Scholtes-Blog

Category: Sermons

  • Take Up Your Suffering

    Take Up Your Suffering

    This is an adapted form of the sermon I preached this morning, the Second Sunday in Lent. The gospel text I preached on was Mark 8:31-38.  Peter didn’t want to hear what Jesus was saying. Jesus said that he would undergo great suffering, be rejected, and be killed. Peter didn’t want to hear that. Jesus…

  • A Sermon I Never Wanted to Preach

    A Sermon I Never Wanted to Preach

    Jonathan Antonioli was an active member of my congregation. Last week, at age 16, he died from injuries sustained in an automobile accident. The past week has been tragic for the congregation and the whole community. His death is a textbook example of “not fair” — he was kind and loving and intelligent and so…

  • Get you up to a high mountain!

    Get you up to a high mountain!

    This is an adapted form of the sermon I preached today, the Second Sunday of Advent. The text I preached on was Isaiah 40:1-11. Get you up to a high mountain, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, and tell all the cities: “Here is your God.” Reminds me of a Christmas song, “Go Tell It…

  • Tear open the skies, and come!

    Tear open the skies, and come!

    This is an adapted form of the sermon I preached this morning, the First Sunday of Advent. The text I preached on was Isaiah 64:1-7.  The movie It’s a Wonderful Life is the story of George Bailey, a man who spends his life taking care of people in the town of Bedford Falls. He runs…

  • “You are God’s child. Jesus died for you.”

    “You are God’s child. Jesus died for you.”

    This is an adapted form of the sermon I preached this morning, the Festival of Christ the King. The gospel reading was Matthew 25:31-46.  Jodie was upset. “Why did I come here today?” she wondered. “I thought this would help. Now I feel worse than when I started.” Jodie was sitting in church, and the…

  • Ships in Harbors, Talents in the Ground

    Ships in Harbors, Talents in the Ground

    This is an adapted form of the sermon I preached this morning. The gospel text was Matthew 25:14-30. When Jonathan was young, he was always anxious. Things had to be done the right way, or it upset him. For example: he and his brother played with refrigerator magnets, you know, the big colorful plastic letters…

  • Wait Like a Farmer

    Wait Like a Farmer

    This is an adapted form of the sermon I preached this morning. The gospel text was Matthew 25:1-13, the parable of the Ten Bridesmaids.  I’d like to tell you today about Robert. Robert was a very active member of a congregation I served. Still is, I’m sure. I remember him as a quiet, thoughtful man.…

  • Give to God the Things that are God’s

    Give to God the Things that are God’s

    This is an adapted version of the sermon I preached this morning. The gospel text was Matthew 22:15-22.  The Pharisees were clever. They wanted to trap Jesus, catch him off-guard, get him to say something he’d regret. So they asked him about taxes. “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor or not?” they…

  • Invited to the Banquet

    Invited to the Banquet

    This is an adapted form of the sermon I preached today. The gospel reading was Matthew 22:1-14.  As Lutherans, we talk a lot about grace, God’s love freely given. We understand that grace is God’s primary way of relating to us. Relying on insights that Luther rediscovered in Paul’s letters, we teach that Christ’s death…

  • The Kingdom Will Be Taken Away from You

    The Kingdom Will Be Taken Away from You

    This is an adapted form of the sermon I preached this morning. The gospel text was Matthew 21:33-46. Sometimes a good way to interpret scripture is through other scripture. So before I get to today’s gospel, I’d like you to recall another story, from the Gospel of Luke. The angel Gabriel was sent by God…