St. Matthew Lutheran Church- Rocklin, California

My brother and I shared a room and slept in bunkbeds growing up. He was four years older than me and we were always close, every night talking in the dark after the lights were out. One night when I was maybe in the third grade, I must have been struggling with some things because in the dark after the lights were out I said something like, “Steve, what if this God-stuff isn’t true?” To which –aft...

When is the last time you’ve been “in a funk?” You know, when it is like you are walking under a shadow? Sometimes we know how we get there and sometimes we are just there and we cannot even figure out how-right? Usually what puts us there is that the stuff or people in life we thought we could depend on no matter what becomes unstable or unsure, like quick sand, though sometimes it is just a shad...

Peace. Say the word out loud. How do you long for it? What fears grip you, getting in the way of peace? We live in such a time of fear….fear of violence, fear of the other political party, fear for our children…or grandchildren, fear that we “won’t have enough.” Fear. And it causes us, at times, to have such violent thoughts and words and actions, doesn’t it?..In what fears do you especially need...

On this day -Easter Sunday- millions of Christians as well as millions of others who are not sure or who are searching and are welcomed in hundreds of thousands of Christian Churches throughout the world will celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Why? Because we don’t have to go to the mailbox anymore.

More and more, when I have the honor of walking with a family during a difficult time, I find myself praying with them out loud asking God, the Holy Spirit, to give them hearts and insight to give each other a little grace as they go through this difficult time together. How about you? When is the last time you needed a little grace? And where do you have an opportunity to give it? Life is hard. S...

It seems that we are put together to want and to need to be a part of others, to be part of a group, something beyond ourselves. We have families and couples and communities and circles of friends and clubs and well, it goes on and on. Even those of us who are extremely independent would find ourselves living in emptiness if we had to live a totally isolated life. Tonight, we are renewed in what b...

Reboot. It’s what the computer does once in a while – right? It’s like a death and resurrection. And it’s not just with computers. My cell phone was acting crazy the other day. I asked my electronically astute son, James, what to do…and he said to turn it off and then on. Death…and resurrection. It’s kind of like when the TV doesn’t work or when the copier in the office goes wacko and when everyth...

Do you remember the story of how Robin Hood and Little John met? They each started across a log bridge from opposite directions at the same time. When neither would back down, they had to fight it out until one “hit the water.” Today, we see Jesus coming face to face with death…and grieving. Guess who “hits the water?” Come and see what this means for us in the lives we live when we come face to f...

Do you remember the film, Braveheart? It focused on a real historical figure that fought and died for freedom for Scotland against the English. In the final scene, he is suffering a horrible execution and, as the cameras pan out away from the awful scene, he cries out, Freedom!!! What “demons” do you have that tend to rob you of freedom? Tonight, we focus on a woman whom Jesus set free!..and how s...

Have you ever noticed how we tend to want to blame “the broken” for their brokenness? When a person dies, especially one who was seemingly healthy and “younger than me,” we want to find a reason, something wrong that they did, perhaps to calm ourselves that it won’t happen to us. When people fall into unfortunate times, we want to blame it on “something they did!” (and conversely what we did not-a...

Have you heard the stories of someone being robbed or shot or beat up or even raped with lots of people around hearing something happening….but no one wanted to get involved? When we hear these things we instinctively recoil at the injustice and heartlessness of those who did nothing. How dare they!.. But when was the last time you chose to do nothing when you could have done something? Where, in...

Have you ever seen the bumper sticker that spells out the word, “coexist” in a way which represents all the major religions of the world? It seems to me the message here is, “one is just as good as another and there is no ‘right’ one, so just get along and we ‘enlightened skeptics’ will put up with you.” Today, we see what happens when Jesus comes face to face with an “enlightened skeptic.” And in...

Each of us pictures ourselves in an idea of who we are...our self-identity….and we try instinctively to live within this self-identity. We try to live as who we conceive ourselves to be. And this is good because most of us would like to think we are super heroes as opposed to super villians. We have expectations of ourselves driven by our self-identity. Who do you think you are? Have you ever disa...

Every teacher, instructor, and professor, at least in my experience, said, “you can ask any question” and also, “there are no dumb questions.” But sometimes, at least in my case, this wasn’t true. How about with you? I even remember one professor who was kind of a bully and who would yell at you to “speak up!” but then would be quick to make you look silly! Today, Jesus comes face to face with “th...

Have you ever wanted to be “anonymous?” Perhaps you hated to get called on in class…and not because you might not know the answer, but just because you wanted to be “no one” – invisible, so to speak, so that nothing and no one would have a claim on you. Or perhaps you just wanted to go in to work, do your job, but not have anyone realize you exist. Nameless. Faceless. Invisible. When did you want...

There is a Bible passage in the Old Testament which goes something like this; “This enemy is too great for us. We don’t know what to do. But our eyes are on You!” Have you ever been faced with an enemy that was just too great for you?....one that would overpower you no matter what you did? ...an enemy whose strength was so beyond yours that no matter what you did, you knew you would be overwhelmed...

Have you ever seen one of those pictures where if you look at it one way you see one thing and if you look at it another way you see something else? Tonight, even as we begin by remembering our brokenness and sin with ashes, we focus on the “picture” completely changing for Barabbas….and also for us… in the midst of our brokenness. What will this mean as we go forward?

“It’s so close, I can taste it!” Have you ever heard this expression? Every football team runs “polish” with their offense the day before a game. There is no one lining up against them. The object is to run each play perfect. For many coaches, this includes practicing the celebration when they score. They want their players to get a foretaste of celebrating the victory so they know what they are p...

In High School, I had a terrible time putting on weight – which was pretty important, since I played football. When I got to college the weight coach told me (rather forcefully, as I remember) that I was training “way to much” and he cut down what I did and how I did it drastically….and presto-chango, I put on weight and got much faster and stronger. It matters how one trains. In this “game of lif...

When I was 10 years old I wanted to play on a little league football team. The only problem was that I weighed 8 lbs. too much for my age group and they would not allow me to “play up” in the next age group. What did I do? Since I had a paper route and therefore my own money, I bought these Sego diet drinks and ate nothing but those drinks for lunch (my parents didn’t know) and very little for bre...

One of the things that gets drilled into you by a running instructor –whether it’s sprints or long distance – is to get your eyes up and focus on where you are going. This keeps your energy pointed in the right direction as well as your body pointed in the right direction, not veering to the right or the left. What are your eyes on? And how’s it working for you? In your “game of life,” are you goi...

Some of my earliest memories is of working together with my dad and brother to accomplish a task…painting a fence, doing yard work, putting on a new roof, tearing down a wall, etc… It was a blast….not because of the task but because of who we did the task for and with! What, finally, gives something purpose and meaning? The task or the one we do it for and with? God would fill our lives with purpo...

Fifty percent of Americans have no one to talk to. We live in an epidemic of disconnectedness! We can move in and out of large crowds and yet be alone. (Did you go Christmas shopping this year?) Even when we are together with people or with an individual, we can maintain our isolation as electronic connectedness takes precedent over flesh and blood connectedness. But we know there is something mis...

Have you ever noticed how we are all interconnected? Whether we like or not, it is as if someone put life together in a way that made us interdependent on one another…so that life, by necessity is made up of community. In a real sense, from a Christian perspective, we “love our neighbor” when we do our work (our vocations) honestly, before God, to the best of our ability and for the good of those...

You can always tell. You can always tell when you are being welcomed as family…and when you’re not. Growing up and even into High School and college, my dad was great at honestly, from the heart, welcoming any of my friends as family. What was amazing is that they knew it…so much so that when I moved away they kept stopping by my parent’s house, especially at Christmas, to see my dad!... who had b...