Every year leading up to confirmation, I ask the confirmands a series of questions on whether they want to be confirmed or not. I don’t want to assume that they desire to be confirmed. Nor should they assume that I feel they are ready to be confirmed. That’s why we sit down together in February to talk.

Sermon at the Racine, WI campus of Water of Life Lutheran Church, on Sunday July 11, 2021.

Sermon at the Racine WI campus of Water of Life Lutheran Church.

Last week when I was visiting our homebound members, I asked them, “Where do you see darkness in our culture?” They said they see darkness in how everything seems to be about politics, race and sex. They talked about the darkness of divisiveness and the ever-present darkness of abortion in our country.

Naaman is the commander of Aram’s army. He is a powerful warrior and a great man in the eyes of the king (2 Kings 5:1). But he has a problem. A big one. He also has leprosy. An even bigger problem is that he is a pagan – an unbeliever.