Yearly Archives: 2017


Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost October 8, 2017 Philippians 3:4-14 St. Jacob’s (Spaders), Trinity Rev. Kirk Shipley, Interim Pastor   I. A person can safely say we live in a society that is very concerned with enjoyment, comfort, and convenience. Sometimes our casualness is subject for humor when people share photos […]


Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost Matthew 21:23-32: Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32; Philippians 2:1-13 St. Jacob’s (Spaders), Trinity October 1, 2017 Rev. Kirk Shipley, Interim Pastor     I. One of my favorite musical movies is My Fair Lady, the story about a poor Cockney Eliza Doolittle who on a bet between too […]


Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost Jonah 3:6-4:11; Matthew 20:1-16 St. Jacob’s (Spaders), Trinity September 24, 2017 Rev. Kirk Shipley, Interim Pastor     I. The last two areas I lived were Northern California and Northeast Ohio. There are very few people in the United States and Canada who would confuse the […]


Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost Genesis (50:15-21); Matthew 18:21-35 St. Jacob’s (Spaders), Trinity September 17, 2017 Rev. Kirk Shipley, Interim Pastor   I. Near the end of last Sunday’s sermon I shared a quote from Lewis Smedes, author of Forgive and Forget: Healing the Hurts We Don’t Deserve. “God heals our […]


Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost Romans (12:1-21) 13:8-14 St. Jacob’s (Spaders), Trinity; September 10, 2017 Rev. Kirk Shipley, Interim Pastor   I. The past two weeks we have been on a journey with Jesus and his disciples that asks who Jesus is and what are the implications of that answer. We […]


Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost Matthew 16:21-28 St. Jacob’s (Spaders), Trinity; September 3, 2017 Rev. Kirk Shipley, Interim Pastor   I. I find it a bit serendipitous that today’s Gospel reading falls on this particular weekend. In our country we hold up two events. One is Labor Day when we hold […]


Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost

Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost Matthew 16:13-20; Romans 12:1-8 St. Jacob’s (Spaders), Trinity; August 27, 2017 Rev. Kirk Shipley, Interim Pastor   I. There are truths that appear in Christian writing, preaching, and teaching that are derived from Scripture. One partly derived from today’s epistle to the Romans is “No person […]


Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost

Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost Matthew 15:21-28; Isaiah 56:1-8 St. Jacob’s (Spaders), Trinity; August 20, 2017 Rev. Kirk Shipley, Interim Pastor     I. There are a number of sayings that have much to say for them. A very popular one that is so is “Good Fences Make Good Neighbors”. I […]


Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

Tenth Sunday after Pentecost St. Jacob’s (Spaders), Trinity; August 13, 2017 Rev. Kirk Shipley, Interim Pastor   I. There was a hymn that marked the end of every Billy Graham Crusade.  It is number 592 in the ELW, “Just As I Am”.  The second verse declares, “Just as I am, […]


Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

Ninth Sunday after Pentecost Matthew 14:13-21 St. Jacob’s (Spaders), Trinity; August 6, 2017 Rev. Kirk Shipley, Interim Pastor   I. Before Jesus there were miraculous feedings.  The one on the grandest scale and perhaps the most memorable was multiyear provision of Manna provided by God to the Hebrews who had […]