Selflessness, Service, and Deep Gladness
Sunday, October 20 2024 - Mark 10:35-45, also Isaiah 53:4-12, Psalm 91:9-16, and Hebrews 5:1-10.
Erasing the Lines
Sunday, September 8 - Mark 7:24-37 also Isaiah 35: 4-7a, Psalm 146, James 2:1-10 [11-13] 14-17
What Draws People to Jesus?
Sunday, July 21 2024 - Gospel, Mark 6:30-34, 53-56, also Jeremiah 23:1-6, Psalm 23, Ephesians 2:11-22
Rejection and Authority
Sunday, July 7 - Gospel, Mark 5:21-43. Also Ezekiel 2:1-5, Psalm 123, 2 Corinthians 12:2-10, Mark 6:1-13
What God Sees
Sunday, June 16, 2024 - Gospel, Mark 4:26-34. Also 1 Samuel 15:34—16:13, Psalm 92:1-4, 12-15, 2 Corinthians 5:6-10 [11-13] 14-17
How Wide is God’s Circle?
Sunday, June 9, 2024 - Gospel, John 3:1-17. Also Gen 3:8-15, Psalm 130, 2 Corinthians 4:13—5:1, Mark 3:20-35 One of my first jobs when I moved to Marietta, GA after college was in sales. Our product was halon fire extinguishers,…
Transforming Fire
Sunday, May 19, Pentecost - Acts 2:1-21. Also Psalm 104:24-34, 35b, Romans 8:22-27, John 15:26-27, 16:4b-15.
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Mystery, Miracles, and the Unexpected
Luke 1:26-38 - December 24, 2023, Christmas Eve Sermon Last year, right around this time, I heard the most amazing story. It was posted to Facebook by a friend’s wife, Christie. This happened to her about 14 years ago, and…
Testifying to the Light, Life, and Love of God
Third Sunday of Advent, December 17, 2023 We’ve been given several readings today that, at first glance, don’t necessarily seem to have much to do with each other. And yet I find key phrases or ideas in them that seem…