me (a sermon on Mark 10:17-31)
God’s grace and peace be with all of you. Our gospel reading today comes from John chapter 6, which is one long continuous narrative known as the “Bread of Life Discourse.” John 6 begins with a familiar miracle: the feeding of the 5000. Jesus asks his disciples how they are going to feed these crowds, … Continue reading Eat the Body of Christ (a sermon on John 6)
God’s grace and peace be with all of you. As we’ve been telling you the past several weeks, this Sunday kicks off a special, three-week sermon series on Shepherd of the Valley’s mission statement. For those who may not know, our mission statement is “Seek the Lord, Study God’s Word, Serve the World.” This morning, … Continue reading Seek the Lord
God’s grace and peace be with all of you. This week, as you can see, we had Vacation Bible School here at Shepherd of the Valley. It was a wonderful, exciting, and tiring week for the 25 kids who participated and the many volunteers who helped to make VBS a success. This week at VBS, … Continue reading VBS Sunday Sermon
Last Sunday's (June 3rd) sermon. God’s grace and peace be with all of you. In seminary, sometimes your seminary professors will say something that completely blows your mind. Pastor Nikki, you probably had that experience in seminary, right? And I’m sure it’s not just seminary, I think anyone who has had a really wonderful … Continue reading Sabbath (a sermon on Mark 2:23-3:6)
God’s grace and peace be with you all. I was ordained July 1st, 2012—almost six years ago now. At the ordination service, I asked one of the pastors who had mentored me, a man by the name of Jay Spoonheim, to be the preacher. He had a particular way of describing the role of a … Continue reading Good Shepherds (a sermon on John 10:11-18)
Christ is risen, alleluia! (Christ is risen indeed, alleluia!) The Bible includes four gospels, four versions of the story of Jesus’ life, each one a little different from the others. All four agree on the major points: Jesus is the Son of God. He travels around, teaching and preaching and healing the sick. He goes … Continue reading Write Your Own Ending (a sermon for Easter)
A Brief History of the Bible, sessions 3 and 4
God’s grace and peace be with all of you. “Are you in, or are you out?” Imagine you’re me, standing on a train platform in a foreign city. The train is nearly full, so people are squeezing in through the doors in that short window of time before the doors close and the train starts … Continue reading Are You In or Are You Out? (a sermon on John 3:1-21)
God’s grace and peace be with all of you. In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul writes, “The message about the cross is foolishness.” Foolishness. In Greek, the word is moros, which is where we get our English word “moron.” The message about the cross is moronic. What exactly is Paul talking about? He says … Continue reading The Foolishness of the Cross (a sermon on 1 Corinthians 1:18-25)
