The Reason for the Season

“Put the Christ back in Christmas!” “Remember the reason for the season!” “There’s a war on Christmas!”

Throughout the holiday season I've heard these sentiments touted over and over - there are even Facebook pages dedicated to these causes. There are obviously many who are worrying that the meaning of Christmas is being lost as it's replaced by the forces of political correctness.

Some complain that the word "holiday" is being used where “Christmas” properly belongs. And if we believe everything we hear from Christian alarmists, we might be easily convinced that the "true meaning" of Christmas is quickly fading in American culture.

And indeed, I would agree – I think there is something terribly wrong with the way in which we observe Christmas in this country.  In the midst of frantic shopping, the stress of travel, and the ever-present anxiety that always accompany family showing up for the big Christmas meal, I think we sense that something is askew. There's a disconnect behind how we celebrate and why we're celebrating.

Though I don’t think political correctness or the “non-Christian” culture is to blame.

I think it runs deeper. I think the problem lies not outside Christianity - but perhaps within it.

Rapture In Reverse

Scripture: Revelation 21:1-7

This final week of Advent also marks our final week of our journey through the book of Revelation. And as I promised that first week – we end up pretty much right where we started. With Jesus saying to us once again, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.” We began by hearing the promises given to the seven churches, to those who conquer and overcome – that they would be given crowns, robes, and made pillars in the temple of God. And here we see the culmination – what those who “conquer” will inherit.

These past 7 weeks we’ve gone on a very “revealing” journey about our world – of where we are versus where God wants us to be. We’ve seen beasts, harlots, plagues, horsemen and countless other threats to our world, our livelihoods and our faith lives.  We have been called out of the evil systems of our world, called out of operating like the rest of the world operates, called to a life of faithfulness, called to renew our love for one another, called to hear the promises that we will be victorious if we can resist the seductions of evil around us.

And now, at the end of the book – we are being invited in and given a glimpse of God’s vision for our future.

As the conquering Word of God goes out and defeats the evils and threats we face on a regular basis, Revelation 21 and 22 invite us in to see what God envisions for our world. Invites us to see what heaven on earth will look like. Invites us to see how what we pray each week will become a reality.  “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Revelation has not been about rapturing us up into heaven so we don’t have to face the ugliness of our world - but rather delivers to us a promise that equips us to handle the ugliness and evil of the world around us.  Instead of sweeping us up into heaven to let the world just fend for itself and be destroyed – Revelation ends instead with God and his Kingdom DESCENDING, coming down to earth – coming down to us.

The Self-Destructive Nature of Evil

Scripture: Revelation 17

I remember one time when I was in seminary a Jehovah’s Witness came to my door wanting to talk to me about the book of Revelation. They were determined to show me the error of my Lutheran ways, and wanted to use Revelation 17 to do it.

They asked me, “Do you know what the Harlot is?” I said, “Ummm, a great city?”

“Oh no! Revelation 17 tells us that it’s following a false religion.”

I responded with… “Oh? Really? Ok, let’s look it up…”  I then proceeded to read to them verse 18, “The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth…”

For some reason... they never came back to visit me.

People go a lot of different places with this imagery…

But if we go back to John’s day, we know that the image of a woman riding a noble steed was frequently used throughout the Roman Empire to symbolize the city of Rome.

In the case of Rome, they had coins that had the Goddess Roma… oddly enough leaning back against seven hills.

What John is doing is taking this well-known image and “revealing” its true nature.

John is using satire. He’s taking this familiar image, and making it into a caricature to say something about the nature of this so-called “noble woman” called Rome.

Where Do YOU Stand?

The following is a continuation of our Revelation preaching series at First Lutheran. This sermon was preached by Pastor Meg Sander. 

Scripture: Revelation 6:1-8, 15-17; Revelation 5:1-8

There are many phrases we use that contain the word stand. STAND tall. Take a STAND, make a STAND! STAND by me. STAND by your man or woman. STAND up for yourself! STAND on your own two feet. STAND up and be counted. STANDing in the need of prayer. STAND up for your rights! If you don’t STAND for something, you’ll fall for anything! And at the end of our Bible reading for today…"Who is able to stand?” No one is able to stand when we look at what the text says.

There was a white horse…representing CONQUEST.  And another horse, bright red; representing VIOLENCE. Then there was a black horse, representing ECONOMIC HARDSHIP! And a pale  green horse representing DEATH!  And then later in the chapter we read that there came a great earthquake; the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth… Then the kings of the earth…the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid…for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?’

Whoa! Hold your horses! In all that gloom and doom, you ask who is able to stand. Of course nobody is able to stand when they face all kind of destruction and despair. Are you kidding?  When left to our own defenses, we are unable to stand against the perils of this world.

Christ & The Church: Problems of Assimilation, Complacency & Persecution

Scriptures: Revelation 1:4-19 (Daniel 7:9-14; Zechariah 12:10-11)

This week we’re starting something a little different than we’ve ever done before. We’re a Lutheran church… and we’re going to do a preaching series on the Book of Revelation. Bizarre… I know.

Its images and message have been interpreted in a variety of different ways and continue to be used as a “predictor” for current world events.

Where a lot of people go wrong when they open the Book of Revelation is they skip over this opening portion and tend to jump right into chapter six – where the four horsemen show up. After all – that’s when things get exciting.

But if you skip over this opening portion, you miss the entire point of the book of Revelation – because the opening is where we are introduced to the hero of the story. We are introduced to Jesus. A vision of Jesus that draws on and stays consistent with the Old Testament visions.

Wearing Christ

Scriptures: James 2:14-19; Matthew 22:1-14

A week before my wedding, I suppose it’s only fitting that I get to preach on a parable about a wedding banquet. Hopefully I don’t have quite the difficulty in getting people to attend that the king does in this parable.

It really is an odd parable if you think about it. It would be like if you had been invited to Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding and every single person who had been invited went, “Nah. I have better things to do that day.”

But the parable’s meaning is pretty clear up until you get to one particular little point. The first part we get – Israel constituted the “special guests” but they rejected God’s Son and thus, didn’t RSVP. And in fact – killed God’s messengers. Similar to the parable last week of the tenants who killed the servants. So God invited everybody else.

Seems pretty simple. Until you get to this disturbing addendum to the parable about the guy who shows up and isn’t properly dressed for the wedding so the King kicks him out where there is “wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

The Cornerstone

Scriptures: Matthew 21:33-46; Isaiah 5:1-7; Philippians 3:4-14

Every parable usually has one main overarching theme or message – to reveal to us something about the nature of God. Whether it’s the prodigal son showing us how God welcomes back the lost, or the parable of the Good Samaritan that tells us who God views as our neighbor.

And then you get a parable like this that makes you start going… “That landowner... he’s not too bright.” Albert Einstein once defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over, but expecting different results.

But that’s how this landowner acts. He keeps persistently sending servant after servant to these tenants, hoping that they will eventually do what they’re supposed to – then finally sends his son, who also is rejected, beaten and killed.

From a worldly perspective – we look at God and say, “Ummm, yeah – not the brightest move.” But on another level, it shows us the patience and persistence of God. How God continually keeps trying to bring his people around, to get his people to do what they were supposed to do – be a priestly nation to the world. His representatives to the other nations. He sends prophet after prophet – then ultimately he sends His son.

But they continued to refuse to bear the kind of fruit God was after.

It's Just Not Fair!

Scriptures: Jonah 3:10-4:11; Matthew 20:1-16

Whenever I read this parable, I always think, “You know… that’s just not fair!” You bust your butt all day, do your work, then you get to see your reward. You earn it.

That’s the way the world works. That’s the way I was raised. It’s that good old fashioned mid-western work ethic. You work hard – you reap the benefits of those rewards. You don’t work hard… well, if life were fair, then everyone who doesn’t work as hard doesn’t get to reap the same benefits.

Right? That’s how we think it’s supposed to work.

However, Jesus’ parable about the workers in the vineyard stands this idea on its head. Those who have worked and toiled in the field all day receive exactly the same benefit and wage as those who were the Johnny-come-lately’s.

Distributing the Miracle

Scriptures: Matthew 14:13-21; Isaiah 55:1-5

As I prepared to write this sermon, I looked up some rather disturbing statistics. Did you know that Americans eat 75 acres of pizza, 53 million hot dogs, 167 million eggs, 3 million gallons of ice cream, and 3,000 tons of candy a day?

Yet on the other side of the world, 11.6 million people in the nation of Somalia are at risk of starving to death due to a drought. Across the globe, there are 840 million chronically malnourished people.

The Department of Agriculture in our own country estimates there are 3.8 million families who experience hunger and up to 12 million families concerned about having enough food to feed their families.

Now we know, for a fact, that people go hungry not because there is a lack of food in our world. Yes, Somalia’s famine has been precipitated by a severe drought that has caused their famine.

But here in America – 40-50% of what we harvest each year – NEVER GETS EATEN. That’s half our food supply just being tossed out.

Problem Children

Scriptures:  2 Samuel 13:30-33, 37-39; 2 Samuel 18:4-17, 33


This week we are wrapping up our series “Insights for Living from the Life of David.” These later years of David’s life, that deal primarily with his home life, are troubling stories – to say the least. Last week, we heard about how David broke almost every single commandment with one incident of lust. Adultery, deceit, murder… that’s how it all came down for David and his affair with Bathsheba.

This week – we are hearing how the repercussions of those actions are being played out in David’s family life. God declared that because of David’s actions, the sword would never leave his family. It would constantly be caught up in turmoil and strife. His sons would learn from their father how to handle situations in life.

The lasting repercussions of David’s sin impacted not just him – but his entire family. In particular, his children.

One of the instances we are told of is so horrific, I don’t know how any parent would react. David, from his tryst with Bathsheba, taught his son’s that if you want a woman – you just take her. His son Amnon learned that behavior just a little too well.

The Characteristics of True Friendship

Scripture: 1 Samuel 18:1-4

Last time I looked, I had 390 “friends” on Facebook (give or take depending on the day). As popular as you may think that makes me... in the world of Facebook, it's not very many when I see the thousand plus friends many of my other friends have on their Facebook pages. But I think the term “friend” has taken on new meaning in our age of social media. A “friend” is more of an acquaintance now. Someone you just kind of know. In some cases - it's even someone you've never met.

So these "social" friends are not what I would consider true friendships. It seems that fewer people than ever actually have life-long intimate friends any more.

Statistics tell us that most people are lucky if they have one “close friend” in their lifetime. And given the fact that Americans are moving from place to place more now than ever before it becomes very difficult to make and keep such a friend.

And it makes us ask the question – who, or what, is a real friend in today’s world? What does true friendship look like? What are the characteristics?

The Unlikely People God Chooses

Scripture: 1 Samuel 16:3-13

What are the characteristics we look for in leaders? Charisma? Intelligence? Experience…

Experience is a huge one, isn’t it? What’s the person’s track record? What have they done in the past? Is this someone who has proven themselves worthy of leading our nation? Where do they stand on the issues? What kind of military knowledge do they have?

How many sheep can he tend to at one time?

That last one probably isn’t on most of our checklists when we walk into a voting booth.

Nor is a teenage boy usually who we would consider to be our fearless leader.

Yet, this is precisely the person God chooses to be King over Israel. A young man whose father hadn’t even bothered to bring him out to be considered for the job when the prophet Samuel came a-calling.

Seeing Jesus

Scripture: Luke 24:13-35

It is always interesting to me to note that the resurrected Jesus is always difficult to recognize. On Easter morning, we had Mary at the tomb, not seeing Jesus immediately for who he was, but instead thinking he was the gardener. It wasn’t until he spoke her name, when he named her – recognition finally dawned.

The story in Luke regarding the road to Emmaus isn’t much different. Here are some disciples and followers of Jesus who knew him, had spent time with him, and were even waiting and expecting him to come to them after the prophesied three days.

But… still… they did not recognize him and had seemingly given up hope that Jesus would come to them, even though the third day was not yet at an end! And people call ME impatient! They’re already leaving Jerusalem. They had begun the journey down the road of disappointment. So they did not see Him as he walked along beside them, talked with them, even discussed the scriptures that pointed to Him with them.

Palm Sunday: For Our Benefit

Scripture: John 12:9-36

I had a friend from seminary who posted on her facebook page a few days ago, “Is anyone else ready for Lent to be over?”

Let’s face it – the season of Lent can be kind of depressing. I remember a Homer Simpson quote when he had discovered that all the money he spent on a Mardi Gras party was going to cause him to lose his house – and his response was, “Who knew the start of lent would be such a downer?”

All this time of self-reflection, of traveling along with Jesus for forty days as he makes his way to the cross. The hymns are dirgy, the atmosphere is dark. Lent is – well – as Homer said, kind of a downer.

Listen to Him

Scripture: Matthew 17:1-9

You know, we pastors are always fond of these big words… like “transfiguration.” Another pastor friend of mine jokingly stated this week as we were talking about this text, “If we told people we wanted to transfigure something in the church – maybe they’d like it better than if we said we wanted to change something.”

Because to transfigure something means to elevate it and make it more beautiful… and who would be against that, right? We like things that are more… glorious.

And while we talk a lot about glory – about wanting to see the glory of God, how we want things to reflect the glory of God… we strangely don’t really spend a lot of time talking about this story of the “transfiguration” event – where the Glory of God in Christ was revealed on the mountaintop.

Giving is an Act of Faith

Scripture reading: Luke 17:5-10
Please note: This sermon is the first in a series of sermons on stewardship entitled "An Attitude of Gratitude." 

Sometimes the things Jesus says… kind of annoy me. I mean is he really telling us that we shouldn’t expect to be thanked when we do our jobs? Apparently.

I remember one time when I was working at Disney and a situation arose where I had to deal with an individual in a manner that was far outside the bounds of what my job description entailed. In fact, other people had been shuffling him around until it finally landed on my desk and rather than passing him on yet again, I opted to deal with it. So I dealt with the situation, and upon returning to my work area, the assistant to the President of Feature Animation pulled me aside and asked how I handled that situation. So I told her and she expressed her gratitude to me for dealing with this individual.

About that time, the President of Feature Animation walked by, and his assistant called out to him and re-told the story of how I handled this particular situation, ending with, “Isn’t she amazing?”

The President of Feature Animation paused, gave me a very tired look and went, “Does she get a paycheck from us? Then what’s the big deal?” And walked away.

Probably one of my more humbling moments.

Come and See

Scripture: John 1:29-42

I love the Gospel of John. Primarily because it was written in the style of a Greek drama. And you all know how much I love drama… as an art form.

In today’s modern age, I can almost picture how this first chapter of the Gospel of John would go. This great, awesome expanse of the universe, with some deep, James Earl Jones or Cecil B. DeMille voice going “In the beginning was the Word…”

And then have it kind of narrow down …to planet earth - where the Word dwelt among humans - until you get to this opening scene. Of people crowded around John the Baptist – wanting to know whether he is the messiah or not, and John having to explain that no – he’s not the Messiah, but he tells them all about the one who IS the messiah, the light of the world.