Fifth Sunday of Easter Acts 7:55-60 Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16 1 Peter 2:2-10 John 14:1-14 Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you from the one who is the way, Amen. “Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’” Jesus has just told his disciples that he will be leaving them. He says a lot of other things too but I imagine it was hard for the disciples to really listen very carefully after he tol

Fourth Sunday in Easter Acts 2:42-47 Psalm 23 1 Peter 2:19-25 John 10:1-10 Alleluia! Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen Indeed, Alleluia! Today, the fourth Sunday in Easter, has the unofficial title of Good Shepherd Sunday as there are sheep and shepherds all over our readings for today. God, Jesus, as the Good Shepherd is one of the most common images all throughout the scriptures and has caught the imagination of many particularly those who love Psalm 23. But what doe

Third Sunday in Easter Acts 2:14a, 36-41 Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19 1 Peter 1:17-23 Luke 24:13-35 Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you from the one who comes to those who are near and those who are far off. Amen Who is the message of Christ, the promise of God for? According to Peter in his Pentecost sermon: “For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.” (Acts

Second Sunday of Easter Acts 2:14a, 22-32 Psalm 16 1 Peter 1:3-9 John 20:19-31 Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you from the one who comes to us in our fear and offers us peace Amen. It was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors were locked where the disciples were, because they were afraid John tells us that they were afraid of the religious authorities, the ones who had engineered Jesus’ crucifixion thou

Palm Sunday * Matthew 21:1-11 Isaiah 50:4-9a Psalm 31:9-16 Philippians 2:5-11 Matthew 21:12-16, 33-46 Matthew 26:1-16 Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you from the truly powerful one who comes riding on a donkey. Amen From the very beginning of his gospel narrative Matthew has been contrasting the power and authority of God with those who claim authority and power in the world. After Jesus is born, the magi come to King Herod as

5th Sunday in Lent Ezekiel 37:1-14 Psalm 130 Romans 8:6-11 John 11:1-45 Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you from the one who calls us out of death to new life. Amen “You shall know that I am the Lord when I open your graves and bring you up from your graves, O my people. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live…” This is what God does. God brings life out of death. This is the glory of God. Next week we enter Holy We

4th Sunday in Lent 1 Samuel 16:1-13 Psalm 23 Ephesians 5:8-14 John 9:1-41 Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you from the one who looks on the heart amen. “How long will you grieve over Saul?” the Lord asks the prophet Samuel at the beginning of our first reading for today, God has removed favor from Saul as king of Israel and is preparing to anoint another, and Samuel is having a hard time making the transition. Which is kind of

Third Sunday in Lent Exodus 17:1-7 Psalm 95 Romans 5:1-11 John 4:5-42 Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you from the Word who offers us living water. Amen What is baptism? Luther poses the question in his Small Catechism and responds with: Baptism is not simply plain water. Instead, it is water used according to God’s command and connected with God’s word. Water and word, the two parts that make up the sacrament of baptism (reme

Second Sunday in Lent Genesis 12:1-4 Psalm 121 Romans 4:1-5, 13-17 John 3:1-17 Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you from the one who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist Amen. Today we begin our time with four gospel stories from John that the early church used to help prepare new Christians for baptism. Today we start with the story of Nicodemus coming to Jesus at night where Jesus tells him,

First Sunday in Lent Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7 Psalm 32 Romans 5:12-19 Matthew 4:1-11 Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you from the one who comes to bring justification and life for all, amen. Why? It’s the question that leads to other questions, especially from curious four year olds such as the one who resides with me. Why? is an important question but after the fourth or fifth or sixth why? In a row it is tempting to respond: “Tha

Ash Wednesday Joel 2:1-2, 12-*17 Psalm 51:1-17 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10 Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you from the source of life, amen. The call of Lent is the call to return to God. Often in this call to return we hear it urging us to acknowledge the worst of ourselves, to reform to avoid punishment from God. It doesn’t seem to be the most uplifting of messages. To be fair we hear this perspective in the

Transfiguration Sunday Exodus 24:12-18 Psalm 2 2 Peter 1:16-21 Matthew 17:1-9 Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you from the one who reveals the glory of the Lord to us and raises us up out of fear. amen Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation is his scientific and mathematical explanation for how gravity works, while even the briefest of internet searches will yield formulas and detailed explanations it can be most simply summed

Fourth Sunday after Epiphany Micah 6:1-8 Psalm 15 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 Matthew 5:1-12 Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you from the one who richly blesses us. Amen God begins with blessings. This is the truth that Jesus points to as he begins teaching the disciples and the crowds that have gathered around him in our gospel for today. It is a truth that may not be so apparent in their lives. Matthew tells us that after he calls

Third Sunday After Epiphany Isaiah 9:1-4 Psalm 27:1, 4-9 1 Corinthians 1:10-18 Matthew 4:12-23 Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you from the one who proclaims the kingdom of heaven and calls us into relationship. Amen How do we know when it’s the right time? The right time for something new, the right time to take a stand for or against something, the right time to repent, the right time to change? Is it, as some have suggested

2nd Sunday after Epiphany Isaiah 49:1-7 Psalm 40:1-11 1 Corinthians 1:1-9 John 1:29-42 Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you from the one who is faithful Amen. “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun.” proclaims the Teacher in Ecclesiastes (1:9), often quoted in times of turmoil, sometimes as an expression of despair- there is nothing new under the sun, why d

Baptism of Our Lord Isaiah 42:1-9 Psalm 29 Acts 10:34-43 Matthew 3:13-17 Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you from the one who comes alongside us to fulfill all righteousness, Amen. “What then are we to say about these things?” This question from Paul in Romans chapter 8(v31-39) echoed in my heart this week, not only was I spending time with the passage in preparation for Denny’s funeral but also I was, to paraphrase Karl Barth

2nd Sunday of Christmas Jeremiah 31:7-14 Psalm 147:12-20 Ephesians 1:3-14 John 1:1-18 Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you from the one who is both vast and intimate Amen Merry Christmas! I know, it may not feel like Christmas anymore, Especially since the hope for peace on earth Has been shattered once again. As we struggle to understand And Wonder what to say And Pray for those in Venezuela Christmas feels like it is over. And yet

Christmas Eve Isaiah 9:2-7 Titus 2:11-14 Luke 2:1-20 Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you from love born among us. Amen Merry Christmas! People love Christmas for many reasons but I suspect that underlying all of them is the comfort of familiarity. The essentials of Christmas rarely change all that much, with Christmas you know what to expect each year, no surprises other than what is under the tree and for us who worship eac

4th Sunday in Advent Isaiah 7:10-16 Psalm 80:1-7,17-19 Romans 1:1-7 Matthew 1:18-25 Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you from love who says we are necessary. Amen Have you ever wondered if Joseph is really all that necessary for the Christmas story? He doesn’t say anything, he really just seems to be there for his family connections, which I’m sure God could find another way to make, and let’s be honest, God and Mary are really

3rd Sunday in Advent Isaiah 35:1-10 Psalm 146:5-10 James 5:7-10 Matthew 11:2-11 Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you from the one who is to come. Amen Are we there yet? Growing up we took several long family road trips and my parents always packed a large bag of mixed candy - something only seen around our house in such quantities at Halloween, and when we were on the road as the day stretched on and my brother and I were done bein