Join the Parade
Proper 26C-22 – Reformation Sunday Immanuel Lutheran, Chicago “Zaccheus was a wee, little man, and a wee, little man was he.” It’s hard for me to read this gospel without […]
Entries by Pastor Monte
When It’s Wrong to Be Right
Proper 25C-22 Immanuel Lutheran, Chicago Today’s gospel is like a Far Side cartoon. It tells an entire story in a single frame—only not a very funny one. The Pharisee in […]
Can I Get a Witness?
St. Luke, Evangelist 10-22 Immanuel Lutheran, Chicago It happened so quickly. We were sleeping with the windows open. It was early May of last year. I woke up to a […]
Who Will Be Neighbor?
Proper 22C-22 Immanuel Lutheran, Chicago A hymn inspired by today’s gospel sung in Austria goes like this: Lord, we are your worthless servants Doing only what we must And our […]
Across the Divide
Proper 21C-22 Immanuel Lutheran, Chicago This is a terrifying parable. Yet, it seems fitting, somehow, for the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashana. The celebration, which begins today at sundown, ushers […]
Welcome for the Weary
Proper 20C-22 Immanuel Lutheran, Chicago This week I am re-reading, The New Jim Crow, by Michelle Alexander. A book which Cornell West described as “the secular bible for a new […]
Hope for the Hopeless
Proper 19C-22 Immanuel Lutheran, Chicago When they were little, I sang to my kids at bedtime. Always the same three hymns, “Silent Night,” “Spirit of Gentleness,” and “Amazing Grace.” I […]
Living Stones
Proper 18C-22 Immanuel Lutheran, Chicago Clarence Jordan was the author of the “Cotton Patch” translation of the New Testament, and founder of the inter-racial Koinonia farm in Americus, Georgia. As […]
Dreaming Dreams
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 […]