Category Archives: Easter

Why Do You Wonder? Sermon on Acts 3:12-19

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Easter 3B
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We are in the second week of “Getting Our ACTS Together” during Eastertide. For the first three Sundays after Easter, our readings in Acts depend on the story of the crippled man healed at the Beautiful Gate. Each reading refers back to this miraculous healing story, but never includes it. It’s a story full of amazement, astonishment, and wonder. And yet, amazing as it is, the healing isn’t what’s important here. Continue reading →

Getting our ACTS together: All Things in Common – sermon on Acts 4:32-35 Easter 2B

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The New Testament is mostly letters – letters from Paul to various churches, letters from Peter, and from James Jude, and John. It’s mostly letters, but not entirely letters. There’s the Revelation of John at the end of the New Testament, and the four gospels at the beginning. And sandwiched in between the gospels and the letters there’s a book called The Acts of the Apostles, or simply, “Acts.”

Some Bible scholars like to call it “Second Luke” because it continues the story of Luke’s gospel beyond the resurrection of Jesus. So it’s appropriate that the assigned readings for the season of Eastertide include passages from Acts, or “Second Luke.” Because, as we learned last week, the story isn’t over when Jesus rises from death to life. It’s just beginning. Over the next few weeks, we will be taking a closer look at this story, to see how it might inform our story. Continue reading →

The Last Laugh – Sermon on Mark 16:1-8 Easter B

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April 1, 2018

A good “April Fool” joke is some false claim that is presented so convincingly, you think it’s true. And just when you surrender to the claim, the joker yells “April Fool!” If you came here this morning expecting me to tell a bunch of jokes, “April Fool!” – I’m not going to do that. The Good News I have to share with you this morning might have felt like a practical joke to the disciples who first heard it, but they quickly realized the truth, and the truth was way more amazing than they could have imagined. Continue reading →

Loving as Christ Loves- Sermon on John 14:15-21 for Easter 6A

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( Read John 14:15-21 here.)

Our reading today picks up right where we left off last week, in the 14th chapter of the gospel according to John. Jesus is talking to his closest friends on the night of his betrayal. They may not know what’s about to happen, but Jesus does. He knows this is his last chance to give his followers some instructions for what is coming. It’s his last chance to teach them what they need to know to carry on the work he has begun. It’s his last chance to tell them how much he loves them.

Continue reading →

Troubled Hearts – Sermon on John 14:1-14 for Easter 5A

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What troubles your heart these days?
There’s plenty to trouble us: wars all over the globe, gun violence, the economy, politics, … disease. Sometimes, these troubles seem so pervasive, we become numb to them. We simply can’t process any more grief, any more pain, any more anger. And sometimes, one particular trouble amplified others that were already brewing – troubles in our homes, and in our relationships; financial troubles; questions of our own value and purpose. Sometimes, it seems we have more questions than answers.

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We Had Hoped – Sermon on Luke 24:13-35 for Easter 3A

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On Easter Day, we saw the Resurrection from the viewpoint of those women who were the first to arrive at the empty tomb, and last week we heard the same story from the perspective of those disciples who were closest to Jesus, but Thomas was missing that day. He had to come back a week later, to experience the risen Lord.

Today, we hear the same day’s story, but it’s from the perspective of some followers of Jesus who were not among the twelve, but they had followed Jesus closely enough to have been deeply affected by the events of the previous 72 hours. Continue reading →

So You Might Believe – Sermon on John 20:19-31 for Easter 2A

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It’s still Easter. Put yourself in the upper room for a moment. Imagine what it was like to have waited there together over the Sabbath, hiding behind locked doors. All your hopes and dreams have been crushed. The One you thought would free you from oppression has been brutally executed. You are afraid. Then something happens that you can’t quite explain, and you aren’t sure you can believe. Continue reading →

Who Will You Tell? Sermon on Matthew 28:1-10 Easter A

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April 16, 2017

For those of you who haven’t been with us throughout the season of Lent, let me bring you up to speed. We’ve been reading a book together called Unbinding Your Heart. It’s about learning how to share our faith. Some of you are here today because someone handed you a green card and said, come worship with me on Easter. Welcome! We are really glad you accepted the invitation.

You need to know that, before the person who invited you here today put that card in your hand, a lot of us were praying for you, not even knowing your name. Our hearts are getting unbound, and I hope that today, your heart will be opened, too, so that you can let in a little bit of the love that is filling this church.

Last Sunday, I talked about expecting the unexpected when Jesus shows up. We considered the fact that Jesus is always with us, but we have to start expecting him in order to see him. And it was a Sunday full of unexpected surprises.

One of the behind the scenes surprises was that the palms did not get delivered as we had expected. I had gone to bed Saturday night expecting to improvise, inviting everyone to wave the palm of your hand. But Cleo, faithful servant that she is, went to HyVee early Sunday morning to pick up the palms, so we had leafy branches to wave after all.

Claire brought her whoopee cushion to the children’s message. That was unexpected. Continue reading →

Get Up and Go – sermon on Jonah 3:1-5, 10

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May 1, 2016 Easter 6C

Did you ever try to run away from home when you were a kid? Do you remember why you wanted to run away? I remember the time I got so angry at my mother that I decided I just had to leave. I think I was about eight years old.

I had some vague notion in my head that people who ran away from home had to tie up all their belongings in a bundle and hang it on the end of a stick. But I didn’t have a stick, and I didn’t know how to make a bundle, so I settled for the next best thing: A plastic doll case. I couldn’t squeeze very much into it, so I took just the essentials: a favorite stuffed toy, some socks, a comb, a small box of raisins in case I got hungry … that was about all that would fit.

As I made my way across the back yard, I ran into our neighbor, Mr. Perry. “Where are you going?” he asked me.

“I’m running away.”

“Oh, well I was hoping maybe you could help me crank the ice cream.”

Mr. Perry made peach ice cream that was to die for. As I turned the crank on the ice cream freezer, we talked. To this day, I do not remember what had made me mad enough that I thought I had to run away from home, but by the time Mr. Perry took the paddle out of the ice cream and handed it to me to lick, I wasn’t mad anymore. I took my plastic doll case back up to my room and unpacked it.

My mother never even knew I’d left the house.

Like my eight year old self, Jonah got so mad, he decided to run away. I really was surprised when I realized that the story of Jonah was missing from our 31-week walk through the Bible. How can you skip Jonah? It’s a universal story. Every known religion has some version of the Jonah story in its mythology. Continue reading →

Making All Things New – sermon on Revelation 21:1-6

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April 24, 2016 Easter 5C

Will your mourn with me? Will you rejoice with me? Twice before I have preached on this text from the book of Revelation, but they were both funeral sermons. Twice this week, we have gathered in this sanctuary to celebrate the promise of eternal life for members who have gone to be with the Lord.

Friday night, as I finished one funeral sermon and sat down to review my notes for this one, I was listening to a live broadcast of The Minnesota Chorale and the Minnesota Orchestra performing the Brahms Requiem under the direction of Helmuth Rilling. Some of you know that I sang under Herr Rilling’s direction for eight years, and we performed this beautiful work by Johannes Brahms at least twice in that time. I knew what to listen for on Friday night. “How lovely is thy dwelling place… blessed are they who die in the Lord …”

Brahms didn’t use the standard Requiem Mass Latin text, but put together selections from scripture, using the Luther Bible. He wanted the words to be easily understood in the language of the people. It was a new way of presenting a Requiem. No composer had ever done something like this before. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. All flesh is grass.” This beautiful music has given comfort to many who grieve.

But something stood out to me this week, as we laid Mike and Florian to rest, and as I listened to Brahms. Continue reading →