SERMONS
Sermon 4/4/21: "How will this thing end?" Pr. Craig Mueller
With the eyes of Easter faith, endings are beginnings. How will this thing end? The ending to our story is still to be written. And if nothing else, we trust that the risen Christ goes before us. And will be with us, to the end.
Sermon 4/2/21: "What just happened?" Pr. Craig Mueller
When we look back on the most painful, difficult or sorrowful time in our lives, there are often no words. What happened, we ask ourselves. We would have never chosen that suffering, but deep in our very being, we know that God was there. In our flesh. In our bodies. In our anguish, loss and tears.
Sermon 4/1/21: "Extravagant Love" Pr. Michelle Sevig
This is a new commandment, that you shower others with love in the same way that I love you, without boundaries, without expectation for reward or gratitude, even sometimes without receiving love in return. Just love others in delightful, surprising, playful, extravagant ways as I have loved you.
Sermon 3/21/21: "A Dirty Sermon" Pr. Craig Mueller
Reverence this earth. Look down at the dirt. Honor the soil. Let’s call a spiritual moratorium on stigmatizing dirt! But also look up this day to Jesus lifted high on the cross. A sure sign of spring and the world becoming new. Hear Jesus’ words to you this day: “And I, when I am lifted up, will draw all people to myself.”
Sermon 3/14/21: "I'm So Glad" Pr. Kelly Faulstich (Resurrection Lutheran Church)
God’s strength and presence with and love for of all creation, for the cosmos, the world, this community, our congregation, also includes us, you, child of God. God’s strength and presence with and love is for you too, right now wherever you are or however you are. Whining about the wilderness or giving thanks for what’s in your world today, Asking questions late at night or confident on this Sunday morning, Really living into Lent or feeling a little Easter joy creeping in, Hopeful or fearful or angry or glad, You are part of this world we hear about in the gospel that God so loved and that God so loves.
Sermon 3/7/21: "Crowded Table" Pr. Ben Adams
Jesus turned the tables in the first place because they were set in such a way that actively discriminated against the poor and ritually unclean to the extent that there was no place for them at the table, and Jesus cannot abide so he overturns the table to communicate that the Lord’s table has a place intentionally prepared for each and every one of us. It was set with you and me in mind. In response we are not only called to be table flippers, but table setters as well, inviting all to God’s table of mercy.
Sermon 2/28/21: "Standing in the Center of the World's Pain" (Pr. Michelle Sevig)
We are called to take up the cross and expect that God is fully present in the suffering and brokenness of the world. We are called to take up the cross and be honest about our brokenness and demonstrate our willingness to enter into the brokenness of others. We are called to take up the cross because we follow the One who not only took up his cross, but also revealed that nothing in this world, not even the hate and darkness and death can defeat the love and light and life of God.
Sermon 2/27/21: "The God of Improbable Outcomes" (Pr. Ben Adams)
We can easily talk ourselves out of improbable divine things with some probable human things we would rather put our trust in. But, as we will soon see come Easter, death, evil, hatred, and darkness have already lost and we need not give them any more power because victory is ours, victory is ours through God who loves us.
Sermon 2/21/21: "Not the Journey We Expected) Pr. Craig Mueller
Even in the wilderness, even in the pandemic when we are stuck at home and in the city, even what feels like an endless winter, God shows up. Angels minister to us and then we become messengers of mercy of others. It’s not exactly the trip you probably want right about now, but may God bless your Lenten journey. With the beasts. Where the wilds things are. The presence of Christ always with you.
Ash Wednesday Sermon 2/17/21: "Pay Attention Where You Pay Attention" (Pr. Craig Mueller)
Pay attention to where you pay attention. We can’t escape the attention economy. But we can look at the ways our attention is manipulated, valued, degraded. The inward-looking season of Lent invites us to take a look at how our minds work, how we value our time and the time of others. How we use our limited resources for the common good.
Sermon 2/14/21: "Delight!" (Pr. Michelle Sevig)
The Holy One delights in you. She wraps her arms around you and scoops you into her warm embrace when you are hurting. He sees you when you make mistakes, or bad decisions, and instead of piercing you with a parental stare down, looks at you lovingly with tears in his eye. They give their very life to you in sacrificial love, because you are adored and delighted in by the same God who delights in Jesus.
Sermon 2/7/21: "The Healing Power of Showing Up" (Pr. Ben Adams)
Jesus’s healing in our Gospel could not be contained, and God’s healing will be experienced by all people, and on that day, not one will be missing for as our Psalmist proclaims, “The Lord heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” Even for those who were not healed in this age, God promises resurrection in the age to come. God’s resurrection will bring us into this new day and age, but while we are still in this age, God’s hope and healing will show us the way to show up for one another and ourselves.
Sermon 1/31/21: Nothing to do with us? (Pr. Craig Mueller)
What do you have to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth.? Everything! At the cross—in suffering—God is revealed! When the demons of injustice try to silence the good news, Jesus comes. When the demons of fear take possession of us, Jesus heals. When the demons of apathy and anger and aggression seize us, Jesus brings peace and reconciliation. When we convulse and resist the new thing that will set us free, Jesus speaks with authority, calling you to become more than you ever imagined.
Sermon 1/23/21: Callback to the Future (Pr. Ben Adams)
Even at the grave of the old order, we wait for God with trust who is doing a new thing. And we not only trust God, but God trusts us and invites us through Jesus to follow and fish for people.
Sermon 1/17/21: Unmute Yourself (Pr. Craig Mueller)
Being muted is weird. I get it. It is a bit humbling. But it reminds us of the holy work of listening. It involves paying attention, slowing down, being present, being open. As a Sufi musician states, listening is “making an altar out of our ears.” So listen. Listen to the voices of others. Listen to the sound of silence. Listen to the God who knows us intimately—who invites us to come and see. And to come and the word of the Lord—words of grace, justice, mercy and forgiveness. Come and follow this one who comes to us as one unknown, yet in flesh and blood, is Savior and Lord.
Sermon 1/16/21: Godly Positioning System (Pr. Ben Adams)
In this moment between stimulus and response we can perceive God calling out to us like God did to Samuel and in this powerful moment we too can say, “Speak Lord for your servant is listening!” The road noise and commotion around us might be pretty distracting and we might miss our exit or our turn, but we can still trust that the moral arc of the universe will bend us back towards justice because each of our Godly positioning systems has a route re-calculator that gets to work whenever we get off track.
Sermon 1/10/21: Kick the Devil in the Pants (Pr. Michelle Sevig)
Will you live out your baptismal calling and say no to all that defiles God? Say NO to white supremacy and it’s demonic legacy in our country? Say NO to serving self above all else? Say NO to unjust systems that benefit one group of people at the expense of others? Say NO to abuse of self, others and our planet? Say NO to empty promises and complicity? This day, every day, boldly shout a strong NO to all that destroys and deceives, and turn toward the Holy One’s YES that proclaims, “You are beloved of God.”
Christmas/Epiphany Festival 2021
The liturgy on January 3, 2021 did not include a sermon, rather, it was a telling of the Christmas/Epiphany story by several youth group members with carols and choral music of the season.
Sermon 1/2/21: Welcome Home (Beau Surratt)
The Word is made flesh. All earth rejoices. Heaven and nature sing. God has come to dwell with us, to make us people of God, to make all things new. Will we receive him as he comes to dwell in us, as he comes to make his home in and with us, in all humanity, in all the earth? Will we find room, will we make room for God? Perhaps this is our work of Christmas in this new year of 2021.
Sermon 12/27/20: Embraceable (Pr. Craig Mueller)
Along with joy, life will bring the sword of pain and sorrow. But through whatever is to come, as Simeon blesses God for the birth of the Holy One, God now embraces you with grace and mercy. You are God’s embraceable one. Your very flesh holy, good, and beautiful.