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This sermon was preached at Grace of God on November 9, 2025, as the second in our series on the end times that will conclude this church year.

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This sermon was preached at Grace of God on November 2, 2025, to begin our series on the end times that will conclude this church year.

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What should we do with our daily lives? Now at the halfway point through the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon offers simple and pointed words of wisdom. He points out the benefits of reflecting on death; the folly of extremes; and the humility that we should exhibit as we remember our own sinfulness.

Join Pastor Tim and Ian as they reflect on Ecclesiastes 7 in this episode of the Meaningless Podcast.

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This sermon was preached at Grace of God Lutheran on October 26, 2025, in observance of Reformation Day.

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Thanks for listening again to the Meaningless Podcast! In this episode, Pastor Tim and Ian discuss Ecclesiastes chapter 6.

God's gives some people wealth, power, and success beyond their wildest imaginations; yet He does not allow them to enjoy it. Even further, it is a stranger that enjoys it. Why? Is really such a man "better off as a stillborn child", i.e. better off never born? Is ignorance really bliss? If we come from darkness only to return to darkness and everything under the sun has already been done (a chasing after the wind) then what really is the man's reward for all his toil? "For who knows what is good for a person in life, during the few and meaningless days they pass through like a shadow? Who can tell them what will happen under the sun after they are gone?" (6:12). Join us as we seek these answers.

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This sermon, based on Psalm 100, was preached at Grace of God Lutheran on October 19, 2025, for the 50th anniversary of our congregation. The Reverend Doctor Timothy Bourman, pastor of Sure Foundation Lutheran in Queens NYC, served as our guest preacher.

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This sermon, written in the first-person from the perspective of one of the "other nine" lepers in Luke 17:11-19, was preached for the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost on October 12, 2025, at Grace of God Lutheran.

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We can be foolish in our religious observance; we can be foolish in our political activity; we can be foolish in our economic pursuits. Ecclesiastes 5 points out some of the folly humans in which humans engage in those spheres of life. In the end, Solomon reminds us simply, "it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them" (5:18). We can do so because God has, through his Son Jesus Christ, declares our justification on the basis of faith, rather than works.

Join Pastor Tim and Ian for this discussion of Ecclesiastes 5 on the Meaningless Podcast.

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Ecclesiastes chapter 4 reflects on human relationships. They can be both comforting and encouraging ("Pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up," 4:10) or destructive ("Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun: I saw the tears of the oppressed— and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors," 4:1). 

The truth we have to reckon with: There's no getting away from human relationships. We can only approach them with wisdom. Join Pastor Tim and Ian for this discussion of Ecclesiastes 4 on the Meaningless Podcast.

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What is forgiveness? And what is faith? In Luke 17:1-10, Jesus teaches his disciples that faith (of any size) is able to do the impossible task of forgiving.

This sermon, based on the first ten verses of Luke 17, was preached at Grace of God Lutheran on October 5, 2025 (the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost). 

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Thanks for listening again to the Meaningless Podcast! In this episode, Pastor Tim and Ian discuss Ecclesiastes chapter 3. 

This chapter of Ecclesiastes reminds us that there's a proper time and place for everything that happens. War has a proper time; so does peace. Laughing has a proper time; so do tears. How do we know when that is? Solomon learned those lessons from careful reflection on life, coupled with a readiness to hear from God in his Word. 

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This sermon, based on Revelation 12:7-12, was preached for the Festival of St. Michael and All Angels, observed at Grace of God Lutheran on the Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost (September 28, 2025). The accompanying readings were Luke 10:17-20 and 2 Kings 6:8-17.

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This sermon, based on 1 Timothy 6:6-11 and 17-19, was preached at Grace of God Lutheran on September 21, 2025 (the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost).

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This sermon, based on Luke 15:1-10, was preached at Grace of God Lutheran on September 14, 2025.

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Here on 'The Meaningless Podcast' Pastor Tim and Ian dive into selections from each chapter of Ecclesiastes from a Confessional Lutheran perspective.

Sometimes we find ourselves cast adrift in a storm of chaos and uncertainty in our everyday lives; sometimes we our make indulging our desires part of our own personality; and sometimes we use the sins of others to justify the guilt our own.

We frantically rush back and forth, day and night, rain or shine, to find meaning, purpose, identity - a raison d'etre if you will - but to what avail? Can we ever actually know?

Trapped in this postmodern fog of celebrity, political and social media grey noise, many of us have lost sight of our created meaning and purpose. Not knowing this we lash out: we become enraged, yet apathetic, but the result is always the same - anxiety, anger, loneliness, despair. Is this the only worth of our lives, what society dictates: power, fame, wealth, status, looks etc.? Or is there a deeper, more profound, God given meaning to our existence? 

King Solomon had it all: wine, women, wealth, palaces and gardens, courtiers and musicians, sumptuous feasts and banquets. But when the time came where he has sensed, tasted, touched and tested the limits of his mind and body he came to the same conclusions that many us have after struggling through an almost seemingly impossible task: it's all utterly meaningless. But is this really the conclusion that Solomon came to?

While neither of us are experts by any means, we hope that our conversations can shed some illumination on some of these questions, so that we might take a peek into what our created purposes and callings might be. Every Thursday, we'll take a stick to the branches of the ever abundant pear tree that is the Holy Scriptures, and through the lens of the Lutheran doctrine of vocation, ask the question: 

"What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun?"

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Intro music is “What Words Can't Describe” by Vlad Gluschenko, at soundcloud.com/vgl9.

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Find out more about our church and support Grace of God's ministry at linktr.ee/graceofgodlongisland

Intro music is “What Words Can't Describe” by Vlad Gluschenko, at soundcloud.com/vgl9.

Send us a text

Here on 'The Meaningless Podcast' Pastor Tim and Ian dive into selections from each chapter of Ecclesiastes from a Confessional Lutheran perspective.

Sometimes we find ourselves cast adrift in a storm of chaos and uncertainty in our everyday lives; sometimes we our make indulging our desires part of our own personality; and sometimes we use the sins of others to justify the guilt our own.

We frantically rush back and forth, day and night, rain or shine, to find meaning, purpose, identity - a raison d'etre if you will - but to what avail? Can we ever actually know?

Trapped in this postmodern fog of celebrity, political and social media grey noise, many of us have lost sight of our created meaning and purpose. Not knowing this we lash out: we become enraged, yet apathetic, but the result is always the same - anxiety, anger, loneliness, despair. Is this the only worth of our lives, what society dictates: power, fame, wealth, status, looks etc.? Or is there a deeper, more profound, God given meaning to our existence? 

While neither of us are experts by any means, we hope that our conversations can shed some illumination on some of these questions, so that we might take a peek into what our created purposes and callings might be. Every Thursday, we'll take a stick to the branches of the ever abundant pear tree that is the Holy Scriptures, and through the lens of the Lutheran doctrine of vocation, ask the question: 

"What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun?"

Support the show

Find out more about our church and support Grace of God's ministry at linktr.ee/graceofgodlongisland

Intro music is “What Words Can't Describe” by Vlad Gluschenko, at soundcloud.com/vgl9.

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This sermon, based on Luke 14:25-35, was preached at grace of God Lutheran on September 7, 2025. The accompanying readings were selections from Deuteronomy 30 and from Paul's letter to Philemon.

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This sermon, based on Luke 21:1-4, was prepared for Grace of God Lutheran Church's Labor Day Weekend worship service. It was presented in video format in Pastor Walsh's absence. 

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This sermon was preached at Grace of God Lutheran Church on August 24, 2025.

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This sermon was preached at Grace of God Lutheran Church on August 17, 2025.

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This sermon, based on Genesis 15:1, was preached on the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost, August 10, 2025.

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This sermon, based on Luke 12:13-21, was preached on the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, August 3, 2025. The accompanying readings were Ecclesiastes 1:1–14 and 2:18-26, and Colossians 3:1–12.

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This sermon, based on Acts 11:27-12:3 and Mark 10:35-45, was preached for the Festival of St. James the Elder, Apostle, celebrated on the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost (July 27) 2025. The accompanying Old Testament reading was 1 Kings 19:1-18.

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This sermon, based on Genesis 18:1-15, was preached for the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost on July 20, 2025.

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This sermon, based on Luke 10:1-12 and 16-20, was preached for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost on July 6, 2025.

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Intro music is “What Words Can't Describe” by Vlad Gluschenko, at soundcloud.com/vgl9.