Abentüür Gebät
Abentüür Gebät – isn’t that a contradiction in terms? An adventure is breathtaking, but prayer is rather boring. Or so one thinks!
But when you realise that praying is nothing more than communicating with the Creator of the universe, the King of kings, the heavenly Father, it is quite breathtaking. Whether joy or frustration, success or failure – God always has an open ear and a good word.
This year we will dive deeper into this adventure and get to know and appreciate very different ways of praying. Addressing God as «our Father» is a big deal!
At the very end of the prayer Our Father, it moves into worship. «For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever.» This is not only the case in this prayer, but also in many other places in the Bible – and could become a habit of life. Today is 30 December. If you still have open New Year’s resolutions from last January, there are about 30 hours left. If your resolution was to stop putting things on the…
Without a personal encounter with God, Christmas remains only a fairy tale and personal faith bland and unattractive. To change this, God became human in the person of Jesus and made himself touchable, visible, audible and tangible. Through an encounter with God, Advent becomes an adventure! If you extend the word Advent with the three letters u‑r-e, it means adventure. Our theme for the year is «Abentüür Gebät». Prayer becomes an adventure when it comes to an encounter with God, which is also the…
On behalf of God, he points to the birth of an unprecedented, powerful ruler. Isaiah describes him with four winsome names. A Messiah who also fits 1:1 into our present darkness. Christmas is a unique festival of lights! The lights that shine in gardens and on balconies are impressive; but with sleighs, reindeer and Sami lice, they have little to do with Bethlehem. In Bettwil, we drive past a house with a garden that has been transformed into a world of lights. There you step…
The reformation of King Asa is a helpful illustration of how we can make our door high and the gate wide to receive the King of all kingdoms. This sermon is specifically addressed to Christians whose faith life has become lukewarm and who long for more excitement, rest and peace through Jesus Christ. Advent is a fitting time to prepare ourselves for the coming of Jesus.
Line bus prayers let us experience that God can be changed. With hot air balloon prayers, we ourselves experience a change. In any case, prayers have the power to change God, the world and ourselves! But prayers are not primarily about solving problems, but about deepening our relationship with the heavenly Father.
The Brennende Berg (356.7 m above sea level) is a forested hill on the border of the Saarland towns of Saarbrücken and Sulzbach. It is home to a smouldering coal seam that caught fire in the 17th century and is still smouldering today. Such underground fires remind us of something that can be seen in many people – including myself: a smouldering inner life that is difficult to smother and erupts every now and then. Jesus Christ is able to free us from our hurts, fixations and imprints.…
Deliver us from evil! A liberating, indispensable petition for common prayer! In a turbulent world, we need such an address to refuel. God trusts us to reach our goal of faith even under evil circumstances, because we are not travelling alone, but together with Jesus and many other believers.
The Book of Job gives us a deep insight into evil, who is behind it and how it works. Very impressively, Job lives out how we can behave in dark times so as not to become a prey to evil. Through his clinging to the Redeemer («Yet I know that my Redeemer lives and will have the last word on this earth.») his faith was raised to a higher level and he was blessed in an impressive way.
Jesus was tested by the tempter in the areas of popularity, possessions and power. These are the three areas that are powerful engines in our lives as well. Together with fear, this forms a negative spiral: one never has enough. The three evangelical counsels (chastity, poverty and obedience) are, to a certain extent, the brakes that make a good creative handling of these inner forces possible.
There is temptation in the form of testing and temptation in the form of seduction. With the sixth petition in the Our Father prayer, we pray God that we do not fall into temptation, do not fall into its trap. This petition is not about optimising our morals, but about reaching the goal – being with God.
Grace is the greatest thing for us humans! There is nothing greater! Grace is worth more than gold. Grace is life!
God surprises us again and again and nothing is impossible for God. This is still true for us today.
Jesus says: the harvest is great, but the labourers are few. How should we understand these words of Jesus? Together we want to discover what harvest means for us today and what our mission is in the great harvest of God.
Do we really need forgiveness like daily bread? With the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector praying together in the temple, Jesus shows that there are two kinds of people, those who know they are sinners and those who do not. Yet recognising one’s own vulnerability to sin would be the key to an upbeat and joyful life with Jesus!
The Bible says several times that if we refuse to forgive others, God will not forgive us either. Forgiveness is very one-sided and unjust. But if we dare, we will find that relationship is enabled and renewed.
«Nothing is more cowardly than excuses; nothing is greater than admitting guilt» (Friedrich von Bodelschwingh). How do we deal with our guilt? What role does our conscience play? Why does Jesus teach us to pray like this?
In the parable of the begging widow, Jesus shows that persistent and determined prayer leads to the goal. The widow got what was coming to her. How much more will people get their rights if they persistently ask their Father in heaven!
Sometimes our daily bread does not seem very appetising to us – it is hard to digest. How we can deal with such hard bread and even mature through it, we learn from three courageous men.
«Daily» and «today» express that we are not to ask the Father in heaven for supplies, but for daily needs. If we always live in tomorrow, we make ourselves many unnecessary worries. The sermon challenges us to be whole before God now – and we will be blessed!
«Pray always and in every situation with the power of the Holy Spirit. Keep alert and also pray continually for all who belong to Christ» (Ephesians 6:18). It is remarkable that this verse directly follows the spiritual armour. Therefore: It is indispensable for you to pray! And you cannot do without others praying for you.
When we accept Jesus into our lives, it is neither make-up nor mascot nor guarantee for a problem-free life, but life-changing power. This process of change continues until we reach the goal of our faith.
Jabez prayed against his own name, which was a curse word. It means torment and pain! Although the prayer sounds somewhat self-centred, it says: And God let come what he had asked for. Jabez rose up against his disposition through prayer. Prayer changed his life.
Inspired by the story in Mark 8:14–28, this sermon deals with the topic of doubt. It explores the question of what doubt is and how we can deal with it in our prayer life.
Prayer in Jesus» name is said to have a one hundred percent success rate. What does it mean for a person to pray in His name and to be an agent. The perfect empowerment consists in the care of the Holy Spirit and the influence of Jesus» name in the very highest place.
We don’t have to keep asking, «Jesus, what do you want me to do? What is your will?» And then get angry when we hear nothing! No. We may plan and decide, but it is necessary and good if we are open to God, who may want to tell us what to do or correct us.
Jesus healed not only souls, but whole people according to body, soul and spirit. He still wants to do that today through his allies. Nevertheless, it is undeniable that our body – the older it gets – will diminish. Quite in contrast to the spirit, which is renewed from day to day. How do we deal with this tension?
The parable of the prodigal son is an image of the Gospel and at the same time linked to the Our Father. How this link is formed and what this has to do with the theme «When God is silent» will be the subject of this sermon.
«Thy will be done» Is not a call for us to simply leave our will and desires to the side, but to deal with them responsibly. Why this is so and how this can look in practice will be the topic of this sermon.
«Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven». This phrase comes before the request for provision («Give us this day our daily bread.»). Apparently, it is more important that we grow into a deeper relationship of trust with God than that He fulfils all our wishes.
In prayer, we can step inwardly out of the many gazes of men and place ourselves under the one gaze of God. There we find a deeply liberated way of life, without pressure and full of strength. It is life in the presence of God, the place of freedom.
What does it mean when God’s kingdom comes? The sermon wants to encourage to ally oneself with God and to see oneself as a sent one for God’s kingdom in this world. We can help build God’s kingdom by making God’s Word a reality.
In Psalm 13, David lets us share how he prays in times of crisis. In the process, he himself experiences a positive turn. What steps lead David to this turnaround is the topic of this sermon.
In the prayer David says in Psalm 131, he gives us deep insight into the secret of a quiet heart full of peace. Three enemies who must be replaced stand in the way of this peace.
An Easter sermon on the threefold «Peace be with you» from Jesus to the disciples who had locked themselves in fear. The resurrection of Jesus has the power to first open doors of the heart and then other doors as well.
This reflection talks about the contrasts that come to light on Good Friday and Easter.
«Thy kingdom come». The one from Jesus in the prayer we know as Our Father. What kingdom Jesus is talking about, what nerve he strikes with his contemporaries and what this ultimately has to do with us is the subject of this sermon.
A second time is about how the name of our Father in heaven can be sanctified. Through worship. But worship is much more than good feelings and beautiful songs. It is also about giving thanks, lamenting and proclaiming. Worship is the very meaning of our lives. The story of King Jehoshaphat from 2 Chronicles 20 brings together all facets of worship and shows the beautiful consequence of it.
This sermon explores the question of what it means to sanctify the name of our Father in heaven. In addition, the connection to the third commandment «You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain» is shown.
Who is «Our Father», the person we address in prayer? It is a God who introduces himself with four letters (YHWH) that mean «his». The Father in heaven has the proper name «He-who-is» and many other names. God is just so big and so wide that you cannot capture him with a proper name. That would limit him and make him tangible. Each one of his many names shows certain characteristics of him.
The form of address in «Our Father» is written in the first person plural. Jesus, who recommended this prayer for imitation, had something in mind. When we call upon the Father in heaven from within the community, we will experience powerful effects of our prayers.
«Thy will be done!» If we really want that, we have to learn to listen to God’s voice. In community things go better and we can support each other. One form of this is prophetic prayer.
About the mystery of an unchanging God who nevertheless lets us talk to him.
Who is actually «Our Father in heaven»? Who does Jesus say we should talk to? On the one hand, he is the near Father and on the other hand, he dwells in the distant heaven. How does the love of God relate to his holiness? Our image of God has a great influence on the basic attitude with which we pray.
We look at the vision of seetal chile and ask ourselves how God sees our community. This involves the well in the middle of the village as well as the building land reserves.
Start of the new year’s theme «Abentüür Gebät». When asked by his disciples to teach them how to pray, Jesus responded with the «Our Father’s Prayer». This prayer provides the structure for the sermons in 2018. Today, the aim is to gain an initial overview.