HOLLYWOOD LUTHERAN CHURCH
SERMONS & STUDIESfrom Pastor Dan Hooper
Recent Sermons
Not every sermon is "ready for prime time." Those that people consider among the best are posted here (with great humility) from time to time.
Second Sunday of Easter, March 30, 2008
"So perhaps the reason that people are such faithless, unbelieving, doubters today, is that they need to see the mark of the nails in our hands, and the gash from the spear in our side. Perhaps they need to see Jesus’ followers as those willing to take huge risks to follow Jesus, and to bleed for his Gospel."
Easter Sunday, March 23, 2008
"In fact, every great social upheaval down through history has driven us back to the Good News which St. Peter gave voice to here: God’s love is available to everybody. God’s forgiveness is there for anyone, anyone, who puts their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Amen?"
Maundy Thursday, March 20, 2008
This evening’s liturgy is about two cups. We commemorate one of them really well, and we almost ignore the other. The one cup sits upon this Altar every week. But the other “hangs in the air,” as it were, more like the proverbial elephant in the living room.
Third Sunday in Lent, February 24, 2008
"Today you get a whole story, the whole enchilada, it’s all in there. You get an interesting woman, with a back story that would make Hollywood movie starlets blush. You get dumb disciples, who just don’t get it. You get Jesus, you get the whole village. You get more than a little story with a big “point”, you get a big story with one simple point. But, come to think of it, what is this “point”?
Second Sunday in Lent, February 17, 2008
"To be a Christian is to be always ready to do something new when the opportunity of the Gospel opens a door, even just a crack. To be a follower of Christ is to actually follow him wherever he wants us to go. My friends, you cannot follow Jesus by parking on your sofa with your remote control!"
First Sunday in Lent, February 10, 2008
"Sin is the primary 'inconvenient truth.' All of our optimism, all the things which energy an dindustry, know-how and can-do, achieve for human beings, are blown away by the 'inconvenient truth' that gumanity has a dark side, an evil streak."
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Ash Wednesday, February 6, 2008
"For many spiritual people, trying to navigate our lives in the world, we rely too much on our rear-view mirrors. We look back, with a little glance here and there, and realize the course of our life has not gone as well as it might, or that the 'tail pipe' of our life decisions is smokin,’ and we know we need a tune-up. Or, in our rear-view mirrors, we realize that many of our past mistakes are catching up with us, and we try to go faster to outrun the frightening things we see when we look back."
Christmas Eve, December 24, 2007
"Aside from all the pretty and sentimental things about the Christmas Story, it is astonishing for a lot of reasons. But, come to think of it, you and I are part of the story!"
Advent 4 A, December 23, 2007
"Life does many things to us other than what we had planned or expected. But we learn from the stresses we must cope with. One of the things we learn is that if we let God work through us---even in our stress, predicaments, and worry that God can use us to accomplish great things."
Advent 3 A, December 16, 2007
"The prophetic tradition amazes me not because the prophets are described as “men of God” — and some women of God — who were absolutely certain that God told them to do something or to go somewhere or say something, but because they learned to listen, to watch, to wait on the Lord, to discern truth and sort it out from the false and the phoney. They were the people who knew God’s will because they developed the patience to understand what is spiritual and sort it from what is ephemeral."
Advent 2 A, December 9, 2007
"You can live in a constant state of Advent all year long, if you align your heart with the heart of God. Wait for God, wait upon justice, be patient with others and forgive those who trespass against you. Show mercy. Pray that the Kingdom comes to you, no matter how long it takes. Put yourself in the picture."
Pentecost 14 C, September 2, 2007
"'If we feed them, they will come,' is the motto of the congregation! Well, Jesus liked to eat, too. He started his career at the wedding feast in Cana, and ended it with the Last Supper. What did our Lord's eating habits tell us about our own dinner parties? In Luke 14, Jesus invites his listeners to re-think their guest list."
Listen to this sermon (12:40 minutes) with Windows Media Player (WMA format)
Lent 4 C, March 18, 2007
"The most important parable Jesus told, the "Prodigal Son" turns our usual ideas about God upside down."
Listen to this sermon (15:57 minutes) with Windows Media Player (WMA format)
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