The Lutheran Podcast

This is Part 1 of a two-part sermon, handily identifiable by the label, “Part 2”. (Here’s a link to Part 2:  https://www.buzzsprout.com/132881/2958346 ) Nicodemus went to see Jesus at night. Part of what he was looking for was whether this was a crazy guy who just drove people out of the temple due to his own delusions of grandeur, or whether this was the principled action of someone sent by God t...

This is Part 2 of a two-part sermon. While you can listen to either one and have a “whole” sermon, part 1 is handily titled “Nick at Night (Part 1 of 2)”.  (Here’s a link to Part 1: https://www.buzzsprout.com/132881/2958247) Nicodemus came to Jesus by night, and he had some hard questions for Jesus.  His most significant struggle was how to deal with Jesus’ statement that he needs to be born again...

Yeah, I said it: Temptation is tempting. What? It is; otherwise it would be called “the thing that I saw but didn’t feel compelled to take even a second look”; and part of what makes the temptation of Jesus an event worth mentioning is that in order for it to be called “the temptation of Jesus”, temptation has to be something that’s tempting for him, too. Yes, the fact that the Divine and Human na...

Today’s teaching is challenging for those of us who are human beings because it cuts to the heart of the most damaging and lasting effects of Sin and how it affects every aspect of our lives. This is a text where Jesus speaks clearly about divorce, but it’s spoken in the cultural context of his time and place. Jesus speaks clearly about anger and swearing, and when we dig in deeper, we see that th...

Late post...this is from February 9...oops. :) When we hear that Jesus didn’t come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it, it can fill us with some rightful dread because usually when someone talks about God’s laws, it isn’t because they plan to regale us with tales of God’s love for creation. Jesus says in the Gospel that he didn’t come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. What IS the law that J...

Late post...this is from February 9...oops. :) When we hear that Jesus didn’t come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it, it can fill us with some rightful dread because usually when someone talks about God’s laws, it isn’t because they plan to regale us with tales of God’s love for creation. Jesus says in the Gospel that he didn’t come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. What IS the law that J...

We’re a results-oriented society, and it’s often challenging to think about doing things that we can’t see to completion.  This week we celebrated The Presentation of Our Lord, a minor feast day that commemorates the presentation of Jesus to the Temple, and Simeon and Anna were there to see him. Simeon was promised that he wouldn’t die until he saw the Messiah. Anna was a widow who had served the...

This is from the 1030 service, and apparently my microphone failed. Thus, enjoy the unplugged version, featuring occasional pocket scratches and strange noises that I choose to interpret as the rustling of the Spirit... :)  When we choose anything, we also choose against other options. One of the most challenging parts of discipleship isn’t choosing those things that we like over and above the thi...

When we choose anything, we also choose against other options. One of the most challenging parts of discipleship isn’t choosing those things that we like over and above the things we don’t like, but making the choices that force us to choose against things we want — sometimes things we’ve wanted our whole lives.  The disciples chose to follow Jesus, and in doing so they left behind their careers,...

This Sunday of Christmas we commemorate the slaughter of the innocents, the dreams that lead the Holy Family to flee to Egypt, and wrestle with the ways human nature hasn’t changed as much as we’d like...and maybe neither had our situation.  Support the show

We try so hard to make everything live up to the hype, but life sometimes disappoints; people disappoint; life just doesn’t seem to live up to what’s advertised. At Christmas we look to the promise of Messiah and wonder — can God’s promises made over generations and millennia live up to the hype? When we meet God, it never goes like we expect. The good news is that God’s faithfulness always lives...

We try so hard to make everything live up to the hype, but life sometimes disappoints; people disappoint; life just doesn’t seem to live up to what’s advertised. At Christmas we look to the promise of Messiah and wonder — can God’s promises made over generations and millennia live up to the hype? When we meet God, it never goes like we expect. The good news is that God’s faithfulness always lives...

So often we think of family as being the people we’re born with. In God’s family, and throughout the whole of Scripture, we see something different: we are the family of God though adoption, and the miracle of Christmas is the final adoption of creation by God as Jesus adopts human flesh to become one of us.  The Fourth Sunday of Advent offers a more subtle Christmas miracle though, that through J...

Jesus hears from John the Baptist a question: “are you the one, or are we supposed to keep waiting for someone else?”. Jesus answers by pointing to healings, signs, and miracles — and then takes a direct shot at the powers of the world with a message that the Kingdom of God is not some reed easily shaken, but robust and blooming even in the least hospitable places. How do we respond to the Messiah...

John the Baptist was more than some strange desert guy who preached about fire and repentance to a few people, he was more than some strange desert guy who preached about fire and repentance to huge crowds from across the countryside.  How does this message of repentance from so long ago relate to us today in a day when what we want is almost singularly important?  How do we hear this message of f...

We find ourselves conflicted about a lot of articles of faith, not the least of which is the resurrection of the body.  In a world that’s so contentious, knowing that our humanity permeates even the Church where we think we’re supposed to be somehow “better” than we are everywhere else (prepare to be disappointed), somehow conflict remains a reality of our lives.  How can we trust in the promises...

Preached for the funeral of Mike Taylor at Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer, Foxboro on Saturday November 9, 2019. Support the show

There is so much we want to know but can’t ever be certain about, and one of the most prevalent issues we face is the understanding of the Christian belief in the resurrection of the body.  What’s that mean? What age body, what health of the body, what’s healed and what remains?  Sometimes we get no answers, but trusting in the fact that God is faithful leads us into the ability to be certain with...

Loss changes us, grief changes us, and the way we feel compelled to keep our humanity secret changes us in ways that eat away at our hearts. How can we live in the joy and sorrow that exist together and speak the truth that our world needs to hear?  We are not alone. God is with us and has given us to each other in community so that whether we’re laughing or crying, we never do it alone. Support t...

When we hear that someone is a saint, we get all sorts of different images. When we find ourselves on the wrong side of love it often makes us feel like that kind of holiness is out of our reach. While it goes against our every impulse, we know that one thing remains true about Jesus and his enemies: he loves them, and this love changes everything. How can this love change you? Support the show

We live in a culture that has its own measure of time and meaning that takes place away from the Church. How do we reform our understanding and thinking in a way that helps us engage a culture that doesn’t seem to be made for all of us to tell them that God is creating a world that is made for us — all of us — even if we don’t know how to see it? Support the show

What do a widow fighting with an unjust judge, Jacob using his family as protection against a brother who might still want to murder him, and Dunkin Donuts all have in common?  This Sunday I could spend weeks unpacking the texts from the Bible, but I stopped at Dunks for a sandwich and met Jesus out front, and it changed everything I had planned.  We meet Jesus in the strangest places, but we alwa...

What do a widow fighting with an unjust judge, Jacob using his family as protection against a brother who might still want to murder him, and Dunkin Donuts all have in common?  This Sunday I could spend weeks unpacking the texts from the Bible, but I stopped at Dunks for a sandwich and met Jesus out front, and it changed everything I had planned.  We meet Jesus in the strangest places, but we alwa...

We make a lot of assumptions about ourselves and the people around us. For instance, we assume that just because we grew up in a place we understand it better than just about anyone else. Sometimes familiarity doesn’t make us the experts we think it does, but it takes someone from the outside to help us gain a more true perspective on things. Today, we learn from the Samaritan who returned to give...

Sometimes the choices we make dictate the kind of response we get. Through the sayings of Jesus we learn many things, and today we learn that even when all we have is a little, God can make it enough. Support the show