A Famine Not of Bread

"Entry of the Christ into Jerusalem" by Jean-Leon Gerome Click here to listen to this sermon. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! We live in an impatient world. Just look at our holiday observances. Black Friday is supposedly “the official start of the Christmas season.” But did you notice the Christmas decorations on the shelves right next to the Halloween candy this year? The world celebrates its holidays in advance. What it calls “Christmas”—the decorating, the feasting, the nostalgia—everything is done prior to December 25 th . Then people open presents, and that’s that. By December 31st, trees are hauled out to the dump and everyone’s gearing up for the Super Bowl. Advent, which begins today, is the time of the Church Year that’s most out of step with the concurrent cultural celebration. It is never harder to preach about John the Baptist than when people are humming “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” Throughout December, the world i...

Click here to listen to this sermon. “Out of the depths I cry to You, O Lord! O Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy! If You, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with You there is forgiveness, that You may be feared. I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning. O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with Him is plentiful redemption. And He will redeem Israel from all his iniquities” (Psalm 130). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Our text begins at the place where a man’s life is being overwhelmed, inundated, and flooded. We might imagine being in a small boat on a lake when high winds strike and the waves consume the craft in an instant. One minute you’re safe inside the boat, and the next moment you’re swept away. While ...

The text for today is our Gospel lesson, John 16:16-22, which has already been read. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Before I begin, I must issue the following warning: This sermon contains an illustration featuring the exploits of one of my adorable grandchildren. A couple of years ago we were in the van headed to Gillette , Wyoming for a wedding.   My grandson Abbott started fussing.   So I just said: “Ten more minutes and then we’ll stop.”   Much to my surprise, he quieted down.   And in ten minutes, I kept my promise.   After a quick diaper change and a bottle of formula he was good to go for another 200 miles.   Then he started fussing again.   Since it worked the first time, I decided to try the same line again: “Ten more minutes.”   It seemed to work so well that I used it over and over again. Now, as biased as I may be about my grandchildren’s advanced abi...