Author Archives: Joyful Life

Good morning everyone, happy Reformation week! To really get into today’s gospel text about freedom from sin, and in honor of a very well known Lutheran named Dietrich Bonhoeffer, I’m gonna tell you about Bonhoeffer, and about grace, and about potentially getting eaten by bears, and hopefully by the end of this those three thingsContinue reading “Sunday Sermon – October 25, 2020”

In Jesus time, politics were sometimes a malicious conversation topic, especially when mixed with religion. Our gospel text for today brings us right into the middle of one of these tense, seemingly lose-lose standoffs. It’s the kind of conversation where as soon as someone asks that question, or brings up that topic, whatever it is,Continue reading “Sunday Sermon – October 18, 2020”

One of the many gifts scripture gives us is the ability to stand back, thousands of years later, and learn how countless generations have known and encountered God. Even looking at the experience of more recent generations, you can see how God has been active in different people’s lives in different ways. My faith isContinue reading “Sunday Sermon: 10/11/2020”

October 4, 2020 Vineyards aren’t something that I can very easily picture or relate to. My mind automatically jumps to old black and white movies where Italian grandmas in floral aprons are stomping barefoot on grapes in giant wooden barrels. But for the people of Israel, especially in Jesus time, vineyards and the grapes theyContinue reading “Sunday Sermon”

Exodus 3:1-12; Matthew 16:21-28 – August 30, 2020 INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 3:1-12 There arose a “Pharaoh who knew not Joseph.” He oppressed the Hebrews and asked them to make bricks without straw. This new Pharaoh was threatened by the sheer numbers of the Hebrew slaves and issued an edict that all the Hebrew baby boysContinue reading “Holy Ground”

Isaiah 51:1-6; Matthew 16:13-20; Romans 12:1-8 – August 23, 2020 INTRODUCTION TO MATTHEW 16:13-20 If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator; If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist; If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us anContinue reading “Rocks”

Psalm 67; Genesis 45:1-15; Matthew 15:22-31; Romans 11:1-2, 29-32 – August 16, 2020 INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 45 Joseph was a dreamer.  Unfortunately, he did not keep his dreams to himself.  When he shared with his brothers a dream about them bowing down to him, they sold him into slavery and told his father he wasContinue reading “God’s Table”