Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67; Romans 7:15-25a; Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
July 5, 2020


We all hear hundreds, maybe thousands of sermons in our lifetimes. Very few do we remember beyond an hour or two after hearing them. (Kind of sad fact for a preacher to admit) But I have heard a few memorable sermons that have stuck with me. One was given way back when I was in college and I think it was Father Tasto and it was given at St. Gertrude's in Forest City and and it was about God's plans for our lives. The other two I'm sharing came here in this sanctuary. Pastor Truman gave a Lenten message called, I believe, “Treasures in the Attic”. He tied the issues of the day to the past in a beautiful way. The third and the one I'm going to be focusing on today is from Judy Holmes. It was given 9 years ago this week. I remember that because her sermon was about our oldest granddaughter Ariel's birthday and the title of it was Ariel's statement, “I Am 5”. And Ariel turned 14 yesterday!
First I looked through today's scripture readings and found some “I ams...” The servant, who's name is never given but Jewish tradition names him Eliezer, announces “I am Abraham's servant.” He went on to tell about Abraham's family and why he was there--to get a wife for Isaac. ​

Genesis 21: 8-12; Romans 6: 1B-11; Matthew 12: 24-39
June 21, 2020


When I hear the name Hagar, my mind goes to the comic strip character, Hagar the Horrible. I knew about him long before I realized that Hagar the Egyptian was a woman featured in the Old Testament account of Abraham.
We should begin by filling in the blanks from last week’s reading where Sarah laughed at the promise that she and Abraham would have a child at their advanced age. You should know that Sarah had convinced Abraham that she would never bear him a child and so had him take a shortcut to fulfill the promise. Abraham had a child with the Egyptian slave girl named Hagar. But after they'd taken matters into their own hands, God did fulfill the promise, Sarah bore Isaac. And we join the story today and discover that Sarah has grown to despise both Hagar and her son, Ishmael.  ​

​Genesis 18:1-15, Romans 5: 1-8, Matthew 9:35-10:8
June 14, 2020
 
 The last line of today’s epistle tells us that, “God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.”  God’s love.  It’s a love that certainly exceeds our capabilities to love as human beings.  In fact, in order to find a comparison here on earth, I turn to the love of a dog for its master; perhaps as close as anything to God’s love for us.  
Now I know we have a lot of cat people in the congregation.  So I’ll begin with a cat cartoon Tundra from last week’s Star and Tribune.  A woman has her cat at the pet psychologist and he is giving her his diagnosis, “Your cat is a completely self-absorbed, narcissistic sociopath who demands total human submission…  in other words your cat is totally normal.”