Augustana Podcasts

Sermon Title: Awake for the Unexpected. Preacher: Deacon Stephanie Anderson. Preaching Text: Matthew 24:36-44. Advent is a season of watchful waiting. The time is now – now to notice the light in our lives, now to tend to hope, now to live with hearts open to God’s presence. In today’s reading, Jesus reminds us that we cannot know the hour when God’s fullness will be revealed. Our call is to live...

Sermon Title: The Time Is Now: Tending to the Least of These. Preacher: Pastor Jason Bryan-Wegner. Preaching Text: Matthew 25:31-46. Advent holds a tension between waiting and responding. We anticipate God coming as the Christ Child at Christmas. At the same time, God is breaking into the world which yearns for healing and redemption now. Faith calls us to step into that tension and to be alert to...

Have you ever wondered why bad things happen and what Jesus would do about it all if he were "in-the flesh," so to speak? You're not alone. Augustana's fifth and sixth graders have tender hearts and are wondering the same thing. They invited Rev. Tim Schroeder, a member at Augustana Lutheran Church, to help them think through this big theological question and want you to listen in on their convers...

Listen in on this conversation between Deacon Stephanie and two of our youth as they explore faith through the lens of "promise." They ask big questions about the nature of promises. A favorite question they explore is "when is it ok to break a promise?" Join in this conversation beyond the pulpit.

Sermon Title: The Time Is Now: Have What Is Needed! Preacher: Intern Pastor Nathan Adu-Gyamfi. Preaching Text: Matthew 25: 1-13. Today we begin the season of Advent, a time of waiting, watching, and preparing for Christ’s coming. Our theme for this season is “The Time Is Now.” In today’s Gospel from Matthew 25:1–13, Jesus tells the parable of the ten bridesmaids, some wise, some foolish, reminding...

Sermon Title: A Dialogue with Pastor Jason Bryan-Wegner and LMD’s International Field Director. Preaching Text: Haggai 2:1-9. We welcome two very special guests to worship today. Dr. René Clausen is a renowned composer and Conductor Emeritus of the Concordia Choir in Moorhead, MN. He will be conducting the Senior Choir through four of his compositions during worship. We are also blessed to have th...

Sermon Title: You Belong to God. Preacher: Deacon Stephanie Anderson. Preaching Text: Luke 6:20-31. Today we remember all the saints – those who have gone before us and those still walking beside us. In Jesus’ blessings and woes, we hear God’s great reversal: the poor, the hungry, the grieving, and the excluded are named as beloved. Life and death are held together in God’s care, and heaven is not...

Sermon Title: Made New By God's Love: Faith Is A Lifelong Journey. Preacher: Pastor Jason Bryan-Wegner. Sermon Text: Philippians 4:1-9 & John 8:31-36. Today we mark the anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation, an event that changed the Christian faith forever. Martin Luther sought to refocus the faith on the grace of God found in Scripture, and away from traditions and practices that burdened...

Sermon Title: Made New By God's Love: We Are Sent to Serve. Preacher: Intern Nathan Adu-Gyamfi. Sermon Text: Luke 10:1-12. Today, we continue our fall series, Made New by God’s Love, reflecting on what it means to be sent to serve. In Luke 10:1–12, Jesus calls and sends ordinary people—people like us—to proclaim peace, bring healing, and announce that the Kingdom of God has come near. As we gather...

Sermon Title: Made New By God's Love: You Belong Here. Preacher: Deacon Stephanie Anderson. Sermon Text: Luke 15:1-7. Today’s worship continues our fall series, Made New by God’s Love, as we reflect on what it means to belong—to God and to one another. In the parable of the lost sheep, Jesus shows us a love that refuses to give up on anyone. God’s welcome is wide and healing, gathering the lost an...

Sermon Title: Made New By God's Love: All that We have is a Gift from God. Preacher: Pastor Jason Bryan-Wegner. Sermon Text: Luke 11:1-10. We are sometimes hesitant to ask for what we need. We convince ourselves that strength is doing it on our own. But God has another way. Seek God and you will find what you most need. Ask and it will be freely given. The truth is that everything we already have...

Sermon Title: Made New By God's Love: Relationships Change Us. Preacher: Pastor Karen Castillo. Preaching Text: Luke 19:1-10. We welcome Pastor Karen Castillo, President of the Iglesia Luterana Agustina de Guatemala (ILAG) as our preacher this morning. Pastor Karen leads the ministry of 18 congregations and about 3,000 members of the Lutheran Church across Guatemala. Augustana has been a partner o...

Sermon Title: Made New By God's Love: Worship Is the Heart of Our Life Together. Preacher: Intern Nathan Adu-Gyamfi. Preaching Text: Psalm 96. Today as we continue our annual theme, made new by God’s love, we will be focusing on Worship is the Heart of our Life Together. We gather as God’s people to lift up a new song of praise. Psalm 96 calls us to worship the Lord with our whole selves—for God i...

Sermon Title: We Joyfully Follow Christ, So All May Have Abundant Life. Preacher: Pastor Jason Bryan-Wegner. Preaching Text: John 10:10b, John 15:8-17. This fall, we are focusing on our mission, “Made new by God’s love, we joyfully follow Christ, so all may have abundant life,” and how it shapes our church and our daily lives. Last week, we heard that being made new by God’s love changes our lives...

Sermon Title: Made New By God's Love. Preacher: Deacon Stephanie Anderson. Preaching Text: 2 Corinthians 5:16-21. After a season of summer adventures and rest, we gather again as one community to kick off a new program year! Today we launch our annual theme, Made New by God’s Love. In our scripture passage today, Paul proclaims that in Christ we are a new creation – we are called to see ourselves...

Sermon Title: Living in Light of Eternity. Preacher: Pastor Deb Kielsmeier. Preaching Text: Psalm 90:1-8, 12-17. Today is our final Sunday in the sermon series “Unafraid.” Over the last five weeks we have looked at fear and how it can magnify the threats we face. We have been encouraged to counter those fears and boldly follow Jesus by placing our trust in the promises and presence of our faithful...

Sermon Title: Is This the End of the World? Preacher: Intern Nathan Adu-Gyamfi. Preaching Text: Revelation 21:1-7. We continue our series called “Unafraid” this week with a message of hope from the Book of Revelation. It’s a part of Scripture we may be unfamiliar, and even hesitant to go. Yet, the entire message, and particularly the final chapters provide an abundance of hope in troubling times....

Sermon Title: To Live is to Risk. Preacher: Deacon Stephanie Anderson. Preaching Text: Luke 14:25-33. Following Jesus is never a risk-free endeavor. In today’s gospel, Jesus challenges those who would follow him to consider the cost: loyalty, love, possessions, and even life itself. Yet in this challenge comes grace - the promise that God accompanies us on the narrow, sometimes difficult, path. To...

Sermon Title: Stopping the Sky from Falling. Preacher: Pastor Jason Bryan-Wegner. Preaching Text: John 8:31-38. We continue our series called “Unafraid” this week. We’ve covered the anatomy of fear and what happens when fear exaggerates the threats we face. Today we start to look at what we can do to counter the fears that knock us off balance. It starts with trusting that Jesus holds truth to mov...

Sermon Title: Staring Down the Giants. Preacher: Deacon Stephanie Anderson. Preaching Text: Numbers 13:1-3, 17-33. Fear is one of the most powerful emotions we experience. It can protect us, but it can also hold us back from living the abundant life God intends. This Sunday, we continue our sermon series called Unafraid, exploring what it means to face our fears and trust in God’s promises. We’ll...

Sermon Title: The Anatomy of Fear. Preacher: Pastor Jason Bryan-Wegner. Preaching Text: Isaiah 43:1-7. We are beginning a new sermon series this week called “Unafraid”. Fear is a complex emotion. Sometimes it saves us. More often it robs us of the life we want. Over and over again Scripture God tells us, “Do not be afraid.” As challenging as that is at times, we have good reason to not to fear. Go...

Sermon Title: If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat. Preacher: Pastor Jason Bryan-Wegner. Preaching Text: Matthew 14:22-33. We wrap up our Wade in the Water series today with one more biblical story around the lake.

Sermon Title: Let's Take the Detour. Preacher: Deaconess Claire Schoepp. Preaching Text: Acts 16:9-15. This lesson reads a bit like a travel itinerary. Travel itineraries can feel dry, but this one is not. Like all the stories in this sermon series, water plays a central role in the story. When the motif of water appears in the Bible, it is there to help us remember to pay attention -- Holy Spirit...

Sermon Title: When the Waters Overwhelm. Preacher: Pastor Jason Bryan-Wegner. Preaching Text: Jonah 1:11-2:10. Throughout this worship series, we are wading into the waters of deeper faith. It is a reminder of the ways God calls us through baptism into a life with Christ. These Bible stories were also the basis for this year’s Vacation Bible School that happened earlier this summer. Sharing these...

Guest Preacher: Pastor Kathryn Tiede, Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota. Preaching Text: Genesis 7 -8. This summer we're wading into stories of water in Scripture. Today, we step into the story of Noah; not just the animals two-by-two, but the deeper waters of destruction and deliverance, memory and mercy. As the rains fall, God remembers. As the earth is wiped clean, God makes a promise. It's...