SERMONS
Sermon 5/30/21 "Learning to Walk in the Dark" Pr. Ben Adams
The Holy Trinity is mysterious, and this place Holy Trinity will always be synonymous with mystery to me. And It’s precisely because of this openness to the mystery that we can be bold to learn about and dismantle racism together even when it implicates us, we can be bold to provide our confirmation students and our Life Together catechumens an opportunity to ask questions without trying to appease them with easy answers or cliches, we can be bold co-creators with God as we labor together and birth the kingdom of God here on earth as it is in heaven, and near or far we can be bold to risk another step together putting one foot in front of the other as we vulnerably, but bravely learn to walk in the dark.
Sermon 5/23/21: "Language of the Spirit" Pr. Craig Mueller
The language of the Spirit is beyond words. Beyond belief. Beyond the boxes we religious people put God in. Or other people in. I believe the Holy Spirit is always blowing our minds, enlarging our vision, and calling us to be more than we thought we could ever be. Christ is risen, and with us forever in the Spirit. So let’s learn the language of the Spirit. Don’t just talk. Listen. Groan. Moan. Sigh. Sing. Act. And let’s dream a new world together.
Sermon 5/16/21: Up, up, and away...(Pr. Michelle Sevig)
The angels asked, “...why do you stand here looking into the sky?” The mission-field Jesus calls us to is down here, in front of us, to our right and to our left. We are not abandoned, but given an opportunity to love fiercely and boldly in Jesus’ name. The Holy Spirit is with us now and empowers us to receive the fullness of God’s love and to share that love and peace with others. May go out this day to boldly serve in Jesus’ name right here in our neighborhood and to the ends of the earth.
Sermon 5/9/21: Doing Power Differently (Pr. Ben Adams)
Dear people Jesus is sharing power with us. No longer are we in a master/servant relationship where Jesus has power over us, but he has shared his power with us as friends. That is how Jesus loves us, by sharing his own power with us so that we can then love others as Jesus has loved us by sharing our own power with others. This sharing of power is a demonstration of love that gives us the ability to act together as one and to conquer the world wherever worldly power has distorted our relationships through racism, queerphobia, classism, or any other ism.
Sermon 5/2/21: "Out on a Limb" Pr. Craig Mueller
We abide in Christ. And Christ abides in us. There are other branches on the tree. Some weak and withering. What prevents us from going out on a limb, raising our voices and taking risks for all those rejected and forgotten? Nothing. For the gospel is not merely for our personal salvation. It is for the good of all the branches of the tree. The fruit of Easter.
Sermon 5/1/21: "Mayday...May Day" Pr. Ben Adams
On this May Day we cry to the Lord to help us and knowing the vine from where our help comes from we are sent into the world to help one another. With the Holy Spirit and the perfect love of Christ pulsing through our branches, what is to prevent us?
Sermon 4/24/21: “Lay Down Our Lives” Seminarian Taylor Walker
How is it possible for us to keep giving when it feels like the ground beneath us is pulling away? It is possible for one reason. There is another here with us. Jesus is the cornerstone, Peter tells us, of the new world we are building now. God restores our souls, David tells us, and our cups will overflow because the love of God is deeper and wider than all of the sin in this world. Jesus is the good shepherd, John tells us, and he will not leave us alone as we do this work.
Sermon 4/25/21: "Lay Down Your Cards" Pr. Craig Mueller
Certainly, we are called to lay down our lives for the sake of others. To lay down our cards, so to speak—to make our intentions known—that is, to live our baptismal faith not only through words but deeds. But sometimes we just want to give up, to lie down and cover up. In such troubled times, Psalm 23 reminds of God’s tender care. We lie down in green pastures. We rest beside still waters. We hear the song of birds. We marvel at buds and shoots, blooms and flowers. The earth restores us. Before we rise and face the daunting tasks before us, lie down. Lie down and bask in divine grace and mercy.
Sermon 4/18/21: "A Little Good News" Pr. Michelle Sevig
We shout through muted masks, “Christ is Risen indeed! Alleluia!” While still in our disbelief and wondering we go out to be the good news for others. We hold one another in grief, we speak up when we see systemic oppression, we stand with our neighbors who are hurting. And in sharing our scars with one another, new life springs forth. Resurrection and rebirth are enfleshed within each other’s scars. We proclaim to one another, “Can you believe it?” Well…no and yes. The good news of Christ’s resurrection and God’s embodied grace is hard to imagine sometimes, and yet it is the best news I’ve heard all day.
Sermon 4/11/21: "Of One Heart and Soul" Pr. Ben Adams
As Jesus was sent to us to share his peace and Holy Spirit with us, we too are sent to share ourselves and the spirit of the living God with others. That is to live as the people of Easter. To trust, to share, and to experience the good, pleasant, and complete joy that is built up when we are of one heart and soul. Alleluia! Amen
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.