Delivered by Seminarian Mark Gaschler. Grace and mercy be to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Today is the first Sunday in Advent, the season of the church year where we await the coming, the advent, of our Lord Jesus Christ. And today’s reading from the Gospel of Mark is … Read more
“Segregation causes kids to shelve their faith.” Segregation has a certain connotation. Segregation makes most people think, “bad” or “outdated” for a good reason. The segregation Sticky Faith talks about is children being separated from adults in the congregation. There are times to be apart to have age appropriate conversations, but children need more caring … Read more
Last Sunday of the Church Year 2020 Typically we focus on our Gospel lessons. The Old Testament, the Psalm, and the Epistle readings are all certainly the inspired word of God, but there’s a reason we hold the Holy Gospels in the highest esteem. There’s a reason we stand for it and sing Alleluia before … Read more
One of the movies I make fun of is Moana. There is a spoiler for those who haven’t watched it. It drives me nuts that her song she says, “They have stolen the heart from inside you/ But this does not define you/ This is not who you are/ You know who you are.” Having … Read more
Matthew 25:14-30 On these Sundays after All Saints’ Day, and before the beginning of Advent, we consider the End Times, and you’ll notice a pattern in our readings. The Old Testament reading is a word of judgement against the unbelieving world, but also towards those who do not truly follow God in their hearts, but … Read more
It’s strange to think reading the Bible can be dangerous to our faith. The book Sticky Faith opens by talking about Tiffany. She wanted to do everything at church and was easy to parent. Midway through High School she changed. Soon after High School, she was pregnant and had her son. Her parents wondered what … Read more
What achievement makes someone the happiest? Two different podcasts I’ve listened to talked about how they surveyed people towards the end of their life and asked about their greatest achievements and accomplishments. Any guesses what the greatest was? It was usually family or child related. That’s great for people who have children; but what about … Read more
Matthew 25: 1-13 I know most of you don’t watch the news, but it’s been somewhat of a crazy week. I’m not here to preach the daily news, I’m not going to get too detailed into that. I assure you though, the fact that our readings are focussed around the end times are not because … Read more
All Saint’s Day 2020 The peace of our Lord Jesus be with all of you who are mourning the death of a loved one. Later we will commemorate the faithful departed from this congregation, and though that number may be small, I know of many other deaths on your minds. For you grieving, it’s one … Read more
Thank you to the members of Concordia who were able to donate to the Reformation treat bags for the children of Concordia. We’d also like to thank a Thrivent member for using an Action Team to sponsor the event. We were able to purchase Reformation books and a few others goodies to put in some … Read more