Category Archives: Lectionary and sermon

Reformation Sunday

READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK

• First reading and Psalm
  • Jer 31:31-34
• Psalm
  • Psalm 46
• Second reading
  • Rom 3:19-28
• Gospel
  • John 8:31-36

Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK

• First reading and Psalm
  • Joel 2:23-32
  • Psalm 65
• Alternate First reading and Psalm
  • Sirach 35:12-17 or Jeremiah 14:7-10, 19-22
  • Psalm 84:1-7
• Second reading
  • 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
• Gospel
  • Luke 18:9-14

The gospel from Luke 18:9-14
Jesus also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt:

“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’

But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Sermon:
Pastor Stevenson this week told us about a cousin who has for a long time tried in her letters to convince him to change his religious beliefs. He finally drew a line in the sand and wrote back. She was like the Pharisee in our gospel reading this week. If we read it carefully, Luke states at the beginning that the parable is directed at the Pharisee. But both characters, the Pharisee and the tax collector, are ambiguous. Initially the Pharisee is a positive figure and the tax collector is like today’s drug dealer who is banned due to being convicted of drug possession. But there is hope for the tax collector. In the end the tax collector is justified. God will make sinners righteous. As in verse 1 of our Hymn of the Day, “There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy, like the wideness of the sea ,,,,,,,there is no place where earth’s failings have such kindly judgement given.”……..

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Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost

READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK

• First reading and Psalm
  • Jeremiah 31:27-34
  • Psalm 119:97-104
• Alternate First reading and Psalm
  • Genesis 32:22-31
  • Psalm 121
• Second reading
  • 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
• Gospel
  • Luke 18:1-8

First reading from Genesis}

Genesis 32:22-31
The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had.

Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.”

So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” Then the man said, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.” The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.

Psalm 121
121:1 I lift up my eyes to the hills– from where will my help come?

121:2 My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.

121:3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.

121:4 He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

121:5 The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade at your right hand.

121:6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.

121:7 The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.

121:8 The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore.

The second reading from 2 Timothy:
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you:to proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching.

For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.

The gospel from Luke:
Jesus told a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’

For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.'”

And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

Sermon:
Pastor Stevenson’s sermon ths week is on persistence, faith and prayer. In the first reading Jacob wrestles with a representative of God.. As we read in our bible class, Jacob had stolen his brother Esau’s birthright.and leaves. He sees angels from heaven climbing on a ladder, which is a sign to Jacob that God is faithful. When he returns from exile he wrestles the angel. In the psalm we read that help can come from God Himself. In the second reading, Paul assumes an unquestionable trust in God. In Luke Jesus’ parable is about an unjust judge, bribery and a widow who kept asking for judgement until the judge gave in. We can be like the widow and pray again and again. But there is another meaning having to do with God’s faithfulness………….

Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

READINGS FOR THE WEEK

• First reading and Psalm
  • Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7
  • Psalm 66:1-12
• Alternate First reading and Psalm
  • 2 Kings 5:1-3, 7-15c
  • Psalm 111
• Second reading
  • 2 Timothy 2:8-15
• Gospel
  • Luke 17:11-19

The gospel from Luke:
On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan.

Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”

Sermon:
This week’s gospel reading has been used on Thanksgiving. God favors people who do what we think he would want them to do. It is like Jesus following the Jewish law. But in other ways, Jesus accepts people, like those overlooked or pushed aside, as the lepers in our reading. God favors all. But there is more. The reading emphasizes discipleship. Discipleship is doing things that churches do. This includes members caring for each other. In his twelve years with us, Pastor Stevensen has tried, like a football coach, to give a “will to win” lecture. When he worked at LIncoln Labs, he tells us that he was successful in getting approval for a particular expenditure by giving, he told his coworkers, their supervisor a “will to win” speech. In the sixteenth century, during church reformation, emphasized was fear and trust in God. Fear and trust are contradictory. Pastor advised us to keep between these two “ditches.” There is danger in thinking good works is all that God wants. It is a case of social despair versus social pride…………

Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK

• First reading and Psalm
  • Lamentations 1:1-6
  • Lamentations 3:19-26 or Psalm 137
• Alternate First reading and Psalm
  • Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4
  • Psalm 37:1-9
• Second reading
  • 2 Timothy 1:1-14
• Gospel
  • Luke 17:5-10

First reading from Habakkuk:
The oracle that the prophet Habakkuk saw. O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save? Why do you make me see wrong-doing and look at trouble? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law becomes slack and justice never prevails. The wicked surround the righteous– therefore judgment comes forth perverted.

I will stand at my watch post, and station myself on the rampart; I will keep watch to see what he will say to me, and what he will answer concerning my complaint. Then the LORD answered me and said: Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it. For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay. Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faith.

The second reading from Timothy:
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, for the sake of the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus, To Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

I am grateful to God–whom I worship with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did–when I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you. For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.

Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

For this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher, and for this reason I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him. eHold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.

The gospel from Luke:
The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” The Lord replied, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

“Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here at once and take your place at the table’? Would you not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink’? Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded?

So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!'”

Sermon:
Verse 1:4 of Habakkkuk “So the law becomes slack and justice never prevails: the wicked surround the righteous– therefore judgment comes forth perverted.” is important even though Habakkuk is called a minor prophet, the book having only three chapters. It is a deeply personal testimonial from a time when things were a mess. It is still a pertinent question. He sees evil and demands an answer. And the Lord answers “…..wait for it. It will surely come……..the righteous live by their faith.” Pastor Stevenson asks “What is faith?” In the gospel reading we read how Jesus answered the request “Increase our faith” with “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.” Faith is the ability to see truth, is the work of God, is given to us at baptism. We have the cross and the resurrection. In the second reading Paul writes to Timothy “Do not be ashamed then of the testimony about our Lord….but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God……..

Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK

• First reading and Psalm
  • Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15
  • Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16
• Alternate First reading and Psalm
  • Amos 6:1a, 4-7
  • Psalm 146
• Second reading
  • 1 Timothy 6:6-19
• Gospel
  • Luke 16:19-31

The gospel from Luke:
Jesus said this parable: “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores.

The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.’

But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’

He said, ‘Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house–for I have five brothers–that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.’ Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’

He said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'”

Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK

• First reading and Psalm
  • Jeremiah 8:18-9:1
  • Psalm 79:1-9
• Alternate First reading and Psalm
  • Amos 8:4-7
  • Psalm 113
• Second reading
  • 1 Timothy 2:1-7
• Gospel
  • Luke 16:1-13

The gospel from Luke:
Then Jesus said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. So he summoned him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.’

Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’

So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’ Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘A hundred containers of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and make it eighty.’

And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.

“Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own?

No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

Sermon:
Our congregation is small but is thrifty, careful about its spending, and yet financially helps other causes. In our gospel reading this week is the Parable of the Dishonest Manager. But it is not about money. Jesus is encouraging shrewdness. We are told to act on opportunities. Act shrewdly for God. Pastor Stevenson said that he is taking an online class on church renewal, which involves strategy, shrewdness. Members of Lutheran churches around the country are participating. One church with an average member age of 65 decided to focus on seniors and their membership grew, bringing in more seniors and then younger new members too. The idea is to count on God and take the initiative……..

Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK

• First reading and Psalm
  • Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28
  • Psalm 14
• Alternate First reading and Psalm
  • Exodus 32:7-14
  • Psalm 51:1-10
• Second reading
  • 1 Timothy 1:12-17
• Gospel
  • Luke 15:1-10

Psalm 51
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment.
Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.
You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart>
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.

The gospel from Luke:
Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable:

“Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’

Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. “Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’

Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

*….when his (Tissot) carefully researched collection of 350 watercolors depicting the life of Jesus was first published as a book in 1896, it found a large and enthusiastic audience. No one who had followed his previous career could have anticipated that this painter of urban life in Paris and London would undertake the project of painting virtually every event in the Gospels.

Sermon
Pastor Stevensen is back teaching a college course. There are rules he needs to enforce, one being no work sharing. But no student who breaks the rule is punished or expelled because of tuition paid. Our gospel reading in Luke this week is about enforcing rules. The Pharisees took seriously the rule about work. The tax collectors and sinners were forbidden to eat with the others. The Pharisees ask Jesus why he does. He answers that there is more rejoicing over saving one sheep than those he leaves in the wilderness. Jesus is the one who goes out and rescues lost sheep. Psalm 51 today gives us the meaning of the lost sheep and offers the meaning of sin. “My inward being was born a sinner.” In our hymn #448, Amazing Grace, we sing “I was lost but now I am found.” God is superior to us. In our third hymn today, #492, we ask “O Master let me walk with you in lowly paths of service true.” In Luke we can read that when Jesus was nailed to the cross with two thieves on their crosses, one asked Jesus for forgiveness and Jesus granted it. Jesus had time to care about one more lost sheep.

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Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK

• First reading and Psalm
  • Jeremiah 18:1-11
  • Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18
• Alternate First reading and Psalm
  • Deuteronomy 30:15-20
  • Psalm 1
• Second reading
  • Philemon 1:1-21
• Gospel
  • Luke 14:25-33

The gospel from Luke:
Now large crowds were traveling with him; and he turned and said to them, “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’

Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace.

So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

*Notes:
Inspired by Ruskin’s [book] “Modern Painters”, Blunden abandoned her career as a governess in order to become an artist. She exhibited from 1853, attracting Ruskin’s attention in 1859 when she exhibited “God’s Gothic and Past and Present” at the Royal Academy. [from http://cornwallartists.org]

Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost

READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK

• First reading and Psalm
  • Jeremiah 2:4-13
  • Psalm 81:1, 10-16
• Alternate First reading and Psalm
  • Sirach 10:12-18 or Proverbs 25:6-7
  • Psalm 112
• Second reading
  • Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16
• Gospel
  • Luke 14:1, 7-14

The second reading from Hebrews:
Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured. Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers. Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you.”

So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?” Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Through him, then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

The gospel from Luke:
On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely. When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable.

“When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you.

For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.

And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

Sermon
Pastor Stevensen says that pastors in general like both the Old and the New Testaments. Why should we care about the Old Testament? The New Testament refers many times to the Old. The Old Testament is remarkable in expressing faith in God. In Genesis we may read about the three visitors Abraham to whom he showed hospitality. In the Old Testament we learn about the nature of God. This helps us to understand our gospel lesson. Our lesson in Hebrews says to “not neglect to entertain strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels.” In Luke, Jesus says “Do not invite your friends, relatives or rich neighbors. …Invite the poor, the crippled and the blind.” This is contrary to the culture of the time. He says “You will be blessed ….for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” Jesus is teaching those less fortunate. Why teach these people? God is generous. He is “wildly extravagant.” The visitors all come without money. God is generous to all people. Generosity is displayed in other parables, as in the seed, meaning the Word, sowed everywhere, and as in the father who is generous to his prodigal son. God is magnificently generous……..