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 di
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 wa
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 o
