A Famine Not of Bread

 Click here to listen to this sermon. “ And when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon Him. “Now His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when He was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, but supposing Him to be in the group they went a day’s journey, but then they began to search for Him among their relatives and acquaintances, and when they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for Him. After three days they found Him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers. And when His parents saw Him, they were astoni...

Click here to listen to this sermon. “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:6-7). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Unless the Lord shall return in your lifetime, the day will come when you will no longer be able to join with your brothers and sisters to worship here in the presence of the Lord. It could be because you decide one day, for one reason or another, that you’re not going, and you just never make it back. You might become ill or incapacitated and no longer able to make it to worship. Though it once seemed impossible, it’s also not so hard to imagine the day may come when you cannot join with your brothers and sisters in the presence of the Lord because no one will let you worship here, perhaps because of health man...

Click here for an audio version of this sermon. "The Return of the Prodigal Son" by Bartolo Esteban Murillo The text for today is our Gospel lesson, Luke 15:11-32, which has already been read. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The traditional title for this parable, “The Prodigal Son,” is found in 16 th -century English Bibles and goes all the way back to the Latin Vulgate.   The NIV translation calls it “The Parable of the Lost Son.”   Yet the central figure in this parable is not the son but the father.   It is the father who reaches out with love to both of his wayward sons, just as Christ reaches out to each of us and calls us to repentance and faith.   So today, we will hear this story from the Father’s viewpoint under the theme “Letters from a Loving Father.” The first letter goes like this: My dear son, I pray that you will return to me soon so that I may share these words with you in person.   But i...