Beneath the Steeple with Pastor Hans Becklin

On America's 250th birthday, Pastor Hans preaches on a nation that wrote the truest sentence about human dignity — "endowed by their Creator" — and has been struggling to live up to it ever since. Drawing from Jesus's invitation in Matthew 11, he names the exhaustion underneath our cultural moment for what it is: the crushing weight of self-justification. And he points to the onl...

"Putting on Christ is not just a costume. It is a whole identity." Matthew 10:40-42 Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous, and whoever gives...

"In Christ, there is no such thing as a little gesture. Even a cup can carry the kingdom." Gospel: Matthew 10:24-39 "A disciple is not above the teacher nor a slave above the master; it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household! "So...

God does not wait at the summit for us to climb up. No, God descends. That is the whole shape of grace made perfect in Jesus Christ. Exodus 19:2-8a [The Israelites] journeyed from Rephidim, entered the wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness; Israel camped there in front of the mountain. Then Moses went up to God; the Lord called to him from the mountain, “Thus you shall say to the house...

"It is the voice that speaks every time we decide we are the ones who get to curate the guest list rather than admit that all of us were let into the banquet by mercy and grace alone." Matthew 9:9-13 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax-collection station, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. And as he sat at dinner in the...

It is the people of God taking care of the place where God has met them, so that God may meet the next generation here also. Genesis 1:1-2:4a When God began to create the heavens and the earth, the earth was complete chaos, and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that t...

We have something the radicalization pipeline cannot match. The actual presence of God in the assembly. The actual hand of the pastor laid on a young head, calling down the Spirit. Acts 2:1-21 When the day of Pentecost had come, [the apostles] were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were...

The sentiment of ‘thoughts and prayers’ is often dismissed as trite and unmeaningful. Political platitudes. We may wonder: how much do thoughts and prayers really help? The fact that Jesus chose to PRAY - with and in front of his closest friends on the very last night of his life reminds us of the power of prayer centered in the Love of God and aligning our hearts with God and with each other. Joh...

"The choirs will sing on our behalf and with us. The organ will lift all of our voices on its great breath." Psalm 66:8-20 Bless our God, you peoples; let the sound of praise be heard. Our God has kept us among the living and has not allowed our feet to slip. For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us just as silver is tried. You brought us into the net; you laid heavy burdens upo...

"The fact that you are here is evidence that mercy is already at work in you." 1 Peter 2:1-10 Second Reading Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones let yourselves...

Jesus says "Whoever by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture" John 10:1-10 “Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by nam...

You will hold out your hands, and you will be given the bread that has been taken, blessed, and broken. And your eyes will be opened too. Luke 24:13-35 Now on that same day two [disciples] were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and...

Without the resurrection, Jesus is just another mere moralizer. But with it, believers confess that God, in the crucified and risen Christ, has defeated death and reconciled the cosmos to himself. John 20:19-31 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors were locked where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be wit...

The world uses many messengers to spread fear and division, but God sends messengers like angels, and fear stricken women to spread a message of new life. Matthew 28:1-10 After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled bac...

What Jesus did for Lazarus, he will do finally and fully on Easter, and has already done-for us-on the other side of the cross. John 11:17-44 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was comi...

The world does not need more people who are well-informed about what is wrong. It needs more people who are willing to be anointed for what is right. 1 Samuel 16:1-13 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king amon...

Water always flows to the lowest place – finding the place where you are at your lowest and need the most healing – the living water of Jesus is there. John 4:5-30; 39-42 [ Jesus] came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan...

What does it mean for us to be the people of God? We can spend a lifetime discovering the answers, and a helper in that struggle is the simple prayer the Jesus taught us. Matthew 4:1-11 Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, comm...

There is no shortcut to resurrection, no bypassing the Crosses of this world to find glory without pain. We don't walk that path alone; Jesus walks it with us. Matthew 17:1-9 Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became bright...

Join your light with others around you and imagine the illumination that is possible. We can let our lights shine. We are not powerless, because with the help of God, we are empowered to speak up against blatant racism and hate and confront our own biases. Matthew 5:13-20 [ Jesus said:] “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no long...

The true artisan of peace isn't engaged in some rechristened act of military might. Instead, an artisan of peace follows in the footsteps of Jesus, the Prince of Peace. Matthew 5:1-12 When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he began to speak and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of h...

If Peter, an uneducated, ordinary young man, can proclaim the good news, imagine what the Holy Spirit might do through you. Matthew 16:13-19 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist but others Elijah and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “Bu...

Our baptism is rooted in divine identity-in the life of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Just as Jesus' divine identity never changes, so too our baptismal identity is firm and unchanging. Matthew 3:13-17 Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answ...

Joseph and Mary weren't just united in love for one another, they both has experienced God's love through Jesus in a special way. Mary said confidently "let it be with me according to your word." Joseph said "shame no longer has power over me." Matthew 1:18-25 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but...

This appearing among ordinary people as a ordinary person was the most extraordinary thing that Jesus did. Matthew 11:2-11 When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, tho...