Grace Abounds

“The Parable of the Talents” (Matt 25:14), is often seen as a dire warning about the afterlife, or a tacit approval of accumulating worldly wealth. But what if it’s neither? Perhaps this parable is Jesus encouraging us to use the “talents” we have to share his good news and do his good work, right here, right now - because sharing the gospel of Christ is worth the investment of our entire lives. *...

*** Join us In-Person or Online for Worship Sundays at 9:30am and 11am. Find out more about upcoming events and ways to serve our community by joining our mailing list. Email office@stjohnslutheran.church and request to be added! If you are in need of prayer or pastoral care, email Pastor Jen at pastor@stjohnslutheran.church. We continue to be deeply grateful for the ongoing generosity of our St....

On All Saints Sunday, we remember the saints in our lives - and remember we too are saints. “Saint” in Scripture is not used to single out extraordinary individuals or exclusively for the faithful departed; “saint” describes each and every follower of Jesus Christ. Sainthood is our present reality and our future hope, the now and the not yet of our faith. As St. John writes, we are God’s children...

*** Join us In-Person or Online for Worship Sundays at 9:30am and 11am. Find out more about upcoming events and ways to serve our community by joining our mailing list. Email office@stjohnslutheran.church and request to be added! If you are in need of prayer or pastoral care, email Pastor Jen at pastor@stjohnslutheran.church. We continue to be deeply grateful for the ongoing generosity of our St....

Who is God? Who is your God? What do you do with the things God has given you? These questions are at the heart of the encounter between Jesus and the religious authorities, who ask him about paying taxes to the Roman Empire (Matt 22:15-22). Jesus reminds them, and us, that everything belongs to the God who made and loves the entire creation. This includes us, made in the image of God (Gen 1:26-27...

“We Need Peace” - words in graffiti I saw as I walked the Via Dolorosa, the “Way of Suffering,” taken by Jesus as he carried his cross through Jerusalem. Jesus lived, suffered and died, and rose again to life to bring us peace. Peace in the assurance the Lord is with us, even in the valleys (Psalm 23). Peace knowing the Lord will one day heal us and the whole creation (Isaiah 25:1-9). Peace that g...

*** Join us In-Person or Online for Worship Sundays at 9:30am and 11am. Find out more about upcoming events and ways to serve our community by joining our mailing list. Email office@stjohnslutheran.church and request to be added! If you are in need of prayer or pastoral care, email Pastor Jen at pastor@stjohnslutheran.church. We continue to be deeply grateful for the ongoing generosity of our St....

In his “Parable of the Two Sons” (Matt 21:28-32), Jesus calls on his listeners to change their minds about him and themselves, and join in his life-giving work. Change is hard, and change is necessary if we are to grow in Christ, to follow the Holy Spirit in more godly, more loving, more healthy directions, to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:1-2). Are you willing to change i...

Jesus tells the parable of the landowner who pays his laborers one denarius each no matter the amount of work that did that day. Ending the story with the familiar adage, “the last will be first, and the first will be last”. A message of radical generosity for all the created. This is also reflected in old testament reading from Jonah, where Jonah is displeased that God shows the Ninavite’s mercy....

Jesus, Paul, Joseph, and saints throughout Scripture call us to forgive each other as the Lord forgives us (Matt 18:21-22, Col 3:13, Genesis 50:15-21). Forgiveness is not ignoring harmful behavior or allowing it to continue; forgiveness is acknowledging harmful behavior and allowing the person we forgive to change. Forgiveness to letting go of our own anger and resentment. Forgiveness opens possib...

*** Join us In-Person or Online for Worship Sundays at 9:30am and 11am. Find out more about upcoming events and ways to serve our community by joining our mailing list. Email office@stjohnslutheran.church and request to be added! If you are in need of prayer or pastoral care, email Pastor Jen at pastor@stjohnslutheran.church. We continue to be deeply grateful for the ongoing generosity of our St....

In “The Two Towers,” Sam encourages his friend Frodo with these words, “there’s some good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for.” The Apostle Paul gives us this same encouragement with his words, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Rom 12:9-21). Paul’s advice for how we do so in a complicated word still resonates today. *** Join us In-Person or Online for Worship Sunda...

Is the Apostle Peter the “rock” upon whom the church is built? What does it mean to stand on the firm foundation of Jesus Christ? Where do you fit in the living structure made of living stones that is the household of God? *** Join us In-Person or Online for Worship Sundays at 9:30am and 11am. Find out more about upcoming events and ways to serve our community by joining our mailing list. Email of...

The place where the people of God gather - the church - is to be a place where anyone and everyone can come and pray, feel their connection with God and each other, hear the good news that salvation is in the Lord (Isaiah 56:6-8). In this sermon, I share my travels through churches in Europe, and the examples I found of where this has, and hasn’t, always happened. *** Join us In-Person or Online f...

This week's sermon is brought to us by Guest Pastor Glen Egertson. *** Join us In-Person or Online for Worship Sundays at 9:30am and 11am. Find out more about upcoming events and ways to serve our community by joining our mailing list. Email office@stjohnslutheran.church and request to be added! If you are in need of prayer or pastoral care, email Pastor Jen at pastor@stjohnslutheran.church. W...

This week's sermon is brought to us by Guest Pastor Glen Egertson. *** Join us In-Person or Online for Worship Sundays at 9:30am and 11am. Find out more about upcoming events and ways to serve our community by joining our mailing list. Email office@stjohnslutheran.church and request to be added! If you are in need of prayer or pastoral care, email Pastor Jen at pastor@stjohnslutheran.church. W...

In the Parable of the Weeds and Wheat (Matt 13:24-30), Jesus teaches the same lesson he offers earlier in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 7:1-5) - “do not judge.” Like the field hands in the parable who are told not to pull the weeds from among the wheat, it’s not our place to decide who’s in and who’s out of the kingdom of God. Our place is to follow Jesus, the Sower, the King, the Savior, and invi...

In Jesus’ Parable of the Sower (Matt 13:1-9, 18-23), the sower sows seeds not only on the good soil, but also on the path, and on the rocky ground, and among the weeds. If the sower in the parable, who recklessly scatters seeds all over the place, represents God (as Jesus later indicates to his disciples), then perhaps this expresses a God who recklessly showers his love and grace and goodness on...

Life can be exhausting. Sometimes just getting through the day can make you weary. The burdens you carry, whatever they may be, can weigh you down. Jesus knows this, and so he offers the invitation to everyone who is tired, weary, burdened, ‘Come to me, learn from me, walk with me, and find rest for your souls’ (Matthew 11:28-20). *** Join us In-Person or Online for Worship Sundays at 9:30am and 1...

*** Join us In-Person or Online for Worship Sundays at 9:30am and 11am. Find out more about upcoming events and ways to serve our community by joining our mailing list. Email office@stjohnslutheran.church and request to be added! If you are in need of prayer or pastoral care, email Pastor Jen at pastor@stjohnslutheran.church. We continue to be deeply grateful for the ongoing generosity of our St....

If you have asked yourself this question, you are not alone. Jeremiah lamented when his faithfulness didn’t seem to make any difference (Jeremiah 20). The disciples of Jesus faced persecution for proclaiming the good news (Matthew 10). After the Apostle Paul writes that we are saved by grace, not our good works, he knows the question, ‘why be good’ will follow (Romans 6). So, why be good?... *** J...

God loves us so much that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:1-8). God did not wait for us to get our act together, or prove ourselves worthy, or earn his grace. God came to us in the person of Jesus Christ, who loves us, and has saved us, and will one day make all things well. Our hope is in Christ, and this hope does not disappoint us. *** Join us In-Person or Online for...

This week's sermon is brought to us by Pastor Jim Schoenrock. Sermon written by Brett Blair. *** Join us In-Person or Online for Worship Sundays at 9:30am and 11am. Find out more about upcoming events and ways to serve our community by joining our mailing list. Email office@stjohnslutheran.church and request to be added! If you are in need of prayer or pastoral care, email Pastor Jen at pastor...

Growing up in church, I heard many different ways to explain the Trinity - the Trinity is like an egg, an apple, a three-leaf clover. While helpful, these metaphors can’t fully explain the Trinity, because the Trinity is not an intellectual construct, the Trinity is God. The one true God is an eternal, joyous, generous, wondrous, and mysterious relationship of three Persons - Father, Son, Holy Spi...

The Holy Spirit is the breath of life who sustains all human beings and the whole creation (Genesis 2:5). The Holy Spirit is the refining fire who illuminates our lives (John 14:25-27). The Holy Spirit is the mighty wind who empowered the disciples on Pentecost Sunday to proclaim the good news of life in Christ (Acts 2:1-21). May we also be open to the powerful, refining, life-giving presence of t...