Title image for the sermon, “Gamble on Generosity” based on Luke 16:1-15 for Proper 20C

Also, a slow motion video of rolling dice: craps based on the gambling theme

Based on the readings for Proper 20C: Psalm 113, Amos 8:4-7, 1 Timothy 2:1-15, Luke 16:1-15

P          Hear this, you who trample on the needy and do away with the poor of the land: The LORD has sworn by the Pride of Jacob: I will never forget all their deeds. Therefore, we pray, lifting up holy hands in confession.

C          Lord, we have been unrighteous in
much. We have not made petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings for
everyone, for kings and all those who are in authority. We have not dressed
ourselves with good works. We have attempted to serve both God and money. We
have justified ourselves in the sight of others. According to Your promise for
the sake of Jesus and His innocent suffering and death, lift us from the trash
heap of our sin.

P          God our
Savior wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
For there is one God and one mediator between God and humanity, the man Christ
Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, a testimony at the proper time.
Therefore, as a called and ordained servant of Christ and by His authority, I
forgive you all your sin in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit.

C          Amen! Hallelujah! Give praise,
servants of the LORD; praise the name of the LORD!

For the sermon, “How to Strengthen the Heart” based on Hebrews 13:1-17

Based on the following readings:  Psalm 131, Proverbs 25:2-10, Hebrews 13:1-17, Luke 14:1-14

P Jesus suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. Let us, then, go to him, bearing the disgrace he bore by confessing our sin.
C Lord, our own hearts put us to shame. We have not kept on loving one another as brothers and sisters, and we have forgotten to show hospitality to strangers. We have been carried away by the strange teachings of the devil, our culture, and our own sinful bodies, so our hearts have followed immorality and possessions instead of being content with You. For the sake of Jesus, forgive us, our Father and King.
P Put your hope in the LORD both now and forevermore. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you,” but for your sake, Jesus was forsaken on the cross and has forgiven all your sin. The king has brought you into His presence and established His throne through the righteousness of Christ, which He has given to you, and you will be repaid for Christ’s righteousness at the resurrection. Therefore, as a called and ordained servant of Christ and by His authority, I forgive you all your sin in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
C Amen. So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.”

Confession & Absolution drawn from the following readings:

Genesis 18:20–33
Psalm 138
Colossians 2:6–19
Luke 11:1–13

(with a specific emphasis on the Genesis text, Abraham pleading for Sodom)

P Because the outcry against humanity is great, and our sin is very grave, let us confess our sin to God.
C Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there is only One righteous within the world. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the One righteous who is in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just? Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose one is found there.
P Everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him! God found One righteous — His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ — and said, “For the sake of the One, I will not destroy it.” And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross. Therefore, as a called and ordained servant of Christ and by His authority, I forgive you all your sin in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
C Amen. I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word. Your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever.

I’ve been looking at the leaks of Apple’s upcoming announcements for hardware & software. Looks like some cool stuff coming, but more consolidating what can already be done under their own roof. That said, it got me thinking about all those years of doom back in the 90’s and beyond. Apple is now one of the most valuable companies in the world at nearly a trillion dollars in a tight and fluctuating race with Amazon, Alphabet (Google), and Microsoft, each constantly inching each other out. Remember when Steve Jobs cut a deal with MS as a means to barely stay afloat? How the mighty have fallen! And how did this shift happen? Seems pretty obvious: Apple embraced mobile & Internet early. MS focused on the desktop, making them the Kodak of the silicon valley. Even Windows 8, which tried to be mobile, essentially tried to cram a desktop system onto mobile devices, whereas Apple is showing how it needs to happen, gradually bringing mobile to the desktop.

What can churches learn?

Now, think about most churches, especially Lutherans. We’re notoriously behind the curve. We take a wait-and-see attitude with just about everything. At best, we look at corporate strategies and mimic them. At worst, we refuse to learn from the private sector and act like the Amish, just stopping innovation a few years later than they did.

We seem to think that, since the message of the Gospel doesn’t change, we need to use the same means of transmission that we’ve used for the past 500 years. But why 500? The reformers embraced the printing press, the hot new technology of the time. Yet as we find ourselves in the biggest communication shift since, we’re slow to embrace it. Yeah, most churches have websites (Yeah, most. Not all. That’s like not being listed in the Yellow Pages 50 years ago.) that look like they were designed 20 years ago. Few churches have a social media strategy. Few churches take a hard look at technology and communications trends and try to get ahead of the curve and thus always lag behind. But churches are in the communications business!

“But technology is expensive!” Some is. But social media is free. And truly social social media that focuses on relationships and interactions instead of ads for events and services doesn’t require paying for boosting posts — those posts boost themselves thanks to social media algorithms. And churches are in the relationship business!

How can we know what’s next?

But predicting the future is hard without a vision of seraphim and God’s throne in the temple! (Isaiah 6) Which direction is the curve heading? It’s not difficult to figure out, and it’s the same geeks who brought us the technology that are leading the charge in the next big change. Mobile technology has isolated us. Social media has made it worse by providing pseudo-relationships. Everybody is hungry for real relationships, middle-of-the-night-crisis friends. And where do we see that happening? Dungeons and Dragons is more popular today than ever. Why? Because the best part of the game is sitting around a table with a bunch of real people, swapping stories, telling jokes, and getting to know each other. Yes, technology has infiltrated the game, but D&D Beyond and other online tools have made it easier for people to connect using pencil and paper on a table, using the technology as the tool it should’ve been all along: help to make it easier to bring people together. This is how the church should work!

Even as western culture becomes more unchurched, the church is uniquely poised to offer the culture exactly what it’s looking for, along with what they’re not expecting: hope, peace, and eternal life. If we use technology to assist in building real-life friendships, we just jumped out ahead of the curve. Even Apple isn’t there yet, although they see it. Then again, that’s what the church did 500 years ago and 2000 years ago. The same strategy has always worked. It’s time to get back to being what God designed us to be, and He has provided great tools to help us!

How will your church use technology this year to facilitate in-person interaction? Leave a comment below!

These images were created for “Getting There,” a sermon drawn from Deuteronomy 34:4-12, Transfiguration C.

Original PSD file with other images included:

Here’s an image that I created for a sermon on 1 Corinthians 14:12-20 that uses “Tour de babel” (Tower of Babel) by Lucas van Valckenborch and inverts it into a torch, signifying Pentecost.

Note that it’s designed to be used against a black background.

I created this silhouette image for a sermon on 1 Corinthians 14:12-20 to bring to mind the Three Musketeers, “pick up your cross,” and the Body of Christ.

A series of images for a sermon on John 2:1-11