Sermon: Cat Dad Daniel

Sunday, December 1, 2024
Spirit of Hope Lutheran Church, Lincoln, NE
First Sunday of Advent
(narrative lectionary)
watch this service online (reading starts around 23:04; sermon starts around 27:58)

Reading: Daniel 6:6-27

No kids willing to come up for the children’s service at our first service, but at the second service, we talked about waiting. We talked about what sort of things we wait for, what it’s like to wait, how there are different kinds of waiting. We talked about Advent being the start of the new year for the church and about how it is a season of waiting. Advent is a word used to mean “beginning” or “commencement,” and it comes from words meaning something that is “about to come” or “about to happen.” During Advent, we wait for Christmas and all the excitement and good things that come with it. We wait for the birth of the baby Jesus. But more than anything, we wait for the coming kingdom that Jesus has promised; and we wait with expectation and hope, looking for signs that that kingdom is breaking in, even here and now.

Who all in here has pets, or has had pets at one time? Who’s got dogs? And where are my cat people at?

Generally speaking, for those who have had dogs, how hard would you say it is to get a dog to like you? How hard is it to train a dog or get a dog to bond with you? I’m guessing your answer is “really not that hard.” In my experience, it usually takes about 30 seconds or less to become best friends with a dog.

Now, for anyone who’s had cats – same question. How hard is it to get a cat to like you? How hard is it to train a cat or to get a cat to bond with you? Heh – this morning’s answers in worship ranged from “difficult” to “impossible” to “that happens??”

Cats can be tricky creatures. Unlike dogs, cats generally aren’t going to go out of their way to try to please you. They tend to be particular about which humans they choose to form relationships with; and cats will not hesitate to defend their own personal boundaries. Contrary to popular belief, cats actually can be trained – but there’s no forcing a cat to do anything it doesn’t feel like doing. It’s a relationship that requires gentleness, consistency, and patience.

Continue reading →

December 1, 2024 0

Sermon: Mary — Mother, Outcast, Prophet

Sunday, December 23, 2018
St. John’s Lutheran Church, Schuyler, NE
Fourth Sunday of Advent

Our gospel reading this morning contains one of the most famous – I’d even say infamous – texts in all of scripture. In this passage from Luke, right off the bat, we get the sense that something unusual is coming. This is a story about two women – the whole passage, all seventeen verses, details their conversation – and when you consider the time that it was written, it’s amazing that it was written down at all! Luke tells us that Mary traveled to the “house of Zechariah,” but Zechariah doesn’t even show up in this story. If you were here a couple of weeks ago, you can probably guess why that is! (Exactly right! Zechariah was stricken mute when Elizabeth’s pregnancy was announced). This story is about Elizabeth and Mary – not about Zechariah and not even about Joseph.

In this passage from Luke, Mary sings a song we could arguably call the very first Christmas carol. You have probably heard these words before. If you’re familiar with Holden Evening Prayer, then you have definitely sung these words before! This is the song that we call the Magnificat. Magnificat means “magnify” in Latin – it’s the first word of Mary’s song in Latin.

Continue reading “Sermon: Mary — Mother, Outcast, Prophet” →

January 7, 2019 1

Sermon: Axes, Unquenchable Fire, and Joy

Sunday, December 16, 2018
St. John’s Lutheran Church, Schuyler, NE
Third Sunday of Advent

Last Sunday, as you might remember, we spent some time talking about the season of Advent. We talked about how Advent is intended to be a season of hopefulness and of joyful expectation. In retrospect, I realized that the sermon I preached last week might actually have been even more fitting to preach today! Today is Gaudete Sunday, from the Latin word for “rejoice.” It’s the Sunday of joy. Today we lit the rose candle in our advent wreath. Historically, Advent has been considered a kind of mini-Lent – a season of solemnity and fasting and penitence. And even though the church has moved more toward seeing this as a season of expectation and preparation, it’s still good to be reminded that we are waiting for something joyful: the coming of the kingdom of God, Christ’s reign of justice, peace, and love on earth.

Continue reading “Sermon: Axes, Unquenchable Fire, and Joy” →

December 28, 2018 1

Sermon: Wait for It

Sunday, December 9, 2018
St. John’s Lutheran Church, Schuyler, NE
Second Sunday of Advent

When I was a little girl growing up, the time leading up to Christmas was my favorite time of year. Like most kids, I was excited at the prospect of getting a long break from school, and most of all, I was excited to get presents! My family always had a very strict protocol about the proper time for opening presents. We waited until Christmas morning. My brother and sister and I would wake our parents up at an ungodly early hour and be told to go back to bed a few times before they finally got up. My dad would then shuffle downstairs to get his camera while the three of us waited with Mom at the top of the stairs, until Dad was ready for us to come down. I have no idea what all Dad was actually doing downstairs – but I do remember that it always took foreeeeeeever for him to give us the go-ahead to come down. Maybe it just seemed like an interminably long time because I was so small and impatient (as opposed to large and impatient, like I am now). But I vividly remember sitting at the top of that long, narrow staircase in my pajamas, waiting with my brother and sister, our little butts scooched right to the very edge of the top stair. I remember the electric feeling of excitement in my whole body, like a coiled up spring, just waiting to bounce down those stairs as fast as my little legs could go.

This waiting, this excitement and expectation, is what the season of Advent is all about. We are waiting with bated breath – not knowing yet what exactly we will find at the bottom of the stairs, but trusting that it will be marvellous and worth the wait.

Continue reading “Sermon: Wait for It” →

December 28, 2018 5

Sermon: Anchored in Hope

Sunday, November 18, 2018
St. John’s Lutheran Church, Schuyler, NE
Twenty-Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

Our texts for today are full of chaos and trouble. There are times of anguish, conflicts with cosmic enemies, destruction, war, earthquakes, famine, and pain. These are texts that point us ahead toward the future unraveling of creation – the end of all things.

These seem like kind of jarring themes for us to be focusing on now. Right now, the rest of the world is gearing up for the bright season of Christmas – with candy canes and silver lanes already aglow! In contrast, the end of the Christian liturgical year – which actually ends next Sunday – is a bit darker and a lot more apocalyptic. As the days get shorter, we are preparing ourselves to begin a new year with the season of Advent. We are still waiting in the darkness for a light to shine.

Continue reading “Sermon: Anchored in Hope” →

November 30, 2018 1

Brooding on Vipers: An Out of Season Advent Sermon

Wednesday, April 6, 2016
“Encountering the Living Word” preaching course
Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC)

Matthew 3:1-12
In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’ This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,
‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
“Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.” ’
Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our ancestor”; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
‘I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing-floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’

The violent language of wrath and destruction in this text is kind of surprising and off-putting. Unquenchable fire and axes are not themes we usually associate with our God of love. Less so during Advent. During Advent, the secular world is usually already in full-blown Christmas mode, and we – in our quiet Christian way – are preparing ourselves for the birth of sweet little baby Jesus.

What is John even so mad about in this text anyway? He’s hanging out in the wilderness, baptizing the huge crowds of people that are coming to him from every which way. I mean, he’s baptizing everybody. Why is it so shocking and upsetting then that the Pharisees and Sadducees are among the crowd as well? Why are they singled out and separated as being somehow worse or more sinful than the rest? Continue reading “Brooding on Vipers: An Out of Season Advent Sermon” →

April 7, 2016 3