Sermon - 1st Sunday of Advent Nov 30 2014

Texts: Isaiah 64:1-9; Mark 13:24-37

Who says weather forecasters are never right?

I don’t know where you were this past Monday morning,

but I was in my study, trying to get prepared for two services in a short week,

when I heard it.

Just as the weather forecasters had told us,

at 11 a.m., the wind picked up and began to blow and began to shriek

so that the Christian education building creaked and groaned,

and the wind chimes on the porch began to sound.

I took a walk around the building

and saw the oak leaves coming off the trees,

driven in mini-cyclones and through the space between the buildings,

and smashed and held against the wire fence.

Thanksgiving 2014 - Sermon

Thanksgiving 2014 – St Stephen Lutheran Church

Deuteronomy 8:7-18; Luke 17:11-19

The Rev. Maurice C. Frontz III, STS

‘I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.’

What is this?

I believe that God has created me together with all creatures. God has given me and still preserves my body and soul: eyes, ears, and all limbs and senses; reason and all mental faculties. In addition, God daily and abundantly provides shoes and clothing; food and drink, house and home; fields, livestock, and all property, along with all the necessities and nourishment for this body and life. God protects me against all danger and shields and preserves me from all evil. God does all this out of pure, fatherly, and divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness of mine at all! For all of this I owe it to God to thank and praise, serve and obey him. This is most certainly true.[i]

Sermon Christ the King Sunday 11/23/2014

St Stephen Lutheran Church – Pastor Maurice Frontz

Christ the King - 11/23/2014

Text: Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24; Matthew 25:31-46

It’s an unusual metaphor for kingship,

this image of the shepherd.

It is a rural image, far removed from the royal court,

from the realms of chariots and horses,

spears and soldiers,

thrones and crowns and due obeisance.

Sermon 11-16-14

St. Stephen Lutheran Church is proud and thankful to have several seminarians join us in worship each week. The Rev. Sem. Christopher D. Wendel has been working closely with Pastor Frontz, and preached the Sermon this week. We thank him for sharing with us.

We would also like to apologize to you and Christopher for our slight technical difficulty in the beginning, and we hope that you can enjoy the rest of the Sermon.

The Falconer, Hymn Performed by St. Stephen Lutheran Church Chior

Interpretation of The Choir's Anthem, The Falconer:

The Choir's anthem today, The Falconer, is an imaginative meditation on music and praise of God. The text is challenging, but rewarding.

Falconry is an ancient art of hunting and sport. The falconer trains a bird of prey to hunt game in the wild and return it to him. Although the text does not mention hunting, the theme of the trusting relationship between the falcon and the falconer is important.

In the Metaphor, the song of a singer soars as a bird flies: roving all over the world, beholding and describing 'its scars and beauty too.' But as the falcon always returns to the falconer, the song and the singer always returns to Christ as home and inspiration. Indeed, there is nowhere that the singer can go where Christ does not go as well. Until the day when 'the soaring song shall see everything made whole and new,' the singer sings a song of praise, in joy and confidence: '[Christ] the falconer waits for you.'

Pastor Frontz


The Falconer
Text by Richard Leach
Music by Alfred V. Fedak
Performed by St. Stephen Lutheran Church Choir
Copyright 1996, Selah Publishing Co., Inc., Kingston, N.Y. 12401 All Rights Reserved.

What's the deal with Elijah? - Your Questions Please

YOUR QUESTIONS PLEASE!!! – ‘What’s the deal with Elijah?’

‘In Mark 9:11-13, the disciples asked Jesus why the scribes say Elijah must come first, and Jesus answered that Elijah is coming and has already come. Please explain.’

Remembering St Martin of Tours

In addition to being Veterans' Day in the United States and Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth of Nations, today is Martinmas, the feast of St Martin of Tours. Martin was born in 316 in present-day Hungary. Drafted into the army at age fifteen, he found his own ideal of the Christian life hard to reconcile with the duties of military service. Eventually, he decided to be baptized and asked to be released from the army, being released when he was twenty years old.

Sermon 11-9-14

Sermon All Saints Sunday