Explore past sermons from Peace Lutheran Church. Read a summary, find the scripture references, and download the original sermon manuscript.
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The Two Parades
The parade of followers Jesus led into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday wasn’t the only one taking place that year in Jerusalem. The governor, Pontius Pilate, was at the head of another parade into the city; one with political as we as theological implications. Jesus came riding in on a donkey. Pilate’s procession included war horses…
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What Kind of God-With-Us Does the World Need?
Days after fathering around the Christchild’s manger and moments after a visit from the mysterious Magi, a tortuous scene comes into view: the slaughter of innocents, the sudden flight of refugees. What do we learn? In Jesus, God enters the full reality of human life–even its most bleak aspects. In telling the story, Matthew connects…
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Holding on to Hope Amid Chaos and Death
The celebration of de los muertos brings a new lens for understanding the dire sounding prophecies Jesus makes in the Temple.
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Lazarus and the Scourged Back
Words spoken from BEYOND THE GRAVE possess a GRAVITAS like no others. At the heart of this parable in Luke’s gospel is the economic gulf that separates the rich from the poor. This gulf existed in the Imperial economy at the time of Jesus and it exists even more so in our nation today. Attempts…
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When we forget who we are
God’s people have forgotten their stories. They’ve lost touch with the narrative that gave them birth. And because they have forgotten, they’ve lost touch both with God and with themselves. And into that VACUUM other stories have rushed to take their place. “My people have committed two evils, says the Lord. They have forsaken me,…
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Martha and Mary Revisited
The gospel story of Martha, Mary, and Jesus tends to be interpreted in ways that pit the sisters against each other. But a deeper dive allows us to see new possibilities for understanding what’s going on in this text; ways that bring new insight to a story that has become “fossilized.”
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The Plumbline and the Big Ugly Bill
The prophet Amos tells Israel that, according to God’s plumbline, the nation is out of alignment. There is a disconnect between their faith and their economic practices, which rob the poor. His relevant critique is as prescient today as it was in his own time. The recent “BIG UGLY BILL” pass by Congress does some…
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Blessed Disturbance, Jesus in Mine
A scene from the CHOSEN series illustrates what Jesus’ ministry of healing cost him. The prevailing conditions of haves and have-nots in our world, and the systemic forces that keep them that way, are INTOLERABLE to God…and God is acting in Jesus to reverse those conditions. William McElvaney writes: “It took me a long time…
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We who will become ashes–how will we then live?
“The sojourn of Lent, if we are able to abide it,” writes Debra Murphy, “is 40 days of contending with our mortality so that we might more fully know what it means to live.” Remembering we are dust is no invitation to passivity. It is a call to contend against evil and to resist whatever…
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Pale Blue Dot revisited
With everything else going on in our world, it was easy to miss a significant anniversary that came and went last month—the 35th ANNIVERSARY of a photograph from SPACE that, at first glance, seems to show nothing at all. But if you look closely at the dark canvass, you can just make out a tiny…