Sermon, Fifth Sunday of Easter Immanuel Lutheran Chicago May 15, 2022 Easter 5C-22 Dreaming Dreams Peter saw a vision in a trance (Acts 11:5). John “saw a new heaven and a new earth” (Revelation 21:1). Jesus gave the disciples a new commandment, that they should ‘love one another as he had loved them’ (John 13:34). […]
Sermon, Fourth Sunday of Easter Immanuel Lutheran Chicago May 8, 2022 Easter 4C-22 The Breasted One Bids You, Come “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27). When Jesus the Good Shepherd speaks, it can be surprising who’s listening. In 1958, a man named Robert K. Greenleaf, a researcher […]
Sermon, Third Sunday of Easter Immanuel Lutheran Chicago May 1, 2022 Last Words, New Story “Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or […]
Easter Day Sermon April 17, 2022 “But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.” (Luke 24:11) The women raced back from the tomb on Easter morning with astonishing news. They deliver the first Easter sermon: “He is not here but has risen!” Every sermon you’ve ever heard is […]
Lent 5C-22 Immanuel Lutheran, Chicago This week I visited the Art Institute with my cousin from San Diego. It’s been minute since I was there last. It was fun just to wander and see it all again as if for the first time through my cousin’s eyes. We lingered over Van Gogh. There was the […]
Lent 4C-22 Immanuel Lutheran, Chicago Sophia Moskalenko is an expert on the psychology of fairy tales. Mia Bloom, studies children’s mobilization into violent extremism. Together, they study the power of folklore in shaping the worldview of the adults we grow up to be. Intriguingly, they suggest, one factor underlying the unexpected unfolding of events in […]
Third Sunday of Lent Cycle C “Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live” says the Prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 55:3). Could God really use this crap, our shame, and all we hate in ourselves and our enemies, to nurture lives that flourish and grow? Sadly, today’s gospel has a tragic […]
Lent 2C-22 Immanuel Lutheran, Chicago Jesus said, “…How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing.” Yet, the people of ancient Israel, who for a thousand years since King David, prayed for God to re-establish the kingdom, could not open […]
First Sunday in Lent Immanuel Lutheran, Chicago It has begun, the season of Lent, a season of rest, renewal, repentance, reconciliation, and learning (four R’s and an L). This year our focus will be on learning, specifically, we will explore how our faith can help ground and support our mental health. Lent is an opportunity to […]
Transfiguration C-22 Immanuel Lutheran, Chicago Whether we are aware, or inattentive, or at war, there is a sacred sound that nature makes. It’s not a singular sound, but a multitude. While we yet live in the frigid grip of winter, we use our imagination to remember “…what it is like to stand in the presence […]