Pastor Mack's Ramblings

  Below is the sermon I preached on October 8, 2023, at Bethany Lutheran Church in Crystal Lake, IL. The Gospel for the day was Matthew 21:33-46, you can read it here .  To watch a video recording of the entire service, you can watch it via Bethany's Facebook page or here . My sermon starts around 7:20.  A note, there might be grammatical errors or missing words, I don't edit the sermons I preach and often do not read word for word.  ---------------- Grace, peace, and mercy be to you from God our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. Amen.  Rejection.  The dismissing or refusing of a proposal, idea, etc.  Simply put, rejection is being told no, having a door closed, and an opportunity taken away from you. Rejection is something that we face daily, as humans we have the choice to go after what we want, to strive to do better, and to attempt to make the world as we know it a better place.  When we strive to be better than we are right now, we face the possibility of rejection, the po

  Sermon preached on  Matthew 21:23-32  at First Lutheran Church in DeKalb, IL Grace, peace, and mercy be to you from God our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. Amen.  When I moved to Nebraska for college, one of the first things I focused on was finding a church home. I went to a Lutheran school and was active in campus ministry, but I wanted something deeper, I wanted something that got me out of bed on Sunday mornings and allowed me to get off campus and involved in the wider community.  The church I landed at, gave me a home, supported me through college and seminary, and even gave me my first experience of working in the church as their Director of Christian Education. It is where I preached my first sermon and assisted in my first funeral, it was a place that is still dear to my heart even after all these years.  One of the things about the physical building, which is like many of the Lutheran Churches out there, that I remember the most is something I didn’t see right away. When