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 Mercy Curve
On All Saints Sunday we lift up the names of those in our congregation who have passed on to glory in the past year. Then we focus on Jesus’ call in his “sermon on the plain.” In Matthew’s sermon on the mount Jesus speaks in the third person…BLESSED ARE THEY. And we are left to…
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Silence is Not an Option
The impulse to reach out to neighbors in need in service and advocacy is embedded in the DNA of our congregation. As we celebrate 75 years of service, today’s texts invite us to wrestle with issues of injustice, with our vulnerabilities, and to stand with those who raise their voices for justice.
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The Cost of Entitlement
Entitlement is an issue in our texts and in our world. The story of Lazarus, the story of Pastor Jehu Jones, Jr, (first Lutheran pastor of African descent in the country), and the story of St. Francis of Assisi, each teach us something about the cost of entitlement and, within the American church, the cost…
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Angels: Messengers of God
An after dinner walk to find chocolate leads to an encounter with Marc Chagall’s series of etchings on THE BIBLE, and raises the question of the role of God’s messengers – the angels – in human affairs. These messengers of God are part of that invisible realm of the Sacred of whom we are unaware…
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Thinking it Out Again
The manager in today’s enigmatic parable is like the character Fagin in the Dickens tale OLIVER: 2-parts clever, 1-part kind, and all parts survivor, Fagin figures out a way to game the system that does not serve him. In the end, the path he has chosen doesn’t lead to the riches and security he aspires…
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God Gave the Growth
75 years ago Luther Anderson, the founding pastor of Peace, delivered his first sermon in a portable classroom of the local elementary school. But the first seeds of what would become Peace Lutheran Church were planted long before Luther Anderson arrived in West Seattle. And after his and Lilian’s time of watering those seeds, the…
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New Font – New Life
A new baptismal font is used for the first time this Sunday at Peace Lutheran as two children are baptized. SYMBOLS MATTER, and the rich and varied symbols of BAPTISM—woven throughout the story of God’s people and throughout our liturgy—have implications for everything we do. When THE WORLD tries to tell us who we are…
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Sanctuary: Staying the Course
In today’s reading, the writer of Hebrews speaks to a community in search of a story of belonging. Perhaps they’ve grown weary of the challenges of the Christian life; perhaps they’re feeling the pressure of cultural forces outside the community, some, at least, seem to be struggling with their faith and others have stopped coming…
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Kingdom Values Now
In this sermon, Elizabeth Menstell, a daughter of Peace and recent masters graduate of Emory University, explores how Jesus’ admonitions in the gospel reading help to center her personally, and help to center the church corporately, to live out the values of the kingdom of God in this time and place.
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Seeing the Neighbor
Of all the stories Jesus told, this one may be the most well known, and the point seems crystal clear: Even your enemy—the one you can’t stand—is your neighbor; and this is what loving him looks like. But we tend to make things complicated. And we find ourselves needing to return to the same fundamental…