The Second Sunday after Pentecost - June 7, 2026 (Slides)
The M3 (Monday Morning Mail)
The Promised Star
I started yesterday’s sermon by showing an image of an old, funny looking building that has two rectangular shaped rooms coming off a cylindrical portion. This was the Robert H. Johnson planetarium that I went to several times a year as an elementary school student and with less frequency when I became older. The next slide showed a video clip of a young man trying to reopen the now-closed planetarium. It has been closed since 2008, when the recession of that time was the reason for the school district’s decision to close it. The promise to teach about space using the planetarium that began in 1962 met the harsh realties of a different time—46 years later.
Promises are hard to keep. Think about the promises that you’ve made in your life. Think about the promises that you’ve kept and the ones that you have not! Promises are hard to keep. Even when you hold the most prominent political office in the world. I then showed a series of photos from President Eisenhower to President Obama that focused on a promise each made and whether the promise was kept or not. Only the promises of Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy were kept. Promises are hard to keep!
I then transitioned to an image of the Iraqi desert, something like Abram experienced. The land is dry, hilly, rugged. Thousands of years ago with no technology like we have today, Abram wandered this land, living a nomadic life. Being from the land of Ur in southwest Iraq, Abram is a wonderful example of how God’s call changes a person. God tells Abram to look up to the heavens at night, to notice all the stars. He tells Abram that his descendants will be like these stars, millions of stars shining brightly in the darkness.
In the Epistle Reading the Apostle Paul lifts up this example of Abram who becomes Abraham (father of many) for you. God calls you like he called Abraham—with a promise based on grace. Abram only becomes Abraham because YHWH makes him someone special. The call of Abram includes the promise from YHWH that his dependents will be like the stars. Because it’s a promise—it cannot be forced—the Apostle Paul says that it depends on faith. Abraham can only wait, trust, and believe what YHWH has said. Waiting for the LORD best describes faith in him. We wait for Him because we know he is coming, we know he is delivering, we know he will do what he says!
Ultimately, this promise is fulfilled by YHWH in the coming of Jesus the Son of God. I recalled at this point and recited Christmas reading that says the star came to rest over the place where baby Jesus and Mary are! Jesus is the Promised Star who has come for you! I closed by playing the song by the Concordia Seminary Chorus And Lo! The Star.