Sermons are by Pastor Stephen Springer. For questions or comments, email him at pastor@doveofpeacetucson.org. All sermons are in PDF format. You can download Adobe Acrobat reader free using the link below. Compact disk recordnings of sermons can be mailed to you from our office. For more information: office@doveofpeacetucson.org.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2011: Lectionary 26 "It’s the paradox that we spoke of on September 11, exemplified in the prayer attributed to St. Francis: It is in giving that we receive. It is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life. That mind– the mind of Good Friday, the mind of Christ Jesus– should be our mind, Paul says today.."
text of sermon PDF file
audio 20 MB MP3 file for download (to save, right click and "Save as...")
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2011: Lectionary 25 "Is it fair? It depends on your perspective. Just because you do what you ought to do doesn’t mean that God owes you special treatment. Furthermore, in our form of Christianity, we don’t believe that anyone ever succeeds in doing everything they ought to do. We believe that everybody receives better from God than they deserve."
text of sermon PDF file
audio 26 MB MP3 file for download (to save, right click and "Save as...")
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2011: Anniversary of 9/11/2001 "The Church’s first pastoral task is to bear witness to God’s constancy. Above the fray, beyond the clanging gong of mankind’s foolishness, always lies the truth which judges us, the mercy which nurtures us, the God of Abraham and Isaac, of Jacob and Joseph."
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audio 34 MB MP3 file for download (to save, right click and "Save as...")
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2011: Lectionary 23 "The average congregation, however, is still a non-commercialized, voluntary, free association, public place that still requires us to interact with people whom we do not know and may never like. People who are marginalized and institutionalized and otherwise hidden."
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audio 28 MB MP3 file for download (to save, right click and "Save as...")
SUNDAY, AUGUST 28, 2011: Lectionary 22 "Paul’s letters split. The first two thirds or so are about God’s work. And then the word “therefore.” And the rest of the letter is about how we ought to act in response to what God has done."
text of sermon PDF file
audio [poor quality] 29 MB MP3 file for download (to save, right click and "Save as...")
SUNDAY, AUGUST 21, 2011: Lectionary 21 "Paul says that what you do for your neighbor is worship. If you’re a teacher, then teaching is your worship. If you’re a farmer, then farming is your worship. Are you an exhorter? Paul says that some of us are exhorters! That’s a person who gives encouragement, a kind of coach. That’s real worship, says Paul.."
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audio 24 MB MP3 file for download (to save, right click and "Save as...")
SUNDAY, AUGUST 14, 2011: Lectionary 20 "But now in Isaiah, God is saying that he is going to welcome the eunuchs. The eunuchs and all the other people who have been outcasts."
text of sermon PDF file
audio 21 MB MP3 file for download (to save, right click and "Save as...")
SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2011: Lectionary 19 "The faith Jesus is talking about does not mean agreeing with the book of Revelation, or making sense of the Trinity, or accepting the Lutheran doctrines spelled out in the Book of Concord. It’s a highly personal faith– trust..."
text of sermon PDF file
audio 28 MB MP3 file for download (to save, right click and "Save as...")
SUNDAY, JULY 31, 2011: Lectionary 18 [A sermon by guest preacher Rev. John Hoelter. No text available.]
audio 31 MB MP3 file for download (to save, right click and "Save as...")
SUNDAY, JULY 24, 2011: Lectionary 17 "In the best of times, life is difficult. In the worst of times, life seems like a cruel joke. We are sitting ducks for all the evils around us, and all the evils inside us. What then are we say to these things? Nevertheless. A calm “nevertheless.” A defiant “nevertheless.”"
text of sermon PDF file
audio 30 MB MP3 file for download (to save, right click and "Save as...")
SUNDAY, JULY 17, 2011: Lectionary 16 "But already, Jesus is saying that both weed and wheat lie within me. The causes of sin are pride, disobedience, and a desire to be God. The causes of sin lie within each of us. If we’re in a hurry to get rid of evil, then we have to get rid of the human race. And that’s not God’s plan."
text of sermon PDF file
audio 28 MB MP3 file for download (to save, right click and "Save as...")
SUNDAY, JULY 10, 2011: Lectionary 15 "The divorced church, the church that is not equally yoked with the state, hears this message fresh. The growth is beyond our control. The seed– which is our message– is something we just proclaim. We say it over and over and over. And sometimes it’s going to be wasted. And sometimes it will pay off a hundredfold."
text of sermon PDF file
audio 28 MB MP3 file for download (to save, right click and "Save as...")
SUNDAY, JULY 3, 2011: Thomas, Apostle "This is the great central truth that Martin Luther latched onto. All you can ever know about God, and all you ever need to know about God, is in Jesus Christ. All other talk about God is speculation and foolishness."
text of sermon PDF file
audio 11 MB MP3 file for download (to save, right click and "Save as...")
SUNDAY, JUNE 26, 2011: Lectionary 13 "Hananiah and the others have all realized that there is a lot more money to be made in telling people what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear."
text of sermon PDF file
audio 11 MB MP3 file for download (to save, right click and "Save as...")
SUNDAY, JUNE 19, 2011: Holy Trinity Pastor John Hoelter preaching. "When we talk about God, in the house of our thinking, we often continue to say what we say even when what we say doesn't really say what we want to say, but it is the best that we can do."
audio 37 MB MP3 file for download (to save, right click and "Save as...")
SUNDAY, JUNE 12, 2011: Pentecost "If we are going to be messengers to the whole world, we’re going to have to speak some of its languages. And that doesn’t just mean Mandarin or French or Russian. It means speaking the language of the young. Speaking the language of those who are in crisis. Those who fear organized religion. Those who have a different kind of family or who have a different way of dressing. If we speak their language, we show respect and we show welcome. If we fail to speak their language, we create only fear and resentment."
text of sermon PDF file
audio 14 MB MP3 file for download (to save, right click and "Save as...")
SUNDAY, JUNE 5, 2011: Ascension (Observed) "So this misplaced holy day, Ascension, a kind of step child, deserves to be picked up, dusted off, and observed. By preachers and worship planners, by Sunday School teachers and theologians. By grandparents and children. Because it is a counterpoint to what is wrong with so much of our culture and our world. "
text of sermon PDF file
SUNDAY, MAY 29, 2011: Easter 6A "Our congregation has to accept the challenge that God has given us. We are in Athens. We are in a culture that is intellectual and scientific, or likes to think that it is intellectual and scientific. A culture that likes to chatter about every new thing. A culture that is skeptical of organized religion, especially Christianity."
text of sermon PDF file
audio 14 MB MP3 file for download (to save, right click and "Save as...")
SUNDAY, MAY 22, 2011: Easter 5A Campus ministry pastor Ron Rude, preaching. "'in my Father's house there are many dwelling places,' well, yes, the Father's house is heaven, but isn't the Father's house wherever the Creator is, wherever the kingdom of God is?"
audio 40 MB MP3 file for download (to save, right click and "Save as...")
SUNDAY, MAY 15, 2011: Easter 4A Often called the Sunday of the "Good Shepherd."
text of sermon PDF file
audio 9 MB MP3 file for download (to save, right click and "Save as...")
Memorial Service for Edward J. Thum. April 2, 2011. The audio includes words of eulogy spoken by guests.
text of sermon: PDF file
audio 33 MB MP3 file for download (to save, right click and "Save as...")
SUNDAY, JANUARY 30, 2011 "We are all poor in spirit. Much of the time we are oblivious to that poverty. Much of the time we are in denial. But in truth– in truth, we are much more fragile and powerless than we acknowledge."
text of sermon: PDF file
audio 13 MB MP3 file for download (to save, right click and "Save as...")
SUNDAY, JANUARY 23, 2011 No secular or civil morality story can explain what we have been through. Many have resorted to ritual. The ancient human impulse to go on pilgrimage, to light a candle, to lay a memento down, to offer a prayer. And so there are two memorials, two shrines...
text of sermon: PDF file
audio 13 MB MP3 file for download (to save, right click and "Save as...")
SUNDAY, JANUARY 9, 2011 (22 hours after the shootings in Tucson) "It was this very mundane kind of work, this kind of “meet and greet,” that Gabrielle Giffords was doing yesterday. It’s the nuts and bolts of building community. It’s relationships. It’s talking face to face. It’s bringing people together. That’s the activity that our nation is so thirsty for. And that’s why this story is so compelling and dramatic on a national level."
text of sermon: PDF file
audio 13 MB MP3 file for download (to save, right click and "Save as...")
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2010 "Being spiritually awakened means being ready for the light of Christ and the peace of Christ to break into our lives unexpectedly. And to understand that light and peace are sometimes
a threat to the dark powers, the thieves who break in and steal from those who slumber. Being spiritually awakened means giving up the false sentimentality that profits our commercial society and instead participating in the true hope and the true promises of God that come with the baby in Bethlehem."
text of sermon: PDF file
audio 12 MB MP3 file for download (to save, right click and "Save as...")
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2010 "Being spiritually awakened means being ready for the light of Christ and the peace of Christ to break into our lives unexpectedly. And to understand that light and peace are sometimes
a threat to the dark powers, the thieves who break in and steal from those who slumber. Being spiritually awakened means giving up the false sentimentality that profits our commercial society and instead participating in the true hope and the true promises of God that come with the baby in Bethlehem."
text of sermon: PDF file
audio 12 MB MP3 file for download (to save, right click and "Save as...")
SUNDAY, AUGUST 22, 2010 "DOVE IS: Inteional About Generations. " "Churches say that the children are the future. And they’re right. But they aren’t going to be in this church. Our children are going to be adults living in Seattle or Madison or Philadelphia. We live in a mobile society. The kids at Dove of Peace today are not going to be the adults that are here tomorrow. For the most part."
text of sermon: PDF file
audio 12 MB MP3 file for download (to save, right click and "Save as...")
SUNDAY, AUGUST 15, 2010 "DOVE IS: Personal Story (Witness) " "Witness is your personal story. Or my personal story. Or Mary’s personal story. It may not be theologically correct. Mary did not have the benefit of a seminary education. Like the disciples, Mary did not fully understand Jesus when he was sitting right there with her. Her witness, however-- even though she did not understand it herself– her witness was crucial to Christianity."
text of sermon: PDF file
audio 12 MB MP3 file for download (to save, right click and "Save as...")
SUNDAY, AUGUST 8, 2010 "DOVE IS: Social Justice " "God is saying to his people,'Can we talk?'... God wants to talk to his people about social injustice. His people have a temple, where they celebrate holy days in God’s honor, and sacrifice animals in God’s honor. There’s a bunch of ritual. And meanwhile the hungry are not fed. The weak and the disadvantaged are run over. The rich get richer. And the poor get poorer. And God wants to talk about this."
text of sermon: PDF file
audio 12 MB MP3 file for download (to save, right click and "Save as...")
SUNDAY, AUGUST 1, 2010 "DOVE IS: Worship " "Worship changes like trees change. All living things are different year by year... I think we need to make sure we understand what is going on. Even though it may be beneath the surface of things, God’s Grace is working and active. And our mission is to receive it well, and share it well. Two verbs. And worship, which is the center of Christian life and of the Church’s existence– worship is
the most important place of all for claiming God’s active Grace and sharing it."
text of sermon: PDF file
audio 15 MB MP3 file for download (to save, right click and "Save as...")
SUNDAY, JULY 25, 2010 "DOVE IS: Ministry of the Laity." "This is an aspect of our Lutheran identity. The priesthood of all believers. You have a pastor, here, but not a priest. Because all of us are priests. The word priest means that you are a go-between between humans and God. You bring God to people, and you bring people to God. That’s what a priest does. We’re all priests. It’s embedded in the architecture of this building."
text of sermon: PDF file
SUNDAY, JULY 18, 2010 " DOVE IS: Creation Minded." "God uses the world to inspire in us a sense of wonder. God made the world wondrous. It is one of the main reasons that people come to believe in God in the first place. Whether they study the rocks, or the birds, or the oceans. And so the continued abuse and destruction of God’s wonders is a sin, an attack on God’s honor."
text of sermon: PDF file
SUNDAY, JULY 11, 2010 " DOVE IS: Ecumenical." "An ecumenical church does not claim to have a monopoly on the truth. We don’t claim to be the only ticket to heaven. To be God’s Church and to serve all the people on this earth, we need Pentecostals. We need Episcopalians. We need the Coptic Church of Egypt. In order to be whole."
text of sermon: PDF file
SUNDAY, JULY 4, 2010 Independence Day. "I love America from below. I love Woody Guthrie’s America. That’s safer for me and for my spirituality. Loving America from above is not easy for me. These grand visions of America as God’s chosen nation, the idea that the USA is the savior of the world, the conviction that America is infallible in everything she does just as some believe that the Pope is infallible in every thing that he teaches, these are concepts that I am not able to reconcile with my religious faith.."
text of sermon: PDF file
SUNDAY, JUNE 27, 2010 Galatians 5:1, 13-25. "Works are the things that we do to escape from freedom. To escape from the anxiety of God’s presence. There are noble works. And there are shameful works. But they are still works, preoccupied with our selves, our egos, and our self-justification."
text of sermon: PDF file
SUNDAY, JUNE 20, 2010 Luke 8:26-39. "We see a metaphor for our own paths to healing, especially for the one fourth of us who have suffered from mental illness in the last year."
text of sermon: PDF file
SUNDAY, MAY 8, 2010 "In the darkest hours, the most unpeaceful of days, while Chet Huntley and David Brinkley and Walter Cronkite were reporting all of these shocking things, in a world gone mad, Christians formed a community called Dove of Peace."
text of sermon: PDF file
audio 16.4 MB MP3 file for download (to save, right click and "Save as...")
SUNDAY, AUGUST 16, 2009 1 Kings 2:10–12; 3:3–14. "The Old Testament kind of wisdom usually comes through age and experience. And our culture disdains age and experience. One of the ways I can gauge our culture’s shallowness is that not only do we fail to speak of wisdom. We fail to speak of its opposite, which is folly."
text of sermon: PDF file
(no audio available)
READ the related scriptures: 1 Kings 2:10–12; 3:3–14
SUNDAY, AUGUST 9, 2009 John 6:35, 41-51. "So Jesus compared himself to bread. Not to meat. Not to fruit. Not to cheese. Not to eggs. But bread. The common component– and the filling component– of the diet for so many human beings. Common, yet nourishing. Common, yet really a miracle, for anyone who has ever made bread themselves."
text of sermon: PDF file
audio 13.4 MB MP3 file for download (to save, right click and "Save as...")
READ the related scriptures: John 6:35, 41-51
SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2009 2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a. The prophet Nathan confronts David about his wrongdoing. This story gives us an opportunity to examine the Lutheran concept of the Law. "The chief function or power of the law is to make original sin manifest and show man to what utter depths his nature has fallen and how corrupt it has become. So the law must tell him that he neither has nor cares for God or that he worships strange gods — something that he would not have believed before without a knowledge of the law. Thus he is terror-stricken and humbled..." [Luther, The Smalcald Articles]
text of sermon: PDF file
audio: 14 MB MP3 file for download (to save, right click and "Save as...")
READ the related scripures, 2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a and Psalm 51:1-12
