Christ the King surprises us. We celebrate it year after year, as the last Sunday of Pentecost before we begin our church new year with Advent next week. Though the appointed scripture texts for Christ the king are different year to year, they always surprise me, because they don’t often depict Christ as the kindContinue reading “Sunday Sermon – 11/22/2020”
Author Archives: Joyful Life Lutheran Church
Wednesday Connection – 11/15/2020
This week, we celebrate the last Sunday of Pentecost with “Christ the King” Sunday. No matter what the changing lectionary text is, every year we celebrate Christ the King with a gospel reading from the very end of Jesus life on earth, rather it’s on the cross, or in his last moments teaching his disciplesContinue reading “Wednesday Connection – 11/15/2020”
Wednesday Connection – 11/11/2020
Our community is still processing the enormity of a global pandemic, an election, and the many ups and downs that come with everything else in our lives. There is grief, joy, fear, relief, apprehension. As a community, we bring all these things to the table together and take courage in knowing that God is withContinue reading “Wednesday Connection – 11/11/2020”
Sunday Sermon – November 15, 2020
My husband Cole and I are both students at Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and we lived on campus there for our first two years of classes. While we were there, my husband was an absolute menace to the grounds crew. He was never trying to be difficult or to make their lives harder,Continue reading “Sunday Sermon – November 15, 2020”
Sunday Sermon – November 8, 2020
According to Wikipedia, in my lifetime there have been 46 major, notable, well publicized predictions of when the world was supposed to end. Some of them you might remember more vividly were the ancient Mayan calendar ending December 21, 2012, or Y2K when all technology ever was supposed to crash and cause mass destruction ofContinue reading “Sunday Sermon – November 8, 2020”
Sunday Sermon – November 1, 2020
I imagine the crowds went to the mountain that day feeling the same way we would as elementary school kids going to assembly. You never knew when it was going to happen, but one morning you get to school and your teacher says, “leave your backpacks, we’re going to the cafeteria”. And your eyes lightContinue reading “Sunday Sermon – November 1, 2020”
Sunday Sermon – October 25, 2020
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”
Sunday Sermon – October 18, 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”
Sunday Sermon: 10/11/2020
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”
Sunday Sermon
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”
Joyful Life Lutheran Church 