Sermon Audio 8/27/2017, 12th Sunday after Pentecost A

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo 

Third Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year A

Matthew 16:13-20 

In Jesus your sins are forgiven. In Jesus you are set free. 

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 8/13/2017, 10th Sunday after Pentecost A

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo 

Tenth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year A

1 Kings 19:9-18 

After a two-month hiatus, LCS sermon audio is back! And what a time to return: a country rocked by white supremacist violence, a church wondering how to live out the gospel in the face of evil, and God's presence in a sound of sheer silence.

Sermon Audio 6/27/2015, Day of Repentance for Racism and Mourning for Charleston Victims

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo 

Day of Repentance and Mourning

In response to the massacre at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, we heeded the words of our Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton with a Day of Repentance and Mourning. The alleged shooter is a member of an ELCA congregation, and two of the victims, Hon. Rev. Clementa Pinckney and Rev. Daniel Simmons, were graduates of the ELCA seminary in South Carolina. It should not take these ELCA connections for our churches to rise up for racial justice, and that it did is one of the realities of which we repent. 

Thanks to Rozella White, ELCA Director of Young Adult Ministries; Rev. Meghan Johnston Aelabouni; and President Obama. Each brought us a necessary Word this morning. Links are to the full texts quoted in part in this sermon. 

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

Sermon Audio 4/2/2015 Maundy Thursday

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo

John 13:1-17, 31b-35

"Love one another" is Jesus' most powerful, challenging command to his disciples. He gives this new commandment during his final meal with them. How can we follow such a simple, complicated commandment? In this meal Jesus shows us how to love one another. 

Listen here or subscribe to the podcast on iTunes by searching "Tengwall." 

Sermon Audio 3/5/2014

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo

Ash Wednesday

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Jesus' warning “Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them" seems to have guided the famed 20th century poet W.H. Auden, whose good deeds tended to go publicly unrecognized throughout his life. In our own congregation, Forty Deeds in Forty Days is an effort to live out Jesus' teaching this Lent.

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

6“Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. ²“So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ³But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
⁵“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ⁶But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

¹⁶“And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ¹⁷But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, ¹⁸so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
¹⁹“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; ²⁰but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

As always, listen here or subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.

Sermon Audio 2/23/2014

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo

Seventh Sunday after Epiphany, Lectionary Year A

Matthew 5:38-48

After not including a rite of Confession and Forgiveness in our worship during the season of Epiphany, today we used the sermon to institute a different form of confession, and allowed the Eucharist to be our forgiveness. Not sure how effective it was, but a third grader and I did have fun destroying people's sins in a paper shredder afterward.

Matthew 5:38-48

³⁸“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ ³⁹But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; ⁴⁰and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; ⁴¹and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. ⁴²Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.
⁴³“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. ⁴⁶For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? ⁴⁷And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? ⁴⁸Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

As usual, you can listen to this sermon here or subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, which you can find by searching "Tengwall."