A Cup of Eau Claire

12-9-18  Two of the four Sundays of Advent are dedicated to John the Baptizer. Next week we’ll learn what John says; today we look at the prophetic part of this story,  because the Hebrew Bible readings for Advent all come from the prophets, and today’s John the Baptizer story includes a quote from the prophet Isaiah. There are many prophets in Hebrew scripture. Some of them have books in their name:              Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and the 12 minor prophets. (Minor means their books are shorter, not that they’re less important.) There are earlier prophets too, who show up in the stories of the kings: Samuel, Nathan, Elijah, and Elisha. Moses is also considered a prophet, and we could add Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther as well. The role of the prophet was to know God’s thoughts, and communicate them to the people—usually to the people of God but sometimes also to other kin...

Today is the first Sunday of Advent, a season of waiting, hope, and expectation,             a time to get ready  for the special day that is Christmas. I love Advent, as you probably remember. My favorite stories and songs of the church year happen at this time. I like the planning, the getting ready, the anticipation, the looking ahead. But I know I’m weird that way. Most people don’t like waiting, and for you, luckily our culture does not require us to wait. We know Dec. 25 is just around the corner, and has been since October. There are signs all around us to remind us of its imminence, and advertisements counting down the shopping days. In recent years I have a new strategy for this co-mingling of holidays: I have separated secular Christmas from religious Christmas,  rather than lamenting Santa’s presence too early. This way I can enjoy the music, food, parties, decorations, and festivity of the se...

On Christ the King Sunday the Rev. Jason Chesnut (my godson) graced us with powerful preaching. You can listen to his sermon here : Rising Up Christ the King Sunday John 18:33-37 (and Mark 13:1-8, Luke 7:11-17) The Rev. Jason Chesnut is Chief Creative Officer of ANKOS Films and The Slate Project , based in the Delaware-Maryland Synod of the ELCA.

Temple destroyed    (preached  11-18-18)                         model of Second Temple, built by Herod; from the Israel Museum, Jerusalem  Two weeks ago I was standing at the temple mount, where Jesus is teaching in today’s story. Jerusalem has changed a lot in 2000 years, of course. The temple does not stand there anymore, so I can’t show you a picture of it, but I’ll try to paint a picture by describing it. First of all, keep in mind there were two different temples in Jerusalem in the Bible. The first, constructed by King Solomon in the 10 th century bce, was destroyed in 587 bce by Nebuchadnezzer’s troops, and the Israelites marched off to exile in Babylon. When they returned, a more modest temple was built. Herod the Great, who contributed amazing architecture to the ancient world, expanded and completed what is known as the Second Temple in 20 bce. This is t...

Anthony Windau Sunday November 11 th , 2018 University Lutheran Church Giving Your All Mark 12:38-44 Grace and peace to you all from God, and welcome to University Lutheran Church, we are glad that you are here. I appreciate being given the opportunity to preach today while Pr. Lori is on vacation, but I want to warn you all that this sermon is a little heavy, so stick with me through it, and I promise it’ll get better. We’re going to take time to reflect and  think about ourselves, so lets pray together for a moment: Dear God, we thank you for the ways that you bless us in our lives, thank you for your son Jesus Christ, and the love you pour out on us. Fill us with your Holy Spirit that we may have open hearts, and reflective minds. Be with us now and always, in Jesus name, Amen. The amazing thing about the Bible and the passages we read each week, is that every time you read them, or sit in these chairs to hear a sermon, different themes and messages com...