What does showing your faith today look like?
This sermon is quite a bit different from how it was written, therefore, please listen to the sermon rather than read it. The sermon notes which are included for convenience.
Sermon delivered at Lutheran Church of the Cross in Berkeley.
March 1, 2017 - Ash Wednesday
"Carrying the Message". Text is from Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
What is Lent all about and why do we put ashes on our forehead on Ash Wednesday?
This is an unrehearsed homily, so there is no accompanying text!
Sermon delivered at Lutheran Church of the Cross in Berkeley.
February 10, 2016 - Ash Wednesday
"Ash Wednesday". Text is from Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
Sermon for Ash Wednesday 2013
Text from Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
On Sunday we had a reading from Second Corinthians that talked about how Moses veiled his glowing face so that the people of Israel wouldn't have to be exposed to the glory of God in it, but being Christians, when we are filled with the Spirit, we can let our light shine into the world. In the sermon, Pastor Steve talked about being out as a Christian, letting people know who we are. In fact we had some experience with that today, offering Ashes to go to people on the street at 9th and Irving and at Market and Castro.
When we do things that a Christian is supposed to do, it lets people know who Christians are, a way of sharing the good news with others who are not in our little church community, a form of evangelism.
But now I've heard, as we've been approaching Ash Wednesday, people who look at this Gospel reading for today and say, wait a minute, this sounds like a completely different message than what we've been talking about? What does Jesus mean by doing these things in secret? What has this got to do with putting ashes on our forehead?
