Let me guess. As I read the Gospel lesson this morning you were thinking, “What in the world! Has the pastor gone crazy? It’s not Christmas Eve. It’s the middle of September!” Am I right?
I’ve chosen part of the Christmas story for our Gospel lesson this Sunday for a reason – actually a double reason.
First, today we are beginning a three Sunday sermon series about connecting faith to life. In many churches people experience a “disconnect” between the world of faith and their vocational callings. We tend to speak of work done in the church or for the church as “sacred.” Work not directly associated with the church is often referred to as “secular.” This ought not to be. We need to help people connect Sunday to Monday. That’s what I want to address. What better way to start our series than with a text we don’t expect. It will be easier to remember.
My second reason for choosing this text is that Martin Luther in one of his sermons makes a memorable comment that leads us very quickly to the heart of the matter. Luther’s makes an observation about the shepherds that is classic and raises the issue of how we understand God’s “call” to us.
Download the rest of Pastor Ericson's sermon now.
Sermon: Where Am I Called?
Author: Bob Ericson
Publisher: Center for Lifelong Learning
Date: January 5, 2004
Description: Sermon1.rtf
