Sermon Audio 6/5/2022, Pentecost C

Hope Lutheran Church, gathered for worship on Zoom. 

Pentecost Sunday, lectionary year C

Romans 8:14-17

We are all adopted as children of God and heirs to all that God has given Jesus. So take heart, even though nothing is easy for so many. 

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Sermon Audio 6/23/2019, 2nd Sunday after Pentecost C

Hope Lutheran Church, Saint Paul

Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year C

Luke 8:26-39

The United States government is keeping children in cages at our Southern border, tearing families apart and inflicting untold horror on children as a coercive deterrent to convince other Central American families not to seek asylum here. The gospel of Jesus Christ stands in opposition to this normalized, rationalized cruelty and evil.

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Sermon Audio 6/17/2018, Fourth Sunday after Pentecost B

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo 

Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year B

Mark 4:26-34 

The reign of God - or kingdom of God - grows out of the ruins of our efforts to build a world of human justice. Will we allow the reign of God to grow in us, transforming our lives to radical care for one another?

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Sermon Audio 12/10/2017, Second Sunday of Advent B

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo 

Second Sunday of Advent, Lectionary Year B

Mark 1:1-8 

We celebrate a baptism as we read about John the Baptist. What can we learn from these first biblical stories about our own baptisms?

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Sermon Audio 1/15/2017, 2nd Sunday after Epiphany A

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo 

Second Sunday after Epiphany, Lectionary Year A

Isaiah 49:1-7 

It is too light a thing, God says, that you should save yourselves. Instead, through you I will bring salvation to the ends of the earth. As we prepared for our annual congregational meeting following worship today, this powerful message to God's people in Isaiah has much to say about the year we experienced in 2016 and what 2017 will hold for Lutheran Church of the Savior. 

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Sermon Audio 5/22/2016 Holy Trinity C

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo 

Holy Trinity Sunday, Lectionary Year C

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31

A baptism on Holy Trinity provides the opportunity to think about God not in lofty theological terms, but in how God relates to us. An alternate translation of our Proverbs lesson, along with an assist from the repeated refrain of our Psalm (8), helps show us what God does for us in baptism.

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Sermon Audio 8/17/2014, Tenth Sunday after Pentecost A

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo


The history of Lutheran churches in this country is primarily a history of northern European ethnic groups maintaining their cultural identity amidst the American "melting pot" (more of a jambalaya, as the American parts remain distinct in the mix, but that's a story for another day). Seemingly in spite of, but more likely because of, this insider-focused history, as the Lutheran churches have grown up we have become more engaged in our society, more welcoming of outsiders, to the degree that Lutherans are doing vital work with unaccompanied migrant children on the southern border of the US. 

In today's lessons from Isaiah and Matthew's Gospel, we are reminded why we engage in this difficult, compassionate endeavor. We do this work because we know that God's promise is for everyone.

Helpful links for today's sermon:
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service
Lutheran Social Services of Michigan
One Michigan Lutheran church's local efforts

As always, you can listen here or subscribe by searching "Tengwall" on iTunes.