Bloghardt's Reflector

St. Matthew 22:34-46 – Pentecost 23A
St. Mark Lutheran Church, Conroe, TX
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In the name of Jesus. Amen.   One after another the clergy come.  They test, He responds and His responses are filled with such divine wisdom and authority that they are forced to flee with their tails between their legs.  All the while, He moves steadily to the time He will let them capture Him:  to Gethsemane and then to the Cross. 

Today, another trap, a lawyer asks, “What's the greatest commandment?” And, Jesus not only answers, but sends them packing with the Gospel!

Matthew 25:1-11 – Third Last Sunday in the Church Year A
St. Mark Lutheran Church, Conroe, TX
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In the name of Jesus. Amen. It's November again.  How did the time fly so fast?  We're back at in the end of the Church Year.  Last few weeks before Advent.  And our eyes and ears are set toward the Last Day and our Lord's return.

The One who went to Calvary, Who suffered and died for all your sins.  He's coming soon.  He said He would.  He will return.

And so St. Paul says, “Don't be ignorant about those who have fallen asleep” (1 Thes. 4:13).  Those who die, don't really die.  They sleep.  They rest from their labors and their works do follow them.  

And they will rise from the dead.  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who fall asleep in Jesus.”

St. John 12:32-33 – Holy Cross Day 2008
St. Mark Lutheran Church
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This sermon was preached to fifty of my members who made it to church Sunday after Hurricane Ike.  We set up an altar in the Fellowship Hall using the HT processional cross (pictured).  We just got our phones back online today.  We are still without power as I post this powered by Sophia's generator. 

Props for the sermon go to Jesus (pictured), Luther, Nagel, and Hurricane Ike.  If I seem rattled, could being robbed up in all the heat and how beautiful the whole event was... I just wish I had delivered it better.

In the Name of Jesus. Amen. The great myth...335 A.D., Pious St. Helen, the mother of the Emperor Constantine found the “true” cross. She found all three crosses. How to tell which one's Jesus? She couldn't!

Well, a miracle! Someone touched the true cross and was healed! And the cross was placed in the church placed on the site of the crucifixion, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem on September the 14^th.

In 630 A.D., the Emperor Heraclius returned the true Cross to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The Muslims had conquerer Jerusalem and taken the cross away. The celebration of the return of that cross was said to have taken place on...you guessed it, September 14^th.

St. Matthew 18:6 – Pentecost 17A
St. Mark Lutheran Church, Conroe, TX
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In the name of Jesus. Amen. Would all the children please stand up. Everyone who is a young person.. No, senior youth, you don't have to stand...

Dear children of God, Jesus says today that if you want to understand how to enter heaven look at the children of our congregation. Humble yourself and be like them. They are full of faith and confidence in God's grace and goodness. No unbelief or fretting!

Why should they? Jesus lived His life for them. Then, He died the death they deserved. How could they doubt, for they sing “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible told me so.”

St. Matthew 16:16 – Pentecost 15A – 2008
St. Mark Lutheran Church, Conroe, TX
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In the name of Jesus, the Son of the Living God. Amen. Just when mothers were about to go mental, the Lord has rescued them – or maybe he saved their kids. School's back. School supplies, regular schedules, those cool binders that work the first day then don't work again, papers, assignments, and exams.

Today too, questions from Jesus. A question with eternal significance... “Who do men say that the Son of Man is?”

And there were lots of answers. “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

The world has some answers to that question today too. The Muslims and Jews agree on at least one thing: They both say that Jesus isn't God. The JW's and Mormons have Jesus being man, but something less than God.

Inspired by my good buddy Mark Buetow's sermon at "Amen."  But, different...

St. Matthew 15:27- Pentecost 14A – 2008
St. Mark Lutheran Church, Conroe, TX
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In the name of Jesus. Amen. This woman, this Canaanite woman shows up calling Jesus all the right names and having some really prayers, and He... ignores her. She cries, wails, empties herself of her pride. And as she pleads, He does nada.

What's Jesus' deal today? Did He just wake up on the wrong side of the Savior bed this morning? Doesn't He care?

The disciples try to play mediator. Just send her along, Jesus... get rid of her for she cries out after us!

But, don't you just have to wonder exactly how long did she follow them before the disciples were so embarrassed that they had to say something? How much a scene did she make?

Imagine the sight! She's following along. She won't go away. Crying, wailing, and praying. It's shameless and ... awkward.