promise – This is the Day

Sunday, November 24, 2024
Spirit of Hope Lutheran Church, Lincoln, NE
Reign of Christ Sunday
(narrative lectionary)
watch this service online (reading starts around 21:49; children’s sermon starts around 26:35; sermon starts around 33:35)

Reading: Jeremiah 36:1-8, 21-23, 27-28; 31:31-34 (Luke 22:19-20)

In the children’s sermon, we talked about what it means to be a leader, and what kind of qualities or actions it takes for someone to be a good leader. We talked about how today on Reign of Christ Sunday, we celebrate that God in Christ is our leader. Christ is merciful and forgiving and loving toward us and calls us to be the same kind of leaders in the world. Sometimes we can get frustrated or angry or sad when human leaders in this world act in ways that don’t look like Christ’s leadership at all. But today we remember that human institutions and human authority will pass away, but God’s kingdom of love will stand forever.

I’d like to start out the sermon today… with a pop quiz! (haha) Don’t worry, it’s not graded. I feel pretty confident guessing that most of us in here have been to at least a few worship services in our lives – which means you’ve all heard the words of institution we say during communion a time or two. But it’s one thing to hear it over and over again, and another thing to actually say it! So today I’m curious to find out how well you all remember the words of institution from memory. Ready?

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Monday, August 13, 2018
Funeral of Bill Swanda
Svoboda North Chapel, Schuyler, NE
cover image

Psalm 23
John 14:1-6

One summer, many years ago, I drove through a terrible, terrible storm. It was the fourth of July. My family and I had driven down to Norfolk, about an hour from my hometown, to go watch the fireworks. The show ended up getting cut short by a tornado warning, so we decided to hightail it out of there to try to get out of the storm’s path. By the time we finally got out on the highway, the rain was pouring down in thick sheets and the wind howled around us as it ripped through the darkness. It was pitch black and almost impossible to see anything, even the road. It felt like all I could do just to keep my car between the fog lines. But up ahead of me, I realized I could just make out two little red lights in the darkness – the taillights of my dad’s SUV. As I gripped the steering wheel of my car with white-knuckled hands, I kept my eyes on those lights and followed them all the way through the darkness to home and safety.

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Tag: promise

Sermon: A New Covenant (AKA Good King, Bad King)

Sermon: Lights on the Way