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Where Does Longing Lead Us?
A sermon on Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 [An audio recording of this sermon is available here.] In her commentary on the parable of the man with two sons, Lutheran professor Amanda Brobst-Renaud, names a really important truth about today’s parable. She writes: “one of the main struggles in reading this parable is that once we hear the words ‘A man had two sons,’ we quit listening…. The challenge of this parable is to keep listening, to listen to it again, and to be open to the possib
What Are We Growing?
[For an audio recording of this sermon, click here] A sermon on Luke 13: 1-9 If the scene that opens this gospel reading were to happen today, I think it might go something like this: In the midst of a time of shattering violence, some people came to Jesus and told him about it – filling their telling with horror, and confusion, and also some anger and fear. They told him about people at prayer in their Mosques in New Zealand, gunned down by a purveyor of hate; and then they
God is one brave chicken
A sermon on Luke 13:31-35 [an audio recording of this sermon can be accessed here] So, I have a funny story related to this gospel. Last year my husband, Tyler, was teaching the Jr. High Sunday school class at Living Waters (the church where he and our kids are members). The lesson involved different images for God in scripture – things like God is our Rock, God is our Light, God is our refuge… you get the picture. Well, the curriculum included pictures of all these different
Wilderness Transformation
A sermon on Luke 4:1-13 [An audio recording of this sermon is available here.] When I first joined a Lutheran church (in my late twenties), I wasn’t quite sure what to make of Lent. The idea of “giving something up for Lent” just seemed like spiritual dress-up for a 40-day diet from chocolate. I needed something to get hold of to make this defined time of reflection and discipline a meaningful spiritual practice. I found that something in my pastor’s offering of a theme each
