The sermon will be a post on our Facebook page. A Meaning-Making Name Names are powerful makers of meaning both in the scriptures and in our lives. Consider how much we associate people with their names. A name is merely a word, a sound, yet it can completely represent a person. And our names can…
The sermon will be a post on our Facebook page. Living In the Now and the Not Yet In this season of Advent we stand in the discomforting quiet of waiting for the salvation of the Lord while simultaneously seeing that very salvation breaking into the world around us. Like John the Baptist we ask…
The sermon will be a post on our Facebook page. Pointing to Jesus John the Baptist is a fitting messenger for the season of Advent, a time for the church to prepare for both the nativity of the Christ and for his second coming. John’s call to repentance in preparation of Jesus’ arrival carries a…
The sermon will be a post on our Facebook page. Turn On. Tune In. Wake Up! In the 1960’s people were urged to turn on, tune in, and drop out—to leave the material world behind in favor of an alternate reality. In today’s gospel, Jesus also urges us to tune into an alternative to the…
The sermon will be a post on our Facebook page. Who Is Jesus? Jesus’ true identity seems to remain a mystery for most of the disciples. Jesus can teach, preach, heal, cast out demons, challenge authority and more, but still they do not comprehend. You might say it is a case of mistaken identity as…
The sermon will be a post on our Facebook page. Please click on link to view sermon. From Life to Death and Death to Life In our baptisms we move spiritually from death to life. We are reminded of this in the words from the service of Holy Baptism: “In baptism our gracious heavenly Father frees us…
Wholly Saints Who are the saints, and what do they have to say to us? Rather than being perfect Christians, the saints are people who have been made whole by the grace of God, through baptism into Christ. The communion of saints is a diverse array of witnesses who remind us of God’s continuing faithfulness,…
Good News All Over Again The desire to privatize the free love of God for all creation seems stamped on the human soul. While Lutherans learn early on in their faith formation about the abuses of the church through the sale of indulgences in the sixteenth century, the scriptures for Reformation Day remind us that…
The sermon will be a post on our Facebook page. Please click on link to view sermon. God Be Merciful We may expect the religious insider to be blessed, the moral person to be right with God. But as is so often the case, Jesus’ parable for today sweeps away conventional expectations. Jesus surprises the disciples…
The sermon will be a post on our Facebook page. Please click on link to view sermon. Kyrie eleison: Persistence in Prayer Two characters step out of scripture today to teach us about persistence in prayer. One is named. Jacob is the devious brother who tricked his twin, Esau, out of his birthright and their father’s…