In 1929, Wooddale Lutheran Church was formed, and over the last 80 years Wooddale has continued in it original mission to bring God’s message to the community of St. Louis Park and beyond.
This video was created to celebrate this milestone and give those who weren’t around back then a little perspective.
Sermon given on the Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost, November 8, 2009, at Wooddale Lutheran Church by Pastor Tim Rauk. Text is Mark 12:41-44.
This morning’s Gospel text is often times called the story of “the widow’s mite.” A “mite” is something very, very small, so obviously, “the widows mite” refers to the meager gift given by a poor woman to the temple treasury in today’s Gospel; a gift, however, that Jesus tells us was the greatest of all the gifts given by those who came to the temple to give their offering, because it represented all that she had. This text is read, every third year on the second Sunday of November, which always comes in the late fall of the year. It may be coincidental, or it may have been intentionally placed near the end of the church year — but this text appears every third year during the Stewardship Season: that time every fall when members are asked to make a giving commitments for the coming year. And so, many a stewardship sermon is no doubt being preached today, admonishing the faithful to see in this poor widow an example of how Christians are to give.
Her gift was very small, but because it was all she had, because it represented such a large percentage of her material wealth, it was really the most generous offering given at the temple. Of course, the stewardship sermons preached today are not aimed at the poor widows in the church who have nothing. These sermons are aimed at the comfortable, the affluent, the wealthy, hoping that they will be inspired by this poor widow’s generosity, and give a greater percentage of their wealth for the good of the church budget. We would say to poor widows in our church, “You’re giving is just fine now. Don’t worry about an increase. We’re after the big bucks.”
But, my friends, this text is not primarily about money at all. This text is about priorities. It’s about that special wisdom that some people have whereby they can see what is truly important, and what is not – a wisdom that is not found often in our very rich society. This story appears as part of a larger teaching section in the 12th chapter of Mark, that includes such important teachings of Jesus as:
“Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” and “The greatest commandments of the law are, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength… and Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’”
And you see, it wasn’t this widow’s money that was important to her, nor was it her money that impressed Jesus; it was the priority she placed on her relationship to God. It was her devotion, her obedience, her wisdom in seeing what’s important and what’s not, it was her faith. If we share a little more, only because we feel guilty about our relative selfishness when compared to this widow, we’ll be no further ahead in our faith journey than we were before. However, if we can discover something of the faith of this woman, then I suspect that the issues of Stewardship, and generosity and church budgets will take care of themselves.
Posted in Sermons
There are a number of clichés that carry with them a negative image:
and
The list of this kind of stereotyping clichés is a long one, and the common denominator in all of these stereotypes is – money. We expect a certain amount of tension out in the world when it comes to money. Everybody wants more of it. Everyone is trying to get everyone else’s. That’s the way our capitalistic society works.
But somehow, it is seen as disingenuous for the church to talk about money. It is seen as hypocritical for the church to ask people for money. The church is supposed to talk about spiritual things. The church is supposed to be about me and my relationship with God. Leave money out of it.
A man came to Jesus with a spiritual question that had nothing, he thought, to do with money: “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” That’s a good churchy question. That’s what the church should be talking about: things like eternal life, keeping commandments, loving my neighbor. Mark tells us that, “Jesus looked at him, loved him, … and said, ‘You lack one thing; go sell what you own, give the money to the poor, and follow me.’”
Posted in Sermons
Sermon given on All Saints Day, November 1, 2009, at Wooddale Lutheran Church by Pastor Tim Rauk. Text is John 11:1-45.
All Saints Day: a special day of remembrance in the Christian community where we remember people we have loved – “saints” – who have finished their work here on earth. And while there are people, like Francis of Assisi or Mother Teresa who seem to deserve the title “saint” by virtue of their extraordinary reputation for living faithful lives. We all have people who have touched our lives personally, making us the people we are. All Saints Day really focuses on them more than the more famous “saints” of the church. Today, we remembered 8 people who have died within the last year, and all of them have made a lasting impact on the faith and life of this community.
And so, in our remembrance today we do a number of things. We thank God for their lives – how they touched us on this earth; we acknowledge the sorrow we feel over losing them to death; and we place them into the larger context of faith, rejoicing in the promise of God, that they are now experiencing in all its wholeness the eternal love of God, and the hope of being reunited with them some day.
For years, the tradition on All Saints Sunday was to read, as the Gospel, Matthew 5: the Beatitudes. It is a wonderful text reminding us of the qualities of all saints: Blessed are the pure in heart, blessed are the peacemakers, and blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. We read that last year. But a number of years ago, today’s Gospel was introduced: one we all know as “The raising of Lazarus.” I love this story as an All Saints text because it acknowledges the complex feelings we have when people we love die. So let’s look more closely at this story.
Posted in Sermons
It is fall. A number of things happen every fall. Leaf raking is just now beginning, though there are still a lot of leaves left in the trees. Halloween is just around the corner. That always comes about the same time as Confirmation: one of my favorite services of the year, (October 25) where the faithful witness of our new confirmands demonstrates the importance of the promises the congregation makes to all our young people.
It’s fall, and Thanksgiving weekend is just around the corner. This year will be our 36th annual Thanksgiving Eve service, worshipping with our brothers and sisters in Christ at Most Holy Trinity. This year’s service is at Most Holy Trinity on November 25 (7:30 p.m.) and we are pleased to welcome to the service, the members of Spirit of Christ Lutheran Church and Reformation Lutheran Church, who will be joining us.
Posted in Sermons
Sermons given on Confirmation Sunday, October 25, 2009, by McKenna Stone, John Danforth, and Elisabeth Coats.
God the Father – McKenna Stone
This year’s confirmation class is made up of 8 high school students, representing a variety of unique and diverse backgrounds. We have many varied and differing interests. We go to 4 different high schools. How can such a diverse group find a common language to talk about our faith?
One of the things we discovered, as we explored our faith in confirmation, is that even though each of us brings very different experiences with us to class, each of us found ways that we could talk about God’s activity in our lives through the traditional teaching, called, The Holy Trinity. I remembered hearing many times in church, references to “God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit”. Until confirmation, I never really thought much about what this means. Today, we would like to share with you something unique and special about our faith experiences, using The Trinity, God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Posted in Sermons
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