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Sermon for the Fifth Wednesday and Thursday of Lent - Jacob's Dream

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Jacob's Dream by William Blake (c. 1805, British Museum, London)       2025 Fifth Wednesday/Thursday of Lent - Genesis 28:10-22  As I reflected on Joseph’s dream and the power of dreams, I was reminded of an episode from the TV show from yesteryear, MASH. In this particular episode, the Mobile Army Surgery Hospital is inundated with wave after wave of wounded soldiers for multiple days because of a sustained multi-day battle. The surgeons and nurses and everyone else are exhausted. Even though everyone was exhausted and a half step from collapsing, no one wanted to go to sleep because of the dreams. The episode focused on Hawkeye’s dreams in which he was a chronic failure because he didn’t pay sufficient attention in medical school.  The bodies of the soldiers and their severed parts were coming so fast that he knew he could never be good enough, fast enough, smart enough, to save them.  He was wracked with feelings of guilt, anger, and helplessne...
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Fourth Sunday of Lent - Sermon and Video -

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Rembrandt - Return of the Prodigal Son  Video of Divine Service Fourth Sunday in Lent   Isaiah 12:1-6       2 Corinthians 5:16-21      Luke 15:1-3, 11-32 O Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, my rock and my redeemer. Amen. The parable of the Prodigal Son is one of those biblical stories that has inspired myriad authors and artists. People can easily see others and themselves in this story. In the course of a lifetime some of us may unwittingly play the part of the three characters in different phases of our lives. We may have a few stories about time squandered, and after wising up, we might discover that we somehow become the righteous big brother, and, at another time, we may at some point be overcome with tears of forgiveness and love because the one who went away has finally returned. We really don’t care what they did, we are just relieved and thrilled to have them back...
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Midweek in Lent 3 - The Testing of Abraham in Genesis 22:1-18

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Rembrandt - Abraham and Isaac - Public Domain      The following Homily was offered at three congregations in Indiana: Trinity, Goodland; Lutheran Church of Our Saviour, Monticello; and St. John's Lutheran Church, Rensselaer.             2025-3-26 & 27 Wednesday in Lent                 The Testing of Abraham Genesis 22:1-18 O Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, my rock and my redeemer. Amen. There are traditions within some Jewish and Christian communities where certain Scripture passages and commentaries are withheld from the young until they reach an age of maturity. These same communities make similar decisions regarding encounters with great works of art in their forms of literature, visual, or music. The rational for such censorship is that the young will neither understand nor appreciate the deeper message and meaning th...
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Third Sunday in Lent Sermon and Video

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Video of Divine Service   Third Sunday in Lent    Ezekiel 33:7-20 1 Corinthians 10:1-13           Luke 13:1-9  People, as a general rule, in every age do not like unanswered questions. We do not like, not knowing, why something has occurred. If something terrible happens, we want to learn the cause because there must always be a cause. If we cannot discern the cause, then we will speculate. Perhaps, far too often, we bring God into our answer and speak authoritatively on His behalf. In the process, we forget to clarify that we are speculating, and we really do not know why this bad thing has happened.  The most well-known example of this is the endless speculating and accusations toward Job by his well-meaning friends. His story is told in the Biblical book of Job which is in the Wisdom section of the Old Testament. As you recall, Job is a successful independent businessman and a man of significant faith and conv...
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Promises of Christ in Genesis

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March 19 & 20 2025 Lent - Third Wednesday/Thursday         Genesis 6 & 1 Peter 3:13-22 Words have power to tell stories, shape perceptions, affect the way we think and feel. I have found that the some of the most powerful words in the English language have the fewest letters. For those of us that have had the pleasure and privilege of taking care of little children, we are aware that the dynamics in the house change considerably when the child learns to say the word “no.” Two letters that inform us that the little darling has a different idea than we do. Please go pick up your toys. No. Please sit down. No. Come here. No.  Another strong word is the word “Yes.” Usually, the word “yes” is a welcome relief to the oppositional word. Yes, conveys agreement, affirmation, possibility, a promise, a direction, a future. Please take out the garbage. Yes. Will you marry me? Yes. In the Rite of Confirmation, the question is asked of the confirma...
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Second Sunday of Lent - Video and sermon

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Video of Divine Service Second Sunday of Lent  Jeremiah 26:8-15    Philippians 3:17-4:1              Luke 13:31-35 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Amen. Last Sunday, we reflected upon the bald temptations of Jesus by Satan. When Jesus was at the end of his fast and at his weakest physically, Satan came to tempt Jesus. We saw Jesus hold firm to His ultimate mission of the cross. Jesus chose the difficult path of obedience.  Three years have passed since his baptism and temptations. Under threat of imprisonment or premature death, Jesus remains committed to His ultimate mission of the cross. In chapter 9:51, Luke says that Jesus set His face to go to Jerusalem. That is where He is headed. The time for His passion draws near. Yet, He will not be rushed. All along the way God’s Good News in Word and Deed is administered to ...
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Book Review: The Love Song of A. Jerome Minkoff and other Stories

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Joseph Epstein. The Love Song of A. Jerome Minkoff. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010 Fourteen short stories set in Chicago or Evanston that contain at least one Jewish person. Jewish culture is regularly referenced. The subjects addressed in these stories include friendship, marriage, money, immaturity, wealth disparity, mental illness and homelessness, monetary and career success, reputation, challenges of families in midlife, relationships between siblings but especially between brothers.  I enjoyed each story and found myself thinking about the characters and issues presented in the story for the next few days.
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