Sermon Audio 4/21/2019, Easter Sunday

Hope Lutheran Church, Saint Paul

Resurrection of Our Lord: Easter Day, Lectionary Year C

Luke 24:1-12

Jesus is risen! The women and other disciples who first heard this good news did not react with the same enthusiasm we express today. What can we learn from their response on that first Easter morning?

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Sermon Audio 2/14/2018, Ash Wednesday

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo 

Ash Wednesday

Joel 2:1-2, 12-17 

In a world ruled by fear, evil, and violence, where is our God? Where are God's people? 

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Sermon Audio 2/11/2018, Transfiguration B

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo 

Transfiguration of Our Lord, Lectionary Year B 

Mark 9:2-9 

Jesus' transfiguration on the mountaintop raises profound questions about who Jesus is. As we plunge from this pinnacle into the season of Lent, how do Jesus' humanity and divinity, his life and death shape our lives?

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

If you want to support this podcast and the ministry of Lutheran Church of the Savior, you can do so here. Thanks. 

Sermon Audio 11/19/2017, 24th Sunday after Pentecost A

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo 

Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year A

Matthew 25:14-30 

Zephaniah 1:7, 12-18

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

Sometimes life feels like mess after mess, and we are left to trust that through Jesus, God gives grace in a graceless world. 

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

If you want to support this podcast and the ministry of Lutheran Church of the Savior, please click the church link above and scroll down to donate. Thanks.

Sermon Audio 4/9/2017 Palm / Passion Sunday

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo 

Palm Sunday / Sunday of the Passion, Lectionary Year A

John 12:12-19

John 18:1-19:42

The juxtaposition of Palm Sunday's raucous proclamation of Jesus as king and the Passion's stark abandonment of Jesus to the authorities shows us much about who we are as people and as followers of Jesus. 

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

Sermon Audio 9/11/2016, Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost C

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo 

Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year C

Luke 15:1-10 

Jesus tells his parables about a lost sheep and a lost coin in the midst of two audiences: the tax collectors and sinners with whom he eats, and the grumbling Pharisees and scribes. With which of these audiences do you identify, and how does that change how you hear the parables? 

As a bonus I talk about how "All lives matter" in response to "Black lives matter" is merely the grumbling of jealous Pharisees. 

Sermon Audio 4/24/2016, Fifth Sunday of Easter

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo 

Fifth Sunday of Easter, Lectionary Year C

Revelation 21:1-6 

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life." Faithful and confounding and enormously talented, Prince has a lot to teach us about my very favorite thing in the Bible, the vision of the Holy City in Revelation. 

As always, listen here, use this link, or subscribe to the podcast on iTunes by searching "Tengwall."

Links for the Turn of the Church Year

Over the recent Thanksgiving weekend, when I had plenty of time to myself due to my family being away, I did a fair bit of online reading. Here's some of what kept me interested this weekend, from the political and controversial to the heartbreaking and beyond. I am reminded that the ELCA has Social Statements on many of the pressing social and political issues of our time. I'll finish with some hopefulness.

Sermon Audio 7/14/2013

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo

Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year C

Luke 10:25-37

Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan is one of the most famous and instructive stories in all of scripture or Christian history. The lawyer's question, "And who is my neighbor?" really sticks with me, because it mirrors my own impulse for self-justification.

George Zimmerman Found Not Guilty in Death of Trayvon Martin

These are links I found helpful in processing this story tonight.

Legal stuff from Slate and The Atlantic.

A pastoral letter from ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson, from March 2012, along with a letter he signed along with other denominational leaders from Churches Uniting in Christ (.pdf).

Michael Skolnick has been a must-follow on Twitter on this and other hot-button topics.

Cord Jefferson on what it means to be a young black man in America.

Pastor Steve Jerbi of All Peoples Church in Milwaukee, with a great reflection on privilege, very helpful in my context.

2012 Lent 13: On Poetry and Faith

I know, I know, I've shared a paucity of blog posts this Lent, at least compared to my goal. Please trust me that I'm working on a lot of great stuff, both blog-specific and blog-worthy (like the Free Store Grand Opening today!).

For now, check out this lovely reflection on poetry and faith written by my dear friend and Official Poet of Unexpected and Mysterious* Dianne Bilyak. One of Dianne's ongoing projects in recent years has been a series of interviews with poets, and she makes fine use of that material here. Dianne has a beautiful way of talking about the messy confusion of our lives in this flawed world.