Sermon Audio 9/22/2019, 15th Sunday after Pentecost C

Hope Lutheran Church, Saint Paul

Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year C

Luke 16:1-13

Jesus follows his confusing parable about the "dishonest manager" with the much simpler declaration, "You cannot serve God and wealth." How can this clear instruction help us see the manager as a model for our own relationship with money?

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Sermon Audio 7/7/2019, 4th Sunday after Pentecost C

Hope Lutheran Church, Saint Paul

Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year C

Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

Jesus sent his seventy disciples ahead of him, to prepare his way and proclaim the Realm of God, equipping them only with trust in God and in people.

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Sermon Audio 4/1/2018, Easter Sunday

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo 

Easter Sunday

John 20:1-18 

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!What does this mean for us following Jesus today?

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Sermon Audio 10/9/2016, 21st Sunday after Pentecost C

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo 

21st Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year C

2 Kings 5:1-3, 5-15c

The third week of our stewardship season brings us the story of the prophet Elisha healing Naaman the Syrian of his leprosy. But it's an unexpected third character who best shows us how (not) to respond to what God has given us. 

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Sermon Audio 10/2/2016, 20th Sunday after Pentecost C

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo 

Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year C

Luke 16:19-31 

Our stewardship season continues with Jesus' story of Lazarus and the rich man, as we talk about the role of trust in deciding how to share what God has given us. 

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Sermon Audio 9/25/2016, 19th Sunday after Pentecost C

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo 

19th Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year C

Matthew 6:25-33 

Our season of stewardship begins with thankfulness for what we have, rather than with worry about what we lack. 

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Why Stewardship is the Way I Follow Jesus

This week my family has much to celebrate. Today is our fifth wedding anniversary, and the tenth anniversary of our first date (give or take a day). Monday is my 38th birthday. Our son had his first day of preschool. We announced a new pregnancy, to the joy of apparently all our Facebook friends.

In fact, so many people have shared in our joy that we wanted to give an opportunity to celebrate with us. Instead of hosting a party, we created a Facebook event and offered our loved ones an opportunity to support a cause we believe in.

What? Why in the world do we think asking our friends to give money to something they may never have heard of counts as celebrating with us?

If you are reading this, you probably know how much I love generosity, fundraising, and giving money. It brings me joy to live out my values by giving material support to things I say I believe in. Ever since we paid off all our debt last year, we have had the opportunity to give more and think more about what giving means in our lives.


Last September I introduced our annual stewardship campaign with a newsletter article that does a good job of explaining why stewardship is my basic framework for following Jesus.

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

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Sermon Audio 9/14/2014, Holy Cross Sunday

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo

1 Corinthians 1:18-24

The cross is the central symbol of Christianity. Even before Jesus, the cross was a powerful symbol, and its meaning has changed over time. My son recognized the cross before he was 18 months old, but he understood it to mean something very different than I do. What does the cross mean to us today as we try to follow Jesus together?

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

Sermon Audio 9/7/2014, 13th Sunday after Pentecost A

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo

Matthew 18:15-20

As we kicked off our program year with Sunday School, "God's Work. Our Hands." Sunday and more, today's Gospel lesson challenged us to be honest about the challenges and conflict that come with being an active community with diverse goals. How does Jesus instruct us to manage conflict? How have we managed conflict in our congregation, and how can we do it better? For starters, I am proud to introduce my favorite communication and conflict management model, the Role Renegotiation Model (believe me, it's so much better than the name), and its practical partner, the Pinches and Praises box. Because Jesus is with us, we can be bold to trust one another with our honest concerns.

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

Sermon Audio 8/10/2014, Ninth Sunday after Pentecost A

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo

Today we talked about faith in its most basic form, as trust in God. Peter trusted God until his Wile E. Coyote moment out on the water. Then what?

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

Sermon Audio 12/24/2013

Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo

Nativity of Our Lord - Christmas Eve A

Luke 2:1-20

Every year we gather on Christmas Eve to celebrate the birth of Jesus, so you'd think we'd have it all figured out by now, but I have a few questions: What, specifically, is the "good news of great joy for all the people?" Why does the answer to that question matter so much to me, personally? Why have we been doing yoga on Wednesdays for the past few weeks and calling it worship? What does "faith in God" even mean? You know, it's Christmas eve, so I figured I should just keep it light and simple, a goal at which I seem to have pretty obviously failed. Oh well. It turns out the birth of Jesus brings me back to the very foundations of my faith.

I'm usually pretty skeptical of Christmas Eve sermons, but I admit I'm really quite proud of this one, and I hope you'll check it out.