Category Archives: Pentecost Sermons

Text: John 14:26-27 (Genesis 11:1-9; Acts 2:1-21)
Date: Day of Pentecost + 5/23/10
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI
Disclaimer: Before writing this sermon I did not know that the magazine by Glenn Beck is titled “Fusion.”
According to one popular resource, what do you think is the language spoken by most people in the world [...] Continue reading →

Text: Mark 13:24-27
Date: Last Sunday of the Church Year + 11/22/09
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI
My Lord, what a morning—the morning of our Lord’s promised and blessed return. Whoever thought that such an otherwise fearful sign in the heavens—“when the stars begin to fall”—would signal not terror but rather the greatest, most [...] Continue reading →

Text: Mark 13:1-13
Date: Pentecost XXIV (Proper 28) + 11/15/09 (11/12/00)
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI
As we approach the end of the liturgical year the lectionary turns to the theme of the Last Things, the Last Day, the “parousia” or second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the question is, Are you [...] Continue reading →

Text: Mark 12:38-44
Date: Pentecost XXIII + 11/8/09
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI
As we approach the end of the liturgical year, we approach the telling of the end of our Lord’s earthly ministry, and of this world of sin, separation and death, and the beginning of the new heavens and the new earth [...] Continue reading →

Text: Mark 10:23-31
Date: Pentecost XX + St. Luke, Evangelist + 10/18/09
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI
Today’s Gospel is a continuation of last week’s story of the Rich Young Man who asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. The whole story, verses 17 through 30, used to be read as [...] Continue reading →

Text: Mark 10:17-22
Date: Pentecost XIX (Proper 23) + 10/11/09
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI
For the rich young man who came to Jesus, when he asked, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” he showed that it wasn’t his riches that was the problem. He was seeking to be justified on the [...] Continue reading →

Text: Mark 10:2-16
Date: Pentecost XVIII (Proper 22) + 10/4/09
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI
Do people desire to become Christians or to be the more committed Christians primarily because they are thinking about going to heaven when they die or is it because they are looking for something that can make sense out [...] Continue reading →

Text: Mark 9:38-50
Date: Pentecost XVII (Proper 21) + 9/27/09
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI
Today’s pericope helps us understand what has gone just before in Mark’s Gospel, and to better understand our own task of confessing Christ in our world today. I mean, didn’t you think it strange that the disciples suddenly started [...] Continue reading →

Text: Mark 9:30-37
Date: Pentecost XVI + 9/20/09
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI
This is now the third and final time in Mark’s Gospel that Jesus tells his disciples about his coming passion, death and resurrection. And their reaction just seems to get worse every time he brings the subject up. The first time [...] Continue reading →

Text: Mark 9:14-29
Date: Pentecost XV (Proper 19) + 9/13/09
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI
When the Blessed Virgin Mary inquired of the angel as to how it would be that she should bear a child without a human husband, she was told, “nothing will be impossible with God” (Lk. 1:37). By faith in [...] Continue reading →