Sermons at Abiding Peace

The ministry of Word and Sacrament is the center of our weekly gathering, and it is a work of the whole community. Together we proclaim the good news of how Christ has transformed and is transforming our lives through collective prayer, confession and absolution, reading of scripture, songs of worship, gathering at the Lord's table, and sending out for our work and ministry in the world. The proclamation of the Word through preaching is also a vital part of our worship and ministry. On this page, you can find links to past sermons in written form.

We encourage you to be with us in person, but we also know that sometimes that is not possible. We hope that these sermons can be a resource to you in your spiritual growth.

Blessing Those Close to the Kingdom

A sermon on Matthew 5:1-12. [for an audio recording of this sermon, click here . Photo by Elsa Gonzalez on Unsplash.com ] It’s been a few years, so I am wondering if anyone here today remembers when we did a one-sitting reading of the whole Gospel of Matthew here at Abiding Peace? (Don’t worry, I’m not going to quiz you about themes, or narrative structure or anything. I just wanted to jog your memory about why it might be important to sometimes take a couple of hours to re

Called to Foolishness

A sermon on Matthew 4:12-23 and 1 Corinthians 1:10-18. [ Photo by Sven Pieren on Unsplash ] In our denomination (the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America), the process for becoming a pastor is called Candidacy. It involves a variety of requirements, including both formal schooling and practical training, psychological testing, a number of writing submissions, and three separate meetings in which the candidate sits in a room full of more experienced pastors and synod leade

Discipleship from Birmingham City Jail

A sermon on John 1:29-42, in conversation with Dr. MLK's Letter from Birmingham City Jail. [an audio recording of this sermon is available here. Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash.] I would be willing to bet that if asked to name the signature phrase of John’s gospel, at least 9 out of 10 seminary graduates would say “come and see.” It is a phrase repeated a number of times, in different voices, throughout the narrative, but that’s not why biblical studies departments teach us a

The Voice We Listen To

A sermon on Matthew 3:13-17 for an audio recording of this sermon, click here. Photo by Mohammad Metri on Unsplash We have a lot of exciting things happening in worship today, including the baptism of one of our incoming members, so rather than giving the kind of full exposition on today’s texts that I would normally try to offer in a sermon, today I just want to offer a quick reflection on the meaning of baptism. Because there is one detail from Matthew’s story of Jesus’s

The Choice Between Fear and Joy

A sermon on Matthew 2:1-12 for an audio recording of this sermon, click here. Photo by James on Unsplash One of the core concepts in Lutheran teaching is the Theology of the Cross. When I ask what people think this refers to in the New Member’s class, I usually get some version of connecting the cross to the means of salvation, but this theological concept is not about salvation; it’s about revelation. It teaches us that on the cross God offers us the most complete expressi

Expecting to Treasure the Despised

A sermon on Luke 2:1-20 For an audio recording of this sermon, click here. Photo: The Nativity by Gari Melchers Throughout the season of Advent, our community here at Abiding Peace has been exploring of theme of how God’s revelation in the stories of Jesus and those who prepared the way for him can shape our holy expectations. Jesus’s teaching about the unknowable-ness of what will happen on the final Day of the Lord, reminds us to expect to not be in control. Whether it i

Expecting Vulnerability

A sermon on Matthew 1:18-25. [for an audio recording on this sermon, click here. Photo by M.T ElGassier on Unsplash.] As some of you probably know, because I talk about it a fair amount, I am fascinated by the Enneagram. The Enneagram is a personality typing system that actually dates all the way back to the 4 th and 5 th Century desert fathers and mothers in the mystical-ascetic branch of Christianity. Unlike more modern typing systems, it focuses not so much on a person’

Expecting a Healing Repentance

A sermon on Matthew 3:1-12 [for an audio recording of this sermon, click here. Photo by SOULSANA on Unsplash.] I had a conversation earlier this week with a member of our congregation in which we shared that we had similar feelings about one of the words from today’s gospel. This made me wonder if this is a more widely shared phenomenon in our particular community. If you’re willing, please raise your hand if you generally have a bit of flinch or cringe or otherwise negative

Expecting to Not Be In Control

A sermon on Matthew 24:36-44 and Romans 13:11-14. [for an audio recording of this sermon, click here . Photo by Joan Tran on Unsplash .] It’s a pretty common idea that the college years are, at least in part, a time for self-discovery: a time to figure out who you are and what you want your life to look like. But I’m wondering… has anyone ever heard that same idea of self-discovery is part of the parental journey when we send our kids off? I’m curious because I did not expec

On Scary Stuff and Superpowers

A sermon on Luke 21:5-19 [for an audio recording of this sermon, click here. Photo by Aron Visuals on Unsplash.] I have a question for you all. Most of you have probably been asked some version of this before, so hopefully you already know your answers. The question is: If you could have any superpower, what would it be? (See what people say…) So, my answer is usually , that I would want to be a polyglot (able to automatically speak and understand every language in existence

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