Explore past sermons from Peace Lutheran Church. Read a summary, find the scripture references, and download the original sermon manuscript.
-
Sharing Enough
A personal disappointment early in a college career leads to a profound learning opportunity about what it means to have “enough.” St. Paul’s mantra is a necessary antidote to a culture that defines us primarily as “consumers.” When Jesus is Lord of our lives we participate in a new reality—of stretching out our hands, not…
-
Acting Together
Sixty-nine years ago this month President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, paving the way for the internment of some 120,000 Japanese Americans for the duration of World War II. Today, a story about how Christ’s final command to his disciples, “Love one another as I have loved you,” became first, a guiding light…
-
Facing the Truth
When the wind and the waves blow into our lives with force and fury, how can we survive? It’s really a question about what we can expect from this God in the face of circumstances in our lives that threaten to send us reeling into the abyss. Acting from that centered place of calm and…
-
Following Jesus
In his book THE JESUS WAY, Eugene Peterson gets right to the heart of the challenge we face as North Americans seeking to follow Jesus. He writes: “Many who understand themselves to be followers of Jesus, without hesitation…embrace the ways and means of the culture as they go about their daily living ‘in Jesus’ name,’…
-
Against the Tide
The numbers are astounding—even obscene: 8 million pounds of popcorn, 50 million cases of beer, 450 million chicken wings, 15,000 tons of chips, and enough avocados to cover Dallas Stadium’s football field waist deep in guacamole. All purchased and consumed in the name of one, singular event – the SUPERBOWL. Juxtapose this gladiatorial exhibition—and the…
-
Remembering Who We Are
The setting is a courtroom and the issue is the collective amnesia of God’s chosen people. God laments that his people have forgotten their identity as children of the promise. The connection between worship life and real life, between sacred gatherings on Sabbath and holy behavior during the rest of the week have been lost;…
-
What Are You Looking For?
What are you looking for? It’s a simple question, and if we allow ourselves to trade places for a moment this morning with those disciples of John, we discover that both the question and the answer can be addressed on at least three different levels.
-
A Lord We Don’t Expect
In the first of four Servant Songs in the book of Isaiah we learn that God’s tactics for dealing with the world are not what we expect. “A bruised reed he will not break; a dimly burning wick he will not quench.” The vulnerable ones—who the world would just as soon cast aside—God’s Servant shelters,…
-
A Scale We Can Understand
On this first Sunday of the New Year, we continue the celebration of Christ’s birth—God’s great leap from the scale of the infinite to a scale of size we can understand. As the New Year dawns, our hopes often rise with it…or try to. • Maybe this will be the year we reach our weight…
-
The Loss of Innocence
Having just celebrated the joyful birth of Christ with all the carols and feasting and family traditions that go with it, we are suddenly plunged into the depth of despair on this first day after Christmas. We tend to sentimentalize Christmas. But this morning Matthew bends over backward to convince us that Christmas is about…