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 can sit and listen to the sound of the waves for hours. But it’s not […]
December 31, 2023 – Luke 2:22-40, Isaiah 61:10-62:3, Psalm 148, Gal 4:4-7 On Christmas Eve, I spoke about “Mystery, Miracles, and the Unexpected.” And while it’s true that all three of those were in abundance at the birth of Jesus, also present were the very mundane things of daily life, including working men dirty from
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 she gave me permission to share it. Christie is a psychotherapist and this is her
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 to rise to the surface with a little bit of extra sparkle or energy and
The Second Sunday of Advent, December 10, 2023 Today is the second Sunday of Advent, and the emphasis of today’s readings is mostly on preparation for the coming of the kingdom of God, or what my friend Chuck Queen just calls “God’s World.” Christians believe that God’s World was revealed in the incarnation of God
The First Sunday of Advent, December 3, 2023 Today is the first Sunday of Advent. Not every Christian denomination celebrates Advent, but the Lutheran Church understands both Advent before Christmas and Lent and the Passion Week before Easter as necessary steps that we shouldn’t skip over. One of my favorite memories from past Christmas seasons
Matthew 25: 31-46 (November 26, 2023) In 1975, a Marine on leave in Aiken, SC named Dannion Brinkley was on the phone with his best friend while a storm raged outside. As they spoke, a bolt of lightning struck the telephone pole, sending 180,000 volts of electricity burning through the phone line and the handset
Matthew 25: 14-30 (November 19, 2023) If there was one thing that stuck with me from my class in biblical Greek at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, it was the insight that biblical translation is an art and not a science. And even though I remember almost no Greek, I will never forget
Matthew 25: 1-13 (November 12, 2023) For thousands of years, humans have built spiral-shaped labyrinths. You may think that a labyrinth is just like a maze, but where a maze often has dead-end paths, labyrinths do not. The pathway of a labyrinth will always take you to the center, where Christ is symbolized. Medieval Christians
Matthew 5: 1-12 (November 5, 2023, All Saints Sunday) Matthew’s Focus We shouldn’t think of the Gospels as being like the transcript of a news reporter who was present at all of the events and recorded them just as they happened. Each Gospel was written for a particular community of followers of Jesus. They are
