Sermon Audio 8/28/2016, Acts Sermon Series Week 13

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo 

Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year C

Acts Sermon Series 2016, Week Thirteen

Acts 26:1-8, 19-23

As we conclude our Summer Sermon Series on the book of Acts, we hear Paul proclaim the risen Christ to the people of Jerusalem. How does the Holy Spirit work through him? 

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 8/21/2016, Acts Sermon Series Week Twelve

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo 

Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year C

Acts Sermon Series 2016, Week Twelve

Acts 22:1-16

Our Acts sermon series continues with Paul re-telling the story of his conversion. This story has much to teach us about the baptism we celebrated today, and both the story and the baptism have much to teach the rest of us about how we follow Jesus. 

Sermon Audio 8/14/2016, Acts Sermon Series Week Eleven

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo

Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year C

Acts Sermon Series 2016, Week Eleven

Luke 12:49-56, Acts 20:17-24

Our annual outdoor worship event brought fair weather and a Gospel lesson so challenging that I could not ignore it. Our Acts reading was similar, with Paul uncertain about his future in Jerusalem. Jesus says he came to bring fire and division to the earth. What does this mean?

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 8/7/2016, Acts Sermon Series Week Ten

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo 

Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year C

Acts Sermon Series 2016, Week Ten

Acts 19:23-29 

How does the gospel transform us? As individuals? As the church? How does it transform the communities around us? Paul's experience in Ephesus can tell us a lot about what the gospel looks like in the world

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 7/31/2016, Acts Sermon Series Week 9

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo 

Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year C

Acts Sermon Series 2016, Week Nine

Acts 19:1-7 

The Holy Spirit is active in our church and in our world, and it's ok if we admit that we don't always recognize the Spirit's work. But when we do see the Spirit moving among us, we have a chance to be a part of God's work.

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 7/24/2016, Acts Sermon Series Week Eight

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo

Tenth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year C

Acts Sermon Series 2016, Week Eight

Acts 18:1-11
Our Acts sermon series continues with Paul in Corinth, struggling to share the good news about Jesus until he receives a gospel message himself. I spent this week at Living Water Ministries camp for the first time with LCS kids. A challenging week of camp is the perfect opportunity for the Holy Spirit to transform lives and institutions to share the gospel and direct us toward God's reign on earth.

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 7/17/2016, Acts Sermon Series Week Seven

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo 

Ninth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year C

Acts Sermon Series 2016, Week Seven

Acts 17:16, 22-31 [Link to Oremus]

This week we dive deeply into Acts, to talk idolatry in ancient Athens and in our lives today. With all the troubles in our world today, we sometimes overlook idolatry, but watch out. Idolatry lies at the heart of many of our concerns. 

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 7/10/2016, Acts Sermon Series Week 6

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo 

Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year C

Acts Sermon Series 2016, Week Six

Acts 17:1-9 

Luke 10:25-37

I was gone for two weeks on vacation. I returned to find that violence and division still rule our nation. Who is our neighbor? And how does Jesus turn the world upside down? 

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 6/19/2016, Acts Sermon Series Week 3

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo 

Fifth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year C

Acts Sermon Series 2016, Week Three

Acts 15:12-21

Our Acts series continues with a serious discussion of idolatry, our practice of placing our ultimate trust in that which is not God. As the horrific mass shooting in Orlando reminds us, murder is always idolatrous, and tragedies often drive us to other idolatrous responses. 

In worship during our Rite of Healing we read aloud the names of the 49 victims of the shooting at Pulse in Orlando. We handed out the names and went around the room, almost the entire congregation participating in this ritual of lament. Then we prayed for survivors, families of the deceased, their communities and our entire nation as we struggle to respond to hate and violence. It was  a powerful ritual, each of us holding one victim close and publicly voicing their name. 

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 6/12/2016, Acts Sermon Series Week Two

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo 

Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year C

Acts Sermon Series 2016, Week Two

2Samuel 11:26--12:10, 13-15

Luke7:36--8:3

Already the Holy Spirit is messing with us this summer, as I've decided to forgo this week's Acts reading in favor of talking about rape culture. From the time David "took" Bathsheba, to the time an unnamed "sinful" woman washed Jesus' feet, and even until this very day, men have systemically treated women as less than fully human. There is good news in this sermon, but not before a long and difficult talk on sexism and sexual assault. 

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 6/5/2016, Acts Sermon Series Week One

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo 

Third Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year C

Acts Sermon Series 2016, Week One

Acts 14:8-18 

Thus begins a second summer of Acts readings, in which we see how the Holy Spirit transformed the early church. The Holy Spirit does amazing things, even miraculous things, but we don't always notice. What keeps us from recognizing the work of the Holy Spirit around us?

A new way of listening to this podcast this week: Google Play Music. Search "Tengwall" in their Podcast section and subscribe, or listen here, use this link, or subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or by searching "Tengwall."

Sermon Audio 9/13/2015, Acts Series Week 15

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo 

Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year B

Acts 13:1-5 

Our Acts sermon series for the summer of 2015 ends with the commissioning of Barnabas and Paul as they are set apart and sent forth from Antioch. On this "God's Work. Our Hands." Sunday, what can we learn about being set apart and sent forth? 

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

Sermon Audio 9/6/2015, Acts Series Week Fourteen

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo 

Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year B

Mark 7:24-37 

This Sunday we were blessed to hear the Word proclaimed by none other than the Rev. Sarah Friesen-Carper, Assistant to the Bishop for Congregational and Leadership Excellence of the North/West Lower Michigan Synod of the ELCA. She preached a powerful message about the Syrophoenician woman as part of "Confession, Repentance and Commitment to End Racism Sunday."

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

Sermon Audio 8/30/2015, Acts Series Week Thirteen

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo 

Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year B

Acts 11:19-26 

The Holy Spirit does not work on our schedule. We can dwell on the past or worry about the future, or we can look and see what God is doing right now.

Yes, I recognize the irony of posting this sermon audio a week late.

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

Sermon Audio 8/16/2015, Acts Series Week Eleven

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo 

Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year B

Acts 11:1-18

The story of Peter and Cornelius may be the apex of our series on Acts, when God changes the rules to allow even Gentiles - like me - to receive baptism and the Holy Spirit. What can this transformational moment in the earliest church teach us about how God is acting today?

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

Sermon Audio 8/2/2015, Acts Series Week Nine

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo 

Tenth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year B

Acts 8:1b, 4-8, 14-17

The crisis that scattered the first church from Jerusalem into Judea and Samaria became an opportunity for the Holy Spirit to spread the gospel. Recent news that the Lutheran tradition is the whitest religious tradition in the US presents a very different kind of crisis. Will we be open to how the Holy Spirit can use our weakness as means to share the gospel?

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

Sermon Audio 7/26/2015, Acts Series Week Eight

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo 

Ninth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year B

Acts 7:51-60 

Prophetic grief is the public lament that challenges the injustices that have led to violence against God's people. The death of Stephen in our Acts sermon series is an excellent lens through which we can explore prophetic grief as the work of following Jesus today. For more on prophetic grief, search the hashtags #PropheticGrief and #SlateSpeak (the online church conversation that inspired this sermon, by @TheSlateProject) on Twitter. 

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

Sermon Audio 7/19/2015, Acts Series Week Seven

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo 

8th Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year B

Acts 6:1-6

The Holy Spirit will mess with you. Thus I learned anew when a series of technological circumstances led me to preach this sermon from memory. Of course that was also the intended point of the sermon, on how the apostles' establishment of the diaconate in Acts 6 did not go as planned. Funny how that works.

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

Sermon Audio 7/12/2015, Acts Sermon Series Week Six

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo 

Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year B

Amos 7:7-15

Acts 5:1-11

Mark 6:14-29

Three challenging readings today - the death of John the Baptist, the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira, and Amos arguing with Amaziah - all have a surprising thing in common. Each features a character with the same motivation: popularity. They wanted to impress people. They wanted people to like them. When is popularity not Good News? 

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

Sermon Audio 7/5/2015, Acts Sermon Series Week Five

LutheranChurch of the Savior, Kalamazoo 

Acts Sermon Series Week Five

2 Corinthians 8:7-15

This week our detour from Acts continues with an exploration of generosity in Paul's second letter to the Corinthians. My passion for generosity combines with translational nerdery, congregational participation, and Jesus' first sending of his twelve disciples to address a 20-year-old mystery. Much excitement!

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