Sermon Audio 10/28/2018, Reformation Sunday

Hope Lutheran Church, Saint Paul

Reformation Sunday

John 8:31-36

To hear this podcast: listen here, use this link, or use iTunes or Google Play Music to subscribe or listen by searching "Tengwall." 

Hello! I haven't been posting my sermons - or anything else - since I came to Saint Paul. I will probably start to do so again soon. Right now I'm still trying to figure out how best to balance my time between pastoring Hope, starting a new congregation, and keeping my home and family life together. Pro tip: don't move across the country, start new jobs, buy a house and two cars, and start new schools and daycares all at the same time unless you really, really need to do so.

Anyway, on to this week's sermon. Other pastors - even Lutheran ones - undoubtedly preached better sermons against Christian anti-Semitism this weekend in response to the murders of eleven people at Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh on Saturday. Still, this is my sermon attempting to grapple with Lutheran history and biblical interpretation in light of the current moment. The congregation seemed to appreciate it (if not exactly "like" it), and a number inquired about the book I recommended, Mary Solberg's A Church Undone.

For what has God in Christ set us free? This is the question we followers of Jesus wrestle with on days like this, when we are keenly aware of our Lutheran heritage and the effects of bad theology and biblical interpretation upon innocent people in today's world.