κήρυξον τὸν λόγον

[Introduction: Who you are] We will begin with the truth about ourselves that we all should never forget: I am baptized. Now say that with me ... I am baptized. When you really get down to it, that’s what today is all about ... it’s about our baptism. Today is All Saints Day. Today is a day to remember all the saints who went before us in the faith, but it’s also a day that’s perfect for remembering our baptism ... the day God called us saints, his beloved children (1 Jn 3:1). It’s also Debbie’s confirmation day, the day she remembers her baptism.  We Lutherans don’t think of baptism as something that happened to us a long time ago, saying I was baptized on such and such day. Instead, we know that your baptism, my baptism, our baptism is a present reality ... an on-going reality ... a gift of God. He has baptized us! And he keeps us in our baptism! He has, as Saint Paul says in Ephesians 5, sanctified us ... or made us holy, thereby calling us saints. This is why Peter says, Baptis...

[Introduction] There are not many events in the ministry of Jesus that are more striking ... more defining ... than the Baptism of Our Lord. That’s because Baptism of Jesus shows us who God is. As Matthew writes, after receiving baptism, Jesus immediately went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending, as if a dove, upon him, and behold, a voice out of heaven saying, This One is My Son, the Beloved One, in whom I delight (vv 16-17). Though he had become one with mankind when he was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary ... though Simeon recognized that he had seen God’s salvation when he held Jesus in his arms ... we would not have known ... nor could we have known ... who he really was until this moment, his baptism.  Not even John the Baptizer, who leapt in his mother’s womb when he heard the greeting of the mother of God (Lk 1:41), knew who Jesus was until he saw the Trinity in Unity and Unity in...

Sebastian Gambill, Ian Bergman, Liam Harding ... dear brothers and sisters in Christ ... Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Hear the Word of the Lord for you this confirmation day. From Jeremiah 29:11 ... I myself know the plans I have devised for you, declares YHWH, plans for peace and not for evil, to give you a latter time and a hope . And from Philippians 4:13: I have all strength in the one strengthening me. [Introduction] We need to begin with this reminder, something you should never forget: You are baptized.  That’s what today is all about ... You are baptized. It’s not that you were baptized ... perhaps in this font. You are baptized. Baptism is a present reality. Baptism is an on-going reality. Baptism is a gift of God. He has baptized you. And he keeps you in baptism. There is one faith, one hope, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and in all (Php 4:5-6). Today is a day to remember this. Confirma...

The word for our meditation comes to us from the confirmation verse for Courtney Niemann:  Trust in Yahweh with all your heart; Do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways know him; He will make straight your paths. 5. There was a time in our lives when our society taught us to trust our elders, our leaders, our media, our tradition.  Tradition, some say, can be a valuable source of knowledge and cultural heritage. When we hold the Bible in our hands and hold to the truths of Jesus Christ in our lives, we stand firmly in a long tradition we can trust.  Today, our society teaches us that it’s a virtue to trust only yourself ... that it’s a virtue to chart your own course ... to pursue what we think is good ... to do it for ourselves. Society thinks this is innovative.  As we heard in our Old Testament reading this morning, after the waters of the great flood had dried up, God commanded Noah and his sons to disperse and repopulate the earth (Gen 9:1...