A profligate father, two greedy sons, an unmentioned community, one preacher, and a sacramental fatted calf comprise this parable's cast. The world with all its prodigal younger sons; the world with all its begrudging elder sons; the world with all its skeptical and necessarily protective communities will be reconciled to the Father by the sacrifice of Christ. Delivered at St. Paul's Lutheran Church, El Paso, TX on Sunday, March 14th, 2010 by the Reverend Timothy J. Swenson.
The text for this sermon can be found here:
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Salvation Insurance? No, Thank You!
The Third Sunday of Lent C March 7, 2010 Wilmington & Trinity Lutheran Churches Arnegard & Alexander, North Dakota The fig tree (and those Pharisees and Sadducees) die particularly from being unfruitful, unproductive. Makes you want to get out your yield calculator, doesnt it? Figure out your fruit per hour, see how that measures up? Has your life yielded enough fruit to make it on your own, or will you have to file for salvation insurance? Sadly enough, thats the way a goodly number of those who call themselves Christian treat our Lord Jesus Christ: salvation insurance. Isaiah 55:1-9 Psalm 63:1-8 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 Luke 13:1-13
The Sermon Text can be found here:
A Cosmic Game of Chicken
A Cosmic Game of Chicken
The Second Sunday of Lent February 28, 2010 Wilmington & Trinity Lutheran Churches Arnegard & Alexander, North Dakota When the Word of God descended from heaven in the person of Jesus the Christ, the worlds children were already well practiced in the ascension of their own glory. Jesus—coming down—was on a collision course with the world going up. And there on the curb sat the devil egging on the both of them as if it were some cosmic game of chicken and the devil would take the one who flinched first. Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 Psalm 27 Philippians 3:17-4:1 Luke 13:31-35
The Second Sunday of Lent February 28, 2010 Wilmington & Trinity Lutheran Churches Arnegard & Alexander, North Dakota When the Word of God descended from heaven in the person of Jesus the Christ, the worlds children were already well practiced in the ascension of their own glory. Jesus—coming down—was on a collision course with the world going up. And there on the curb sat the devil egging on the both of them as if it were some cosmic game of chicken and the devil would take the one who flinched first. Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 Psalm 27 Philippians 3:17-4:1 Luke 13:31-35
Sermon text found here:
Friday, February 19, 2010
First the Bad News, then the Good News
The funeral sermon for Bruce White delivered by the Rev. Timothy J. Swenson at Trinity Lutheran Church in Alexander, North Dakota on February 17th, 2010. The texts were 2 Timothy 4:6-7; Psalm 23; John 16:33-34 The bad news: everybody, all mortal things, die; this happens at baptism when we are buried with Christ into a death like his; into the resulting silence God speaks the Good News: "Christ is your life!"
The text for the sermon can be found here:
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
"Listen!" said one; "Look!" said the other
The sermon delivered February 14, 2010 at Wilmington Lutheran Church in Arnegard, North Dakota, on the occasion of the Transfiguration of Our Lord, Cycle C, by Timothy J. Swenson. The proclamation declares the difference between "listen" and "look" as the difference between theologians of the cross and theologies of glory, exposing sinners as "faithless and perverse." The texts are: Exodus 34:29-35 Psalm 99 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2 Luke 9:28-36 [37-43]
The text of the sermon can be found here:
Monday, February 15, 2010
Caught and Called Out
"Caught and Called Out" the sermon preached by Timothy J. Swenson on February 7, 2010 at Wilmington Lutheran Church in Arnegard, North Dakota, on the occasion of the 5th Sunday after Epiphany, Cycle C. The sermon preaches the miraculous catch of fish as a "catching out" of sinners so that they are called out of sin by the gift of faith.
Isaiah 6:1-8 (9-13)
Psalm 138
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Luke 5:1-11
Isaiah 6:1-8 (9-13)
Psalm 138
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Luke 5:1-11
The text of the sermon can be found here:
Beloved Betrayers
The sermon delivered by the Reverend Timothy J. Swenson on January 31, 2010--the 4th Sunday after Epiphany, Cycle C, in Wilmington Lutheran Church, Arnegard, ND. The sermon uses a social science understanding the the "honor/shame" society in Jesus' day to expose the betrayal of Jesus' followers. The texts are:
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Psalm 71:4-10
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Luke 4:21-30
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