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.

The Kind of Division We Need

A sermon on Luke 12:49-56 & Hebrews 11:29-12:2 [For an audio recording of this sermon, click here.] Last Sunday the concluding blessing in my sermon ended with one word repeated three times: Peace. Peace. Peace. Perhaps I should have looked ahead with a little more attention to see what Jesus had to say to us this week. Because, of course, this week we get a rather contrary proclamation: "Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!” (Luke 12:51). (Sigh) I don’t imagine that I am the only person in the room for whom division sounds like the very last thing we need. And I’m not just talking about DC, or cable news, or twitter battles, or any

If We Were Not Afraid

A Sermon on Luke 12:32-40 [for an audio recording of this sermon, click here] At this year’s Synod Assembly back in June, Pastor Scott Schantzenbach challenged the Assembled church with a question: “What would you do if you were not afraid?” The question is a challenge, because it names a truth that polite society doesn’t usually like to talk about: the truth that fear all too often drives, or constricts, our decisions and actions. But Pastor Schantzenbach’s goal wasn’t to wag a finger at people and churches he loves… it was to invite us into an exercise of holy imagination. He was inviting us to move past our fears by confronting the ways that they can get in the way of doing the things we

What Kind of Fairness?

A sermon on Luke 12:13-21 [for an audio recording of this sermon, click here.] In her commentary on today’s gospel Debie Thomas cuts right to the painful heart of this reading: She writes “for me, the biggest take away from the week’s gospel lesson is this: I need to stop assuming that my nearest and dearest concerns are also necessarily Jesus’s.”[1] There’s just no way around it. Jesus’s teaching in this reading is hard. Maybe even offensive. Jesus is riding rough-shod all over values that are important in our culture. A man who is being denied his rightful property by his brother comes to Jesus to ask for fair treatment, and instead Jesus gives him a verbal smack-down, calling him out for