Solid Food - Ascension Sermon Podcast

Grace and peace to you my sisters and brothers in Christ, You Are God's Beloved. At Jesus' baptism, a voice from heaven speaks words that shape everything that follows:  "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." This Sunday, as we celebrate the Epiphany season, we'll explore why these words are spoken at life's hardest moments—and how they echo into our own lives. Drawing on ancient J...

Dear Church Family,   This first weekend of 2026, we are saying goodbye to Christmas and hello to the season of Epiphany. We will be pondering the God who chooses to dwell amongst us. Epiphany is a season to notice, name, and nurture the light of Christ—in our lives, in our world, and in one another. It is a season of revelation — of light breaking in, of God showing up in places familiar and unex...

Christmas is a glorious time filled with joy and wonder, as we celebrate the fulfillment of God's promise to send a Savior. In Benjamin Britten's wonderful  A Ceremony of Carols,  he sets to music these words from the sixteenth century English priest and poet Robert Southwell: This little Babe, so few days old, is come to rifle Satan's fold; All hell doth at his presence quake, though he himself f...

Christmas Eve Nighttime Service

God is the master of meeting us in the messy and the chaos and the brokenness and helping us find an incredible new plan forward.

Grace and Peace to you, sisters and brothers in Christ. At all of our worship services this weekend, we will talk about another member of Jesus' family tree: Joseph. Joseph rarely gets the spotlight in the Christmas story. He speaks no words, sings no songs, and yet his quiet integrity changes everything. This Fourth Sunday of Advent, we reflect on Joseph's dream and the faith it takes to trust Go...

Grace and peace to you my sisters and brothers in Christ,     This week we meet Mary, one of the most remarkable members of the family tree of Jesus that we have been exploring. God calls her into a future she never expected, and when God does, Mary should have been afraid—yet she responds with courage, trust, and a simple, world-changing  yes.  In her amazing story we discover that it isn't fearl...

Grace and peace to you my sisters and brothers in Christ, As we light the second candle of advent this weekend, we'll spend some time with one of Scripture's most honest families—Zechariah, Elizabeth, and their miracle child, John the Baptist. Their story is filled with silence, doubt, waiting, and even a bit of wilderness, yet it becomes the soil where God grows His most important promise. This w...

Dear Church Family, I give great thanks for this amazing community of faith and that I get to serve as one of your pastors. My heart truly overflows with gratitude. This Thanksgiving Weekend as your stomachs might still be full of turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing (my favorite "trinity" of the Thanksgiving feast), I look forward to stepping into the Advent season together and setting our heart...

Grace and peace to you my sisters and brothers in Christ, As we end the Christian year this weekend and we begin another, we remember Christ the King. The King—not on a throne, but on a cross. We worship and remember that Jesus reveals a kingship that is not defined by earthly power but by sacrificial love. Even as He suffers, He opens paradise to a repentant criminal. This is our King: The One wh...

Grace and peace to you my sisters and brothers in Christ, We choose to hold tight to God's promise so that we can live a faithful life. In this spirit, it is said that someone once asked Martin Luther what he would do if he knew that the world was going to end. He said: "Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree today." This quote is about living...

Greetings! It's been a hard season in many ways. Last weekend in worship, we remembered All Saints' Day and loved ones who have died. Long-time faithful and beloved church member, Brenda Heinrich, died unexpectedly. For so long, she carried people in their deepest sorrows as she led our weekly Grief Share. We know many people in our One Ascension community are struggling with health, relationship,...

Grace and peace to you my sisters and brothers in Christ, All Saints Day is one of those celebrations that reminds us who we are — and whose we are. For Lutherans, it isn't just a day to remember those with halos in stained glass windows. It's a day to remember all the saints — the everyday, ordinary believers, past and present, who have lived and died in faith. Martin Luther once said that every...

Grace and peace, sisters and brothers in Christ, What is truth? How do we know it—and how does it shape our lives? This weekend, we'll explore Jesus' words:  "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." Pastor Tim will share the story of Martin Luther and the truth that changed his life—and the course of the church forever. Pastor Chamie will reflect on how we can come to know that...

Grace and peace, my sisters and brothers in Christ, What keeps you going when life gets tough? When the answers don't come easily, when God seems silent, when the struggle stretches on — what helps you stay in the fight? This weekend's message, "Choose Perseverance," invites us to find holy grit in the stories of Jacob wrestling with God and a persistent widow who just won't give up. Together, we'...

Grace and peace, my sisters and brothers in Christ, How is your gratitude level these days? Are you fully in "attitude of gratitude" mode? Or did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning and get up and look at the grass on the other side of the street and notice that it is greener than yours? Did you know that gratitude is a spiritual condition connected to faith? You probably figured...

Grace and peace, my sisters and brothers in Christ, We often choose what works in the moment instead of thinking of the long haul. The apostle Paul noted how Timothy's mother and grandmother passed on a faith that would last. This week marks my one year anniversary as your associate pastor. The number one feeling I have this week is overwhelming gratitude for the beauty of being in community for t...

Grace and peace, my sisters and brothers in Christ,   This week we are exploring another parable of Jesus.  I would love to have you read it a few times before you come to church.  You can find the story in Luke 16: 19-31. It is the story commonly known as "The Rich Man and Lazarus."  This is not the Lazarus whom Jesus raises from the dead but rather the name of a man in this story that Jesus tell...

Grace and peace, my sisters and brothers in Christ,   There is a lot going on these days. Our world is a bit of a mess. In fact, you could even say that things are tough. And you know the old saying: tough times call for tough people. But what if there is a better version than this one? Don't get me wrong, I think it's good to be tough. I think our faith even makes us tough and resilient. But what...

Grace and peace, my sisters and brothers in Christ,   My heart is hurting. Yesterday there was a school shooting in Denver and then there was in Utah, the assassination of the young husband and father Charlie Kirk. Today is the day we remember the violence of 9/11. These things added to a series of shootings and violent events: Minnesota lawmakers were murdered in their home in front of their chil...

Grace and peace, sisters and brothers in Christ, "Choose life," is what Moses says to God's people in Deuteronomy 30:19. Should be simple, right? "Choose life." Yet I realize how often I choose to scroll on a screen instead of pick up a good book. Or I choose to stay put on the couch instead of walk the dog around the park. Or I choose to ruminate over a concern instead of pray and let it go. This...

Grace and peace, my sisters and brothers in Christ,   This weekend we end our summer series "Walk This Way." We have spent the summer exploring what it looks like, in a practical sense, to be a Christian. On this last weekend, we will explore how Christians are people who stand in awe and reverence and care for the world God created. I think you might find delight and surprise in some of the natur...

Grace and peace, my sisters and brothers in Christ,   According to statistics, anxiety is an epidemic in our culture. So, if anxiety is something that you or someone you love deals with, you have a weapon against it. It is prayer. Did you know that prayer is meant to lead you to peace? This is why Paul wrote these wonderful lines in his letter to the churches in Philippi: "Do not be anxious about...

Grace and peace to you, sisters and brothers in Christ, Christians are called and privileged to worship our Triune God. Worship is the single most important thing that Christians/churches do. What is the essence of worship and why is it so important? How does worship serve to connect the dots of all aspects of our Christian lives and keep us centered in Jesus? Why is worship essential for our spir...

Grace and peace to you, sisters and brothers in Christ,   Most people think "either/or."  Jesus did not. Take for example the concepts of stability and adaptability. Most people think it's one or the other.  Either it's all about stability ("if it ain't broke- don't fix it") or it is about adaptability ("the only thing that is constant is change") but it can't be about both. But why can't it?  Jes...