Sermons with Insight contains sermons that Pastor Zimany delivered while serving as a Lutheran clergyman. The sermons use metaphors to communicate religious terminology. In sermons, the congregation is encouraged to get involved in many causes. His main criteria for admission, however, was to present perspectives and methods that differ from those of fundamentalists and other groups. Examples of how what Jesus says literally can apply to us figuratively are given in a few of the discourses. Some of them deal with what it means to be saved and how we might change, finding transforming power, sometimes via self- sacrifice, and being born again, possibly after singing “I surrender all.” For instance, “yield fruit” signifies “perform good actions.” Other sermons highlight the importance of Jesus’ presence on earth, through which he brought God’s love closer to us and showed the value of faith, particularly among those who needed it most—outcasts, sinners, and scoundrels—giving them a sense of acceptance and self-worth and thereby demonstrating what God is like, how God acts, and what God is concerned about. SERMONS WITH INSIGHT
T he Rev. Dr. Roland Daniel Zimany has been preaching and has been in the pastoral ministry since 1997. He served as interim pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Jacksonville, Illinois in 1997 and as minister of Luther Memorial Church in Des Moines, Iowa in 1998 to 2003. Presently, he serves as pulpit supply minister at Deerfield Retirement Community and in other churches in the state of Iowa. Pastor Zimany is a native of Irvington, New Jersey of Slovak heritage. In 1956, he went to pursue an education at Princeton University, earning the degree in Public and International Affairs, which later led him to work in business and government in the New York metropolitan area for fourteen years, mostly as a management analyst and as an interviewer. The year 1970 has always been the turning point of his life when a major career change took place. With a strong determination and faith in God, he went to Union Theological Seminary, from which he earned a Master of Divinity (MDiv) degree in 1974. Six years later, he earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Religion degree at Duke University in 1980, after spending a year at the University of Tuebingen, in Germany, which resulted in a book, entitled Vehicle for God: The Metaphorical Theology of Eberhard Juengle. In the same year after earning the doctorate degree, he became professor of Philosophy and Religion at Blackburn College in Carlinville, Illinois up until 1993.
He and his wife, Barbara, have been married since 1976.
An effective communicator of God’s Word, the Rev. Dr. Roland Zimany is known for his practical and dynamic teaching style which helps people apply the timeless truths of Scripture to their everyday lives.
Before considering the important part of the sermon, let's take a look at today's Gospel lesson and ask, what's wrong with this picture? What takes place in our Gospel story that does not reflect the way things usually happen in the world? If were teaching a class, I would now stop talking, and there would be a long period of silence, while you look through the biblical text on your bulletin insert, to try to find something unusual. But to ensure that this sermon ends before it's time for Sunday School to begin, I'll save some time by pointing out that it is highly unusual for two pregnant women to meet and for one to say to the other, "You're going to be the mother of someone whom I'll be calling 'Lord.’” Normally, Elizabeth--or anyone else--would not know such a thing in advance. Right? The reference is to Jesus, of course. Elizabeth calls him "Lord," and that fact provides a clue to what is going on here that you, as an average person-in-the-pew, would not even begin to imagine. At least, I didn't, until I went to seminary.
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