tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291232.post7658635727029748229..comments2024-03-24T05:54:23.612-05:00Comments on Weedon's Blog: Advent I Homily (2009)William Weedonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01383850332591975790noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291232.post-24729883340912898542009-11-29T12:14:25.316-06:002009-11-29T12:14:25.316-06:00Thanks for the kind words and the suggestion, Geor...Thanks for the kind words and the suggestion, George. I actually did make a change there, but not exactly as you suggested. Just spoke about continually inviting the Lord into our hearts and into our lives. Pax!William Weedonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01383850332591975790noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291232.post-73933806403871976802009-11-28T15:07:26.749-06:002009-11-28T15:07:26.749-06:00Dear Pastor Weedon: You might not think it from my...Dear Pastor Weedon: You might not think it from my postings, but I am always reluctant to comment on a sermon when I greet the Pastor after the service. If I say, “Great sermon,” he might think me presumptuous, and not without reason, “How would you know if it was a great sermon? After all, I studied many years at the seminary, attended countless symposia and conferences, read and heard and even wrote innumerable papers, and continue my theological education regularly.” If I think the sermon was really bad, experience has taught me not to say anything. So I usually just say, “Thank you.”<br /><br />But here you have offered your sermon in a public forum. I do believe this one is a great one, but … For the sake of the Gospel and Martin and Katherine Lutheran, sitting in the pews before you, could reconsider just part of that one sentence in the last paragraph, “When you long for Him to enter your heart and make it new”? It may not be what you mean by it, but to them it could mean that He never has “entered their hearts,” and they may wonder if their longing is strong enough for that to happen. Consequently, they may think, the Lord might not answer their prayer to rescue them. <br /><br />Would you consider something like, “When you remember that He has entered your hearts and made them new in baptism, and that He has filled your life with His endless life, then you will hunger and thirst for His presence, and ache for Him to set you free from everything that leads away from Him, from all the sadness of sin, then Advent has begun to do its job and the Lord is answering your prayer to rescue you from the threatening perils of your sins and save you by His mighty deliverance, to whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be all glory now and ever and unto the ages of ages! Amen.<br /><br />Then Martin, Katherine and I will thank you. Together we will praise God, and our hearts will be full of joy, because our confidence will not be in the sufficiency of our longings, but in the promises and actions of our King, who has become our brother in His Kingdom.<br /><br />Peace and Joy,<br />George A. MarquartAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com