Grace Alone Online

Back in 1925, Eddie Cantor took the nation by storm with his roaring-twenties hit:  “If you knew Susie, like I know Susie, oh, oh, oh what a gal!”  Everyone wanted to know Susie, and who wouldn’t. She was lively, fun, a party girl.  She was the center of attention when she walked into the room.  This was the 1920s – a decade of extravagance, free and wild living, and she was wild.  Whatever it was...

Lent is a somber time, although we do know this season ends in joy, don’t we?.  Yes, Christ is risen; your Savior is alive but in LENT you take the time to focus on repentance and your need for what you know is coming on Easter.  Lent is part of your journey toward eternity with Christ.  Paul says, “ God’s patient kindness [towards all those living] is meant to lead you to repentance. ” (Romans 2:...

In preparing for today’s sermon, I came across a Bible passage that describes me very well. At least it describes me most of the time. Psalm 14:1 says, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” Yup, sometimes that thought has crossed my mind. It’s not that I’m a thoroughgoing atheist. Church people get upset by atheism and there’s been a new surge of atheism in recent years. But I have plen...

When you travel, there are some things you need to leave at home. You need to travel lighter. You may leave your rock collection, for example.  But, you might want to take your blood pressure medicine.  Those are physical things.  What about leaving behind attitudes or emotions.  For instance, you’re going to a family reunion for 2 weeks and uncle Ned who talks non-stop, or cousin Genie who can’t...

I remember walking through the woods near our house several times in the Fall, trying to find a cocoon.   We studied about it in science.   I wanted to find one, put it in a jar, and watch it turn from caterpillar to butterfly.   I never found one, and I never saw it happen. In the early Christian church, the symbol for the resurrection was, you guessed it, a butterfly.   Before becoming a butterf...

I hate interruptions.  Don’t you?  Interruptions distract from your final goal and purpose.  Sometimes I get so absorbed in what I’m doing, I just can’t be distracted until I’m finished.  For instance, the interruption of having to go to the garage to find the tool you need, and then when you’re there forget why you’re there.  Man, that’s the worst interruption.  Now you must take time, think and...

When you were a child, did you ever play King of the Hill ?  Do you remember the game ?  We used to play it on the monkey bars at recess or climbing to the top of a mound of freshly plowed snow in the bank parking lot – that’s how we played most of the time.  The rules were, first one who pushed and shoved their way up to top was King of the Hill .  But the game didn’t end there.  It continued bec...

Jesus spoke to a crowd of people on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. For everyone to see and hear Him preaching he asked Peter to let him board his boat and push out a bit from the shore.  With people standing on the shore, and fishermen in the boat, Jesus preaches and teaches about the kingdom of God – to repent and believe for the Kingdom of God was at hand. Then, in a seemingly random way, Jesu...

Can anything good come out of Pittsburg? Can anything good come out of Antioch? Or let’s be more specific: Can anything good come out of Grace Lutheran this year? Those may be the kinds of questions in the minds of the people with whom we meet and talk. And the attitude behind the questions would be a rather dubious one. Believe it or not, some people may think of an old Lutheran congregation with...

Who is your favorite superhero, or hero? Do you have one? Can Jesus be considered a superhero? What might the difference be? As we remember His Baptism on this day, we understand the reason why God decided to gift us our Baptisms. Our Baptism is meaningless unless Christ goes into the water with us. Find out why.

Timing is everything.  To be funny, the punch line of any joke needs to be said at the right time.  If not, the whole joke is ruined, the point doesn’t get across.  When delicate discussions need to take place, you choose the right moment to begin the conversation. Just like you carefully consider when and how to deliver a punch line to a joke, or when and how to approach someone to talk about a p...

It's Christmas Eve! Tonight's sermon features Caravaggio's Nativity painting you can find here: https://mwerickson.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/caravaggio-nativity1600.jpg

Arching over the life of every Christian is the great sacred story of the mighty acts of God. This sacred story is highlighted by the displays of power and strength which mark God’s victories over God’s enemies. And in scripture, with God’s victories, God’s people sang in response. The victory songs of the Bible are not rich with personal bravado or chest-pounding strength. They are not even celeb...

For the next three Wednesdays there will be an ADVENT DEVOTIONAL of storytelling.  Please take time and reflect as we await Christ's birth. Music used in this devotional: “Lo, How A Rose E’er Blooming,” Vocal Majority, from the album The Spirit of Christmas “Breath of Heaven (Mary’s Song),” Amy Grant, from the album Home for Christmas “Sleep Precious Babe,” George Beverly Shea, from the album...

Much like being lost in a dead-end trail deep in a forest, David prays for deliverance and rescue from his oppressors by asking God to be is rock and fortress to guide and lead him. He confesses that this is exactly what God is for him, a rock and fortress. He has complete trust that God will lead and guide him out of this situation.  David’s specific plea is that God lead and guide him “for His n...

For the next two Wednesdays there will be an ADVENT DEVOTIONAL of storytelling.  Please take time and reflect as we await Christ's birth.  Music used in this devotional: “Joseph Dearest, Joseph Mine [feat. Ted Williams],” The William’s Duo, from the album A Pennsylvania German Christmas “Joseph Dearest, Joseph Mine,” the Festival Consort, from the album Renaissance Glory – Christmas with the f...

This second Sunday in Advent we focus on being renewed through Christ in us. Images abound throughout Scripture as metaphors for descriptions of the human condition. Strength is easily depicted as a lion, or an eagle soaring through the air. But how might you picture weariness or hopelessness? What object, animal, part of nature, might describe weariness or hopelessness? Isaiah has a message for y...

For the next three Wednesdays there will be an ADVENT DEVOTIONAL of storytelling. Please take time and reflect as we await Christ's birth. Music used in this devotional: “It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas,” Bing Crosby, from the album Christmas “Here Comes Santa Claus,” Gene Autry, from the album The Christmas Album “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” Gene Autry, from the album The Christm...

Our series opener this Advent season fosucing each week on Be Born in Us Today. what does Christ bring us? today we focus on His blessings. From among the many, he calls Abraham to carry the seed of his promise to save the world. He calls you, out of the darkness, to enter His marvelous light.

The concept of eternity is difficult to grasp.  We could describe eternity as “timeless” but we use “timeless” differently than “eternity”.  For example, a diamond ring is timeless beauty.  The ruins of Egypt are timeless.  But Pastor Greg’s sermons are an eternity; they are not timeless. Jesus had 33 years of time to teach about the impending day of judgment.  We have, at best, 80 years to come t...

I love a phrase from Charles Dickens' Christmas Carol.  Scrooge says to Marley’s ghost, “There’s more gravy than of the grave about you.”  Scrooge doesn’t believe what he sees standing before him, namely Marley’s ghost.  He thinks the apparition is caused by some bad foo he ate.  This thanksgiving, I’m sure more than one of us will be like Scrooge, not believing what we’re seeing because we ar...

Pause for a moment and think about a most beloved gift you’ve received.  For me, it was a camera.  I always played around with my dad’s camera, my mom’s camera, my dad’s Bell and Howell 8mm movie camera – not video.  Finally, when I was thirteen, my parents gave me a Honeywell Pentax Spotmatic 500 Single-Lens Reflex with a screw-thread lens mount developed by Zeiss and Praktika corporations during...

Even for the most devout Christian, today’s parable and the next three makes us feel insecure, fear, or perhaps doubt.  They make us take account of our faith and our actions, our sincerity, our devotedness to follow Jesus.  Both Jesus’ and Matthew’s intent, however, is to prepare themselves for Judgment Day with vibrant faith which fuels their daily lives and relationships with others.  You, and...

Our parable is the last of a series about mercy and judgment.  Jesus tells this parable sometime between Palm Sunday and Good Friday.  This parable not only summarizes Jesus’ earthly ministry but also anticipates His upcoming resurrection from the dead.  It focuses on the wedding feast of His second coming and a king who sends out invitations to the that festal day.

Don’t shoot the messenger.  What a great saying.  Say it and you evade all responsibility related to the message.  “Don’t blame me, I’m just the messenger.”  However, killing the messenger would be the most effective way of killing the message.  This is what lies behind Jesus’ parable today: the Parable of the Tenant farmers, as it is commonly known.