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LCH Sermons—Time after Pentecost (October and November) 2013
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Christ the King—November 24, 2013
Preacher: Pastor Angela Freeman
Lessons: Jeremiah 23:1–6 | Luke 1:68–79 | Colossians 1:11–20 | Luke 23:33–43
Summary: In my first parish we had an experience with a homeless person that shaped our ministry and the way we experienced Christ in the people around us. On Christ the King, we see that Jesus is a different kind of king who says that when we help people in need, we help God. On this day we celebrate both who we are and whose we are. We are called to be the hands and heart of Christ in this world. We are called to see God in the people around us as well as in the child in the manger we anticipate in the new church year.
Time after Pentecost • Lectionary 33—November 17, 2013
Preacher: Pastor Jeff Lilley
Lessons: Isaiah 65:17–25 | Isaiah 12:2–6 | 2 Thessalonians 3:6–13 | Luke 21:5–19
Summary: Many people these days see the calamities around us as signs of God’s anger and signs the world is coming to an end. It was that way in today’s Gospel lesson, but Jesus tells the people not to worry and to concentrate on God’s promise to be with us. God calls us to live out the Gospel faithfully in our lives and to look to the promise.
Time after Pentecost • Lectionary 32—November 10, 2013
Preacher: Pastor Angela Freeman
Lessons:Haggai 1:15b—2:9 | Psalm 145:1–5, 17–21 | 2 Thessalonians 2:1–5, 13–17 | Luke 20:27–38
Summary: Today’s lesson from Haggai takes us back to the time around 500 BCE when the exiles had returned from Babylon. They had built new homes, but the community had not prospered because they had not rebuilt the temple. Haggai prophesied, and they began to rebuild, and then people complained that the new temple as not a splendid as the old one. In the lesson, Haggai reminds them that the God is with them and prophesies that God will make the new temple greater than the old one. Many of us worry about our own futures and the future of the church, and we worry that our own actions are not sufficient. As in the time of Haggai, the key is that God is present with us. It’s not about us; it’s about God.
All Saints Sunday—November 3, 2013
Preacher: Pastor Jeff Lilley
Lessons: Daniel 7:1–3, 15–18 | Psalm 149 | Ephesians 1:11–23 | Luke 6:20–31
Summary: All Saints is a bittersweet day as we remember those who have gone before and are dead as well as the saints among us. We are sad that the saints are no longer with us, but we also rejoice that they are part of the great cloud of witnesses around us. In today’s Gospel, Jesus describes the saints in the Beatitudes, beginning with those who are poor. This is very different from the opinion of the word which does not bless the poor. Jesus blesses them and calls us to proclaim both God’s love for them and our own love for them. We too are saints when we live out the love of God in the word.
Reformation Sunday—October 27, 2013
Preacher: Pastors Angela Freeman and Jeff Lilley
Lessons: Jeremiah 31:31–34 | Psalm 46 | Romans 3:19–28 | John 8: 31–36
Summary: The sermon began with a dramatization of Jesus’s parable of the self-righteous Pharisee and the penitent tax college. The pastors were joined by a child who brought the message from Jesus that love is the key. They then discussed the meaning of the Reformation centering on Luther’s questions “What does this mean?” and “How does this show Christ?” Remembering the Reformation leads us to ask how we are still reforming and to remember that when Christ sets us free, we are free indeed.
Time after Pentecost • Lectionary 29—October 20, 2013
Preacher: Pastor Angela Freeman
Lessons: Jeremiah 31:27–34 | Psalm 119:97–104 | 2 Timothy 3:14—4:5 | Luke 18:1–8
Summary: We do not usually think that today’s Gospel about the widow and the unjust judge is about prayer, but that is how Jesus introduces it. The woman knows what she wants and persistently puts forth her position. When we engage this way with God, God returns the persistence because God desires this kind of relationship with us.
Time after Pentecost • Lectionary 28—October 13, 2013
Preacher: Pastor Angela Freeman
Lessons: Jeremiah 29:1, 47 | Psalm 66:112 | 2 Timothy 2:815 | Luke 12:22–31
Summary: Today we read a special Gospel for our stewardship theme “Be not afraid.“ People will hear this passage about the lilies of the field differently if they are comfortable or hard pressed in their lives. Jesus is not saying that necessities are not important but that we should not worry about stuff. God loves all creation and wants the best for all life, so our conditions of comfort or want are not because of our faith or works. Rather Jesus is calling us to serve the kingdom of God and do something about the hard stuff.
Time after Pentecost • Lectionary 27—October 6, 2013
Preacher: Pastor Jeff Lilley
Lessons: Lamentations 1:1–6 | Lamentations 3:19–26 | 2 Timothy 1:1–14 | Luke 17:5–10
Summary: Many of us related to today’s Gospel story of the mustard seed because we are like the disciples. They do not feel able to live the life Jesus calls them to, so they ask Jesus to increase their faith, and we have all had events that test our faith. Too often we approach faith as a concept rather than a muscle to be used. When faith finds its home in our very lives, we are close to Jesus’s understanding of faith. God has planted a mustard seed of faith in each of you so that you can live it out in every aspect of your life.
This week’s sermon did not get recorded for technical reasons.
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