Second Sunday in Advent
“There will be signs…” says the Lord. The signs are already all around us. Perversity and sin are not only allowed, they are the law of the land. Secularists and pagans attack the only true faith at every turn. Riots across the globe mark what Jesus calls “distress of nations.” When these signs appear, Christ has promised “look up, and lift up your heads…” His final Advent is one of judgment. And Malachi prophesied of the horrors of that Day. But for the Christian, it is a blessed Day to which we look in hope, for the same Christ has promised of that Day “… your redemption draws near.” That Day is the answer to our prayer “Thy Kingdom come.” But the coming Lord does not impoverish His Church until that Day. He blesses you richly as He comes to you in His Mysteries. This He does to prepare you for that Day, that the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Download: Luke 21:25-33
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Sermon from Holy Mass for Reformation Day

Reformation Day Sermon 2011
 

I work tomorrow, so the sermon for All Saint’s Day will not be recorded. Holy Mass commemorating the Faithful Departed on Wednesday the 2nd will be in the Chapel (as are most Wednesday Masses), where there is no recording equipment. I hope to eventually be able to capture those sermons also.

October 2 – First Sunday after Michaelmass – Lost due to a Zoom Recorder malfunction.

Second Sunday after Michaelmass
In grace, in mercy, the King invites men to His celebration, the wedding of His Son. The house of the wedding feast is the holy catholic and Apostolic Church. It is truly God’s House, where He feeds His guests. All those who would not come are evil, but not all those who are admitted are good. The servants job is to gather, not judge. They gathered everyone they found, both good and bad. It is a picture of the church militant. We live in God’s Kingdom of Grace, where sinful, fallen men are invited to hear the saving Word. Now is the time that the unworthy are made sons of the King by His marvelous Mysteries. Now is the time He clothes men in the vestments of holiness. And on the last day He will come, and see upon you Christ’s righteousness, and you will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

10-9-2011 Matthew 22:1-14
 

Third Sunday after Michaelmass
The nobleman did not believe in Jesus. But his son was dying. And rich as he was, all his wealth availed nothing. So the rich man was made a beggar. So it is with every fallen man, for all men die. Our wealth, although God given, avails nothing. From the One who had not where to lay His head did the rich man seek help. He pleaded with Jesus to come heal his son. The Lord’s Word was proven true. Without signs and wonders they would not believe. So it is in mercy that He gives him the sign he sought. And hearing, seeing, he believed. So are we beggars before God. All men die. But the Lord of whom the nobleman begged can speak the dead to life, even from afar. And that is what He does for you.

10-16-2011 John 4:46-54
 

Fourth Sunday after Michaelmass
Peter sought a law. He desired to know what was required of him before God. But forgiveness is not of the Law. The Law only and always accuses. The answer to his question, seventy times seven, a boundless number, is expressive of the boundlessness of God’s grace. It is the answer of a loving God to the vow of Lamech. For indeed “…vengeance is mine, saith the Lord”, but it is His grace that is beyond measure. That we not become like unto the unmerciful servant, our Lord teaches us to pray “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us”. But it is not we who are the fount and source of forgiveness, rather it is Christ. He is the Servant punished unmercifully for our debt, and delivered over to the torturers, that in His resurrection we be spared death. Believing in Him you are filled with the fruits of righteousness, and are made a partaker of His grace.

10-23-2011 Matthew 18:21-35
 

Fifth Sunday after Michaelmass
The flattery they engage in is hypocritical. To the One that can read hearts, it is transparent. The image that norms them is the fallen image. The inscription that marks them is the curse “to dust you shall return.”. They do not know the truth, but they know they don’t like it. For the Truth stands before them, and in the delusion of their corruption, they attempt to plot against Him. So are they to be rendered the father of lies. And so it is with any sinful man that justifies his sins, that is foolish enough to try to deceive God. But Christ is the image of the invisible God, in whom we have redemption through His Blood, the forgiveness of sins. By that Blood is the image of God restored in men. The inscription that he places upon you is that of His Holy Triune Name. He creates clean hearts in those who believe, that they may know the Truth. Marked with His Name, reborn in His image, you are God’s, and so at the final accounting you are rendered unto Him.

10-30-2011 Matthew 22:15-22
 

Pentecost 12 – lost due to a Zoom recorder malfunction. Sorry.

Pentecost 13
The suffering man brought to our Lord could not speak aright. His impediment was part and parcel of his deafness. The one who cannot hear cannot learn to speak clearly. So it is with you. The devil, working through your fallen flesh, stopped your ears by filling them with his lies. The Word of God could not work, for unbelief rejects truth. Unable to hear, you could not believe. So you could not rightly speak of God, which is to say that you could not confess Him. He who cannot confess cannot be saved. But God, in His great love for you, opened your ears and your heart by the piercing Word of the Law, that you might rightly hear of your sinfulness. His Spirit worked through the saving Word of the Holy Gospel, bringing through your ears and to your heart the forgiveness Christ won for you on the Cross. Hearing, by the indwelling of the Spirit, you rightly confess Christ, which is the fruit of faith. Thanks be to God, He has done all things well.

9-11-11 Mark 6:17-29
 

Pentecost 14
“Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.” So was our Lord’s answer to the Lawyer stinging salt rubbed in his wounded ego. The Lawyer did not strive to keep, but rather sought a loophole in the perfect Law. But so have you. In the Lawyer’s failed attempt to skirt God’s Law, we see not just every hypocrite, but we see you, and me, and every fallen man. The Law is clear. It only and always accuses. So sinful men resort to equivocation. So does St. James write “If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.” But there is One who made Himself your neighbor, as He crossed the road of this fallen world, as He traversed death and the tomb, to pluck you out of the ditch of sin and death. He showed mercy to you. The God Man descended from heaven to become your neighbor, the true Good Samarian, that believing in Him, you inherit eternal life.

9-18-2011 Luke 10:23-37
 

Pentecost 15
The works of the flesh are evident. They cannot be mistaken with the works of the Spirit. If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. But if you are under the Law, which is to say if you are a sinner, if your flesh has its way, then you stand with the lepers, afar off, unable to draw near to God. And your disease ultimately breaks forth, covering the afflicted with unsightly proof of what is inside of him, finally taking his life. But God, in his superabundant grace, bespeaks you righteous. He proclaims you clean in Christ. He washes into you the cleanness of the perfect Son of God. Then you go, believing what God has said over against what you see and feel. Faith returns to where God is. Faith returns to give thanks. But God gives you more. He gives you to grow in wisdom and righteousness, in sanctification and redemption. And He says to you “Your faith has made you well.”

9-25-2011 Luke 17:11-19
 

Pentecost 8
8-7-2011 Mark 8:1-9 Preached by Pr. Joel Baseley
 

August 28th was lost due to a technology failure.

Pentecost 6
July 27th, 2011 – Luke 5:1-11 Read by Vicar Ryan Beffrey

*** All sermons are preached by Fr. Mark P. Braden unless otherwise specified. ***