Someone who wasn’t part of Jesus’ circle was casting out demons in Jesus’ name, and the disciples wanted him stopped. They appealed to Jesus, as Joshua did to Moses about the elders who prophesied without official permission. Both Moses and Jesus refused to see this as a threat. Jesus welcomes the good being done in […]
View the Sermon (PDF)September 22, 2024, Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Walking with Jesus, the disciples quarreled with one another about who was the greatest. Jesus taught them that in serving and welcoming even a child, they were also welcoming him and the one who sent him. We are given wisdom and strength, not for our own ambition, but to seek to do the will of […]
View the Sermon (PDF)September 15, 2024, Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost
In today’s gospel, Jesus asks his disciples, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter responded, “You are the Messiah.” Yet Peter did not understand, and so Jesus then taught the crowds and his disciples, saying, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” […]
View the Sermon (PDF)September 8, 2024, Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost
James reminds us that we are given faith for a reason: we are to demonstrate our faith through love for others. Faith is the power to love God and our neighbor. Love is the demonstration of faith. In today’s gospel, Jesus responded to the faith of a Gentile woman, and restored hearing and speech to […]
View the Sermon (PDF)September 1, 2024, Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Jesus protests against abandoning the law and holding to human traditions, saying that true uncleanness comes not from external things, but from the intentions of the human heart. James writes that God gives us birth by the word of truth, Jesus Christ; therefore, we are to be not simply hearers of the word, but doers […]
View the Sermon (PDF)Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost
In today’s gospel the disciples take offense at Jesus’ teaching about the bread of life, and many of Jesus’ disciples no longer went about with him. Against this, Peter confessed, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Paul also reminds us that God’s word is like armor that protects […]
View the Sermon (PDF)Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost
The entire Bible witnesses to God’s wisdom and walking in the way of insight, peace, and reconciliation. Jesus gave his flesh and blood for the life of the world on the cross and was raised to new life. Jesus is the living bread of heaven who gives the world eternal life. Eating his flesh and […]
View the Sermon (PDF)Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost
Through the grace of faith we are drawn to Jesus by the Father; and Jesus, the bread of life, says that whoever believes in him has eternal life. Therefore, as Paul writes, we are to be imitators of God in Christ, always walking in love that our lives might be a fragrant offering and sacrifice […]
View the Sermon (PDF)Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost
Apparently not satisfied by Jesus’ feeding of thousands, some followed Jesus for a sign of his power. They looked for Jesus not because they believed in him but had eaten their fill of the loaves. Jesus offered himself, saying, “I am the bread of life.” He is the bread come from heaven to give life […]
View the Sermon (PDF)Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
Today is the first of five Sundays with gospel readings from John 6, the first four of which focus on Jesus as the bread of life. As Jesus feeds thousands of people with five loaves and two fish, we might also ask, “How can a bit of bread and wine contain so much grace?” It […]
View the Sermon (PDF)