Sunday, October 26, 2025 – Reformation Sunday Introduction: The Sound of a People Finding Their Voice When we think of the Reformation, most of us picture Martin Luther hammering his 95 Theses to a church door. But we can also imagine a quieter, more human scene. It’s a Sunday morning in a small German village, […]
Sunday, August 17, 2025 – Jeremiah 23:23-29, Psalm 82, Luke 12:49-56 One mark of maturity is the ability to tell—and to hear—the truth. I’m reminded of that famous line from A Few Good Men when Jack Nicholson’s character yells, “You can’t handle the truth!” The truth can be painful. Today’s readings invite us into that
Sunday, July 27 – Genesis 18:20-32, Colossians 2:6-15 [16-19], Luke 11:1-13 Have you ever been to a carnival fun house? The kind where different mirrors change how you look? Or have you ever looked through a hundred-year-old window where the glass is a little wavy, and everything outside looks wavy too? Well, the truth is,
Sunday, July 13, 2025 – Luke 10:25-37 Have you ever been watching a movie and know just what’s going to happen next – even before it happens? I’ve experienced that when watching a whodunit mystery on television. Sometimes we’re extra observant and notice subtle cues before other people do. That happened to me when I
Sunday, May 4 – Acts 9:1-6 [7-20], Psalm 30, Revelation 5:11-14, John 21:1-19 I’m currently reading a book called Why Religion Went Obsolete, by Christian Smith, a sociologist at the University of Notre Dame (see his conversation with Tripp Fuller below). In it, Smith writes about societal movements and changes since the 1990s that came
Thursday, April 17, 2025, Maundy Thursday – Gospel: John 13:1-17, 31b-35, 1 Corinthians 12:12-14, 20-27 In 2023, I had the incredible privilege of co-leading a spiritual pilgrimage to the Isle of Iona off the coast of Scotland. It was quite a journey getting there. We of course flew overnight to Glasgow and then after a restful
Sunday, March 9, 2025 (Lent 1) – Deuteronomy 26:1-11, Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16, Romans 10:8b-13, Luke 4:1-13 Since I began serving Redeemer as interim minister in October of 2023, my approach to preaching has been a week-by-week endeavor. It’s pretty much all I could do to just keep juggling all the plates that I had in
Sunday, February 23, 2025 – Genesis 45:3-11, 15, Psalm 37:1-11, 39-40, 1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50, Luke 6:27-38 Jesus tells us that we should love our enemies and do good to those who hurt us. Has there ever been any more difficult teaching than this? I’ve seen an image going around in certain circles that shows
Sunday, February 9, 2025 – Isaiah 6:1-8 [9-13], Psalm 138, 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, Luke 5:1-11 I have to confess, I’ve never been very interested in fishing. As a child, my brother often took rod and reel and went with our Uncle Richie, who just passed away a couple of weeks ago, to see what they
Sunday, January 19, 2025 – Isaiah 62:1-5, Psalm 36:5-10, 1 Corinthians 12:1-11, John 2:1-11 If you were watching television in the U.S. between 1966 and 1973, I could probably say a certain phrase and hum a certain tune and you’d know exactly what I was referring to. “Good morning, Mr. Phelps” and [then I hummed
