By Our Love
Sunday, May 5, 2024 - John 15:9-17 Also Acts 10:44-48, Psalm 98, 1 John 5:1-6 It’s not fun to feel left out. Last week, I began my sermon with a story about feeling like I didn’t quite belong at a…
Abiding in the Vine
Sunday, April 28, 2024 - John 15:1-8 Also Acts 8:26-40, Psalm 22:25-31, 1 John 4:7-21 Back in the winter of 2010, I drove from the southside of Chicago where I lived in Hyde Park and attended the Lutheran School of…
Becoming the Good Shepherd
Sunday, April 21, 2024 - John 10:11-18, Acts 4:5-12, Psalm 23, 1 John 3:16-24 Today is the day that the church calls “Good Shepherd Sunday.” It’s a day we recognize every year, and every year the readings include Psalm 23…
Peace, Presence, and Resurrection
Sunday, April 14 - Luke 24:36b-48 Also Acts 3:12-19, Psalm 4, 1 John 3:1-7 I’ve had a few unusual experiences of God, but one of the most unusual was the time the Holy Spirit rode with me in my car…
The Story of the Ragman
Sunday, April 7, 2024 - the Sunday after Easter For this day, I decided to repeat something I did in 2023 that I plan to keep as an annual tradition. After all the intensity of Lent, Holy Week, and Easter,…
“Wit,” an Empty Tomb, and Resurrection
Easter Sunday, March 31, 2024 - Mark 16:1-8, Acts 10:34-43, Psalm 118: 1-2, 14-24, 1 Cor 15:1-11 Many years ago, when I was living in Marietta, Georgia, I held season tickets to the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta. I used to…
Who was Really in that Mob?
This is the sermon that I wrote for Good Friday, 2024, that ironically I "forgot" to preach. You see, I'd written it, I printed it out, I took it to church, and...it stayed in my office. I didn't even realize…
In Remembrance of Me
Maundy Thursday, March 28, 2024 - Mark 14: 17-31 Mark 14: 32-50 Also Psalm 116: 1-2, 12-19, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 When Jesus and his followers gathered the night before he was crucified, they weren’t just meeting up for a friendly…
Tearing the Veil
Sunday, March 24, 2024 - Mark 15:1-39 [40-47] Also Isaiah 50:4-9a, Psalm 31:9-16, Phillipians 2:5-11, Processional Gospel, John 12:12-16 In the great archetypal stories of myth, fairy tale, and sacred texts, we see represented the deepest truths about the human…
Broken Open to New Life
Sunday, March 17, 2024 - John 12:20-33, Also Jeremiah 31:31-34, Psalm 51:1-12,Hebrews 5:5-10 We’re surrounded by plants. We walk on lawns of green grass. We’re sometimes shaded by tall trees. Flowers bloom everywhere we look. Even in our kitchens, we…
Symbols of Life
Sunday, March 10, 2024 - John 3:14-21, Also Numbers 21:4-9, Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22, Ephesians 2:1-10 There are a lot of wonderful themes in today’s reading. I could talk about light, and I’m sure there will be sermons about light, but…
Mountain, Temple, Cross
Sunday, March 3, 2024 - John 2:13-22 Also Exodus 20:1-17, Psalm 19, 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 God’s Power on the Mountain On the third new moon after the Israelites had left Egypt, they entered the wilderness of Sinai. And God calls…
Facing a Frightening or Unknown Future
Sunday, February 25, 2024 - Mark 8:31-38 Also Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16, Psalm 22:23-31, Romans 4:13-25 After I graduated with my bachelor’s degree in communications from Purdue University, nothing seemed to go the way I’d planned it. I originally thought I’d…
Jesus and the Power of Love
Sunday, February 4, 2024 - Mark 1:29-39, Isaiah 40:21-31, Psalm 147:1-11, 20c, 1 Corinthians 9:16-23 In Jesus' Presence Do you ever wonder what it must have been like to be in Jesus’ presence? What would it have felt like to…
What Demons Possess Us Today?
Sunday, January 28, 2024 - Mark 1:21-28 A Problem of Language Today, I want to talk about healing. In our gospel text, we hear of a man healed by Jesus of an “unclean spirit.” Jesus clearly performs an exorcism of…
Answering the Call
Sunday, January 21, 2024: Mark 1:14-20, Jonah 3:1-5, 10, Psalm 62:5-12, 1 Cor 7:29-31 Jonah and the Ninevites Last week, I began with a discussion of the children’s swimming game “Marco Polo” to talk about seeking, finding, calling, and responding…
Seeking, Finding, Calling, Responding
Sunday, January 14, 2024 - John 1:43-51, also 1 Samuel 3:1-10, Psalm 139:1-6, 3-18, 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 We May Not Know God Last week, I talked about water and how much I loved being near the water. Which is kind…
Water, Sound, and Spirit
January 7, 2024 - Mark 1: 4-11, Genesis 1:1-5, Psalm 29, Acts 19:1-7 I love water. I love being around water. Of course, here, that means I like to spend time at the beach, near the Gulf of Mexico. I…