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Don't Get Ready
A sermon on Luke 21:5-19 [for an audio recording of this sermon, click here. Photo by Jasmin Sessler on Unsplash.] One of the delights of raising teenagers is when you start getting book recommendations from your children that you actually really enjoy reading (and not just because it’s a way to bond with your kid). This week I got a text from my 15-year-old about a book he had checked out of the school library that he was absolutely loving and thought I would love as well. T
All Saints and All Broken
A Sermon on Luke 6:20-31 [Photo by Marianna Smiley on Unsplash] In her book Accidental Saints: Finding God in All the Wrong People,[1] Lutheran pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber shares the story of stumbling across a plaque that celebrated the founding of a Denver church in 1901 by a woman named Alma White. Pastor Nadia was initially thrilled at the discovery of a potential role model, as she herself was in the middle of founding a new church as a female pastor. She eagerly googled the
The Story of God's Expanding Love
A dramatic proclamation sermon for Reformation Sunday (drawing on the biblical stories of Job, Ruth, the Ethiopian Eunuch [Acts 8:26-39], and the story of the King James Bible, with references to Deuteronomy 23, Psalm 62:11-12, and Proverbs 11:31). On Reformation Sunday we often focus on the story of Martin Luther, and the way that God’s Reforming Spirit inspired the changes in Christ’s church that birthed our denomination. The Protestant Reformation, however, is only one in
Faith is a Love Affair, Not a Job Interview
A sermon on Luke 18:9-14. [Photo by Mayur Gala on Unsplash.] There once were two people who wanted to be right with God. [Two actors smile & wave. One is standing tall behind the altar. The other is sitting on the altar steps, on the side away from the lectern.] That desire is a good place to start, so let’s begin by giving them both credit, before we dissect how they went about it. They both recognized the hidden longing in their hearts as something that they should bring to
