'St. John' Tagged Posts
A NEW SERMON SERIES – THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN
Today we begin a new sermon series – The Gospel According To St. John. During the week of Christmas & New Years, we will break from our series to consider the Christmas accounts from The Gospel According To St. Luke, and then we will return to John’s Gospel. God the Holy Spirit has chosen to record the life of our Savior in four Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Each of these accounts pursues a different angle. Even the…
SAINTS TRIUMPHANT
This particular Sunday has come to be called “Saints Triumphant.” That word “saints” is a rich Bible word which deserves a look-see. The word “saint” is sometimes wrongly used to refer to a person of the past who was so holy and perfect that he or she earned their way to heaven and then had left-over “points” or merits to share with someone else. This false teaching is compounded when people offer up prayers to such “saints.” There are…
THE SONG OF RUTH
Today we examine the little book of Ruth. The most famous verses of Ruth, as translated in the King James Version have often been sung at weddings: Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: For whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest I will lodge: Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: The Lord do…
SIN, DEATH AND THE DEVIL
We hear it in church often enough…and the children in our school hear it plenty – this business about “sin, death and the devil.” The “sin” is easy enough to spot – in our homes, in our hearts, on the playground. And “death” forces us to admit its power as we carry loved ones to the cemetery. But when we teach the children to pray Luther’s morning and evening prayers – asking “that the wicked foe may have no power…
AN INSIDE JOB
The Trojan War of history took place around 1200 B.C. It had to do with the control of trade in the Dardanelles. But it is the Trojan War of mythology that captures the imagination. The old story has it that the Greeks fought against the city of Troy for 10 years. They were unable to breach its fortified walls. And so, as the myth goes, the Greek forces of Agamemnon pretended to pack up and leave. But outside the…
TREES, PLANTS, BRANCHES, ETC.
Back in our seminary days, we often stopped by the seminary book store after lunch. My first year there, I noticed one of the hundreds of books for sale. It was entitled: All The Plants Of The Bible. My second year it was still sitting there on the shelf. My third year I left to be a vicar. When I returned for my fourth and final year, there it was, gathering dust. “Who in their right mind would buy it?”…