Explore past sermons from Peace Lutheran Church. Read a summary, find the scripture references, and download the original sermon manuscript.
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Why this night?
At this darkest time of the year, with northern climes most distant from the sun; we lift our voices together and cry: O COME, O COME EMMANUEL! And the wonder of this night is that God hears our cry—and answers: Fear not, for I am with you; and this will be a sign for you:…
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From Their Dark Wombs
Throughout Advent we’ve been looking for God’s presence in dark and light and shadow. And today, as we become privy first to Gabriel’s encounter with Mary, and then to Mary’s encounter with Elizabeth, Luke shows us how the whole gospel story he tells begins within the dark and hallowed wombs of these two women.
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Called through the World of Dreams
Our invitation throughout this Advent season is to stay alert to ways of imagining darkness and blackness NOT as attributes to be shunned, but rather attributes to be hallowed. Today we meet young Samuel, called in the dark to serve God. It HAD to come AT NIGHT—this encounter with the DIVINE—because it’s AT NIGHT that…
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Encountering God – Beyond the Light/Dark Binary
This year’s Advent invitation is to stay alert to ways of imagining darkness and blackness NOT as attributes to be shunned, but rather attributes to be hallowed. And our case in point today comes from our first reading, EXODUS 19, where the newly liberated Hebrew children cross the threshold into the wilderness of Sinai. In…
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Finding God in the Dark
Coming as it does during the time of year when daylight wanes and nights grow long, ADVENT is often awash with metaphors of LIGHT and DARKNESS. So often LIGHT, in these scenarios, is associated with all that is good and right and true. While DARKNESS is associated with all that is bad and wrong and…
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Confluence
THREE STREAMS, flowing together, formed a meaningful confluence in my life this past week and helped to shape the message I share this morning: The Columbia River conference; the closure of the Chapel of the Cross at Luther Seminary; the arrival of Coho salmon in Fauntleroy Creek. All of these connect to the scene in…
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Looking for Signs
The Gaia telescope is allowing astronomers to tell the story of our Milky Way galaxy, uncovering new insights into the birth of our Sun and solar system. Jesus speaks about the birth pangs that are signs of what God is bringing about. How do we put it all together?
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For All the Saints
In his masterwork: THE PROCESSON, John August Swanson captures the spirit of joy that attends the people of God as they join in a procession to the heart of God. A procession of stories, unique and shared, connecting us to those who’ve gone before us and those who’ll come after us. In this service we…
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Watershed Discipleship
Holy places around the world are built around springs, rivers, or sources of water. Why is this so? Because water is sacred. The relative we cannot live without. On this baptism Sunday we gather around the sacred waters of thefont to witness the naming and claiming by God of another beloved child. Our gathering takes…
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Being Drawn to Christ
The Francis we’ve come to know—the holy man who embraced poverty, exuded humility, tamed wolves and preached to birds—did not begin life that way. Before the Lord caught Francis in his snare of GRACE; before he left a life focused on worldly pleasures and treasures, Francis, the son of a wealthy merchant, spent the majority…