Category Archives: Discipleship

Communion

Entrusted to You – Sermon on 2 Timothy 1:1-14

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October 6, 2019 – World Communion Sunday

Second Timothy is a great example of ‘testament’ writing in the Bible. A testament gives the author an opportunity to summarize important teaching when it’s time to say goodbye. Jesus gives a testament in John 14-17 as he pulls together the most important things he wants the disciples to remember after he is gone. Moses gives a testament on Mount Sinai, just before the tribes of Israel enter the Promised Land without him.

About the only time we use the word ‘testament’ today is in a Last Will and Testament. It usually starts with the words, “I, (fill in your name here), being of sound mind, …” It’s a statement of identity and an assurance that the one making that statement has the ability and the authority to do so. A testament is what we leave behind as a witness to what matters most to us. Continue reading →

Know the Cost – Sermon on Luke 14:25-33

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September 8, 2019

First, I’m not preaching a new sermon. I’ve trimmed the one from three years ago and will use it again this year because, well, it’s still true.

But there are two things I hope to emphasize this time that I’m not sure I made clear before. One is that knowing the cost of discipleship means knowing we can’t afford it. The price is too high, it’s beyond our capacity. And the other is that following Jesus means devoting our whole selves to following Jesus, not the way we follow him. Let me explain.

It is easy to get caught in the trap of believing that our particular method of following Jesus is the only way to do it. Because it works for us, we think it’s not only best, but anyone who doesn’t follow Jesus the way we do isn’t really following Jesus. Not only does this thinking bring us perilously close to judging others, our form of discipleship becomes more important to us than our relationship with Christ itself. And that’s just wrong.

Jesus doesn’t say, “Follow me according to a particular formula,” or even “Follow me according to your understanding of scripture.” Jesus says, “If you want to be my disciple, you have to give up all your pre-conceived notions of what that means, and just stick close to me.” Discipleship means becoming a student of Christ, not a student of ‘following.”

Maybe I’m just picking at nits, but I think this is an important distinction. Christ calls us to follow Christ, not whatever form of Christianity we claim to practice. May I be faithful, may you be faithful, as we follow Jesus together.

A Posture of Praise – sermon on Luke 13:10-17

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August 25, 2019
Here is an earlier version of this sermon, told in first person narrative style.

Hearing just a few verses of the gospel each week, it’s easy to lose track of the bigger story. It seems like ages ago that Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem. And for the past three weeks, he’s been in the same spot, even thought Luke doesn’t tell us exactly where that spot is.

Now we’ve moved into the next phase of the journey. Jesus is still teaching outside the Pharisee’s house where he had dinner back in chapter 11. And he’s telling parables again. He has just told the story of the barren fig tree (13:6-9). In that parable, the landowner gives the gardener one more year to work the soil around the tree so that it can bear fruit. If that doesn’t do any good, the tree will be cut down.

In the verses that follow today’s reading, Jesus will give two analogies for the kingdom of God: the mustard seed growing into a great bush where many birds will roost, and the leaven growing in the lump of dough (13:13:18-21).

But here, sandwiched in between these stories about things that grow and things that don’t, is a real-life encounter with Jesus. It wasn’t expected. It wasn’t planned. But this encounter introduces us to two people who could easily have been represented by the parables surrounding their story. Notice which one seems more like a mustard seed growing into a tall plant, and which one resembles a fig tree that won’t grow any fruit. Continue reading →

photo of three pairs of hands reaching into an empty wooden bowl

The Poverty of Greed – Sermon on Luke 12:13-21

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August 4, 2019

Last week’s reading started out as a lesson in prayer, but shifted into a reminder that God wants to provide for us, if we will only ask. But asking God to give us his Spirit is a lot different from asking God to give us stuff. This week, Jesus carries the lesson a step further. Continue reading →

The Disciples’ Prayer – Sermon on Luke 11:1-13

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March 6, 2022
Video

The Spirit of God is moving in our church. I am hearing stories of the Spirit at work in your small groups and your prayer exercises, as we read the book Unbinding Your Heart. If you’re a guest today, you have come into a church that is on an exciting adventure with God. We’re spending 6 weeks together inviting God to change us in any way that God wants to. Continue reading →

Martha Was A Methodist – Sermon on Luke 10:38-42

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Updated July 20, 2025

Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.”
But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:38-42)

Do you ever get so busy you can’t think straight? You get so caught up in putting out fires and dealing with emergencies, there’s just no time left for the really important things like spending time with your family, or taking care of your own needs, or spending quality time with Jesus.

In 1967 (two years before the moon landing we remembered yesterday), Charles Hummel wrote a little pamphlet titled, “Tyranny of the Urgent.” It’s been revised and re-published over and over again, and it’s still available in print. These 32 little pages were foundational in developing the concept of time management. Continue reading →

Whose Neighbor Are You? Sermon on Luke 10:25-37

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July 14, 2019

Earlier this week, I was trying to remember exactly where my grandparents had lived when I was a little girl. So I called my mom. My mother has never been known to give a straight answer to a question when there’s a story she could tell instead. So, when I asked “do you know the name of the street where Grandpa and Grandma lived in Pretty Prairie?” her answer started out with, “All three of us girls were born on Uncle Harry’s farm. I think Edie Beth was about a year old when mom and dad moved to Hutchinson…”

An hour later, I had heard stories about my grandfather hauling coal in the winter and ice in the summer, my grandmother recovering from typhoid fever in a sod house on the Kansas prairie when she was a little girl, my great-grandfather dying just shortly after he’d finally paid off a debt his brother had incurred years before, and a few other tidbits of family history. But I never did learn the name of the street where Grandpa and Grandma lived in Pretty Prairie. Continue reading →

The Power of Proximity – Sermon on Luke 10:1-11, 16-20 Pentecost C+4

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July 7, 2019

Classroom teachers know that proximity holds a lot of power. Good teachers move around the room a lot, getting close to students as they work. The teacher’s nearness does two things: it raises a student’s level of concern enough to encourage the student to pay attention (and stay out of trouble), but it also makes the teacher more available to answer questions and offer support.

Proximity to the teacher offers safety, and at the same time it holds a student accountable. Proximity to the teacher increases the probability that the student will actually learn something. This is why we almost always see the disciples staying really close to Jesus. He holds them accountable at the same time he offers them safety.

But at some point, students leave school. They have to take the lessons they’ve learned into the world, and practice those lessons on their own. The safety net is gone, and they have to hold themselves accountable. Continue reading →

No Turning Back – Sermon on Luke 9:51-62 for Pentecost +3

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June 30, 2019

When I was a little girl, my hometown replaced the old municipal swimming pool. It was about time. The filtration system in the old pool didn’t work very well, and the water was murky. The pool was too small for our growing community, and the diving board was … not safe.

So after an entire summer with no swimming pool, we suddenly had a new, up to date facility with twice as much area as the previous pool and not one, but three diving boards. The diving area was deep enough now to accommodate a true ‘high dive’ board, as well as two smaller ones. Kids lined up in a constantly moving stream to jump off the lower boards, but the high dive was reserved for serious divers only. Continue reading →

Communion

Love Each Other – Sermon on John 13:31-35 for Easter 5C

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May 15, 2022
VIdeo

Today’s gospel takes us back to holy week and events that led up to the crucifixion. It might seem strange to hear this reading in the middle of Eastertide, but I cant help but wonder if the disciples were doing the same thing in those weeks just after the resurrection, too – remembering the stories, what Jesus said, how the events played out just as he had predicted. They were cementing in their collective memory the gospel that would be preached throughout the world.

It’s the same gospel we proclaim now: Christ died, was buried, rose again, and ascended to his Father’s side to rule the kingdom of God. That kingdom is already present among us, and we who claim Christ as Lord and Savior are part of it. Rehearsing these stories again and again keeps us in the faith, and keeps the faith alive in us. Repeating these stories for each other keeps them from becoming diluted or distorted over time.

Today’s passage takes us back to that final meal Jesus shared with his disciples. In John’s version, this meal happens on the night before Passover begins. According to John, “Jesus will be crucified at about the same time that the lambs are sacrificed in the Temple in preparation for the Passover meal.”[1] But John gives us something the other gospel authors do not: he tells us in great detail what Jesus said to his disciples during this final night they have together. Continue reading →