Wilderness

In his [surprisingly] short sermon on Sunday, Pastor Rob speaks about the desire we have for the wilderness — a time of getting away!  In the Bible, God calls people away, into the wilderness.   The wilderness in the Bible and in our lives is not simply a place of relaxing or being free from distractions.  It is a place of encounter God’s Spirit and God’s Word.

Advent Wreaths

This week Pastor Rob invites (okay, challenges!) each family to have an Advent wreath in their home as a way of focusing on Jesus Christ this season.

Christ as Cornernstone

We hear Isaiah and Jesus work with the same metaphor:  God as one who has made a vineyard.  In both cases, there is great brokenness in the relationship between God and the people.   The fundamental problem is that Christ is not the cornerstone!  Which asks us a tough question:  Is Christ the Cornerstone of our life?

Hosea, a violent world and God

This past week our world was rocked (yet again) by the terror driven tragedy in Paris (Beruit and other places).  What to do about a world filled with violence?  This is nothing new for God, sadly.  Here we look at God’s Word through the prophet Hosea and the violence of that age.
Note: The sermon consists of the lector and I going back and forth, concluding with another Biblical story told by him.

Reformation 2015

What does the coronation of King David and the cries of a blind beggar have in common?  With the Lutheran Reformation?  With your life?   Listen and find out!

Grief, Companionship and Christ

This week we heard the story of Naomi (and her daughter-in-law) Ruth.  It is a story of intense grief as Naomi experiences disappointment, uncertainty and death.  Naomi believes in God, but still grieves.  What difference does faith play in our grief?

Raising children in Faith

How do we pass on faith to our children.  Moses has something to teach us today!

Wrestling with God

This Sunday we hear the story of Jacob wrestling with God.  In this story we discover God's presence in our times of wrestling with life.  Pastor Rob explores the powerful connection between humility and blessing

Telling an Amazing Story

This Sunday we heard about God's visit to Abraham and Sarah (Genesis 18).  In order to understand just how amazing this story is -- and how amazing the story of our life in Jesus Christ truly is -- we need to hear the back story!

In the Garden

We begin our reading through the Bible this week with the story of Adam and Even in the garden.  It is a beautiful story of how life is meant to be, with God, with one another and with our work in creation.

Forgiveness means new life

In today's Gospel reading (Mark 2:1-12), Jesus heals a man.  What is unique about this healing is that he performs this healing by declaring the man forgiven.  This is quite strange at first, but with Jesus Christ, forgiveness always brings new life.

Savior and Lord

In this passage Jesus attacks the religious institutional leaders of his day. Are we surprised? Hardly. In an era of high institutional cynicism, we likely expect such attacks. But if we do not trust institutions for moral guidance, how do we know right from wrong?

Pastor Rob's dreams for Zion's

This week Pastor Rob marks seven years at Zion’s.  In this reflective sermon he lays out some of his hopes for the congregation as we move forward together.

Calling people to repent

This week Jesus sends out his disciples. They call people to repent. It works. Why we must and how we can, as a church, actually call people to repent.

Go in Peace

We end each worship service with the words, “Go in Peace and Serve the Lord.”  Our congregation experienced quite a bit of grief in the past two weeks, making these seem like very bold, if not unbelievable, words to hear.  But Jesus comes to us, gives us his peace and sends us back out to serve the Lord.

Mustard Seed

Jesus puts forth the Mustard Seed and Plant as an example of the Kingdom of God.  Like many of Jesus' parables, it teaches us about how we are to live our lives:  for others.  In this sermon I talk about the challenge this parable presents for us and where we can turn for hope.

Bad Days

In life we often encounter opposition for doing the right thing.  This happens to Jesus...and just about every other person in Scripture.  How do we handle this?

Isaiah 6 and the story that goes on

Today's focus passage was Isaiah 6 and his encounter with the Lord.  It happens at a difficult juncture in the life of the people of Israel.  The king of 50 years has died.  How does God encounter us in life, especially when we do not know how to move forward?  In light of the Isaiah passage (and the confirmation of three of our youth today), I maintain that God keeps the story going! 

What Baptism means to me

Our church celebrated Pentecost this year with nine Baptisms.  We had people of a variety of ages baptized; it was a chance for us to reflect on what baptisms means for us.

Worship as witness

Jesus calls his disciples to be witnesses (Luke 24:48).  Often times we understand witness as either sharing the Good News or acts of charity.  I suggest in this sermon that worship is itself an act of witness…especially in 2015 when life is so busy!

Suffering and hope

As we move through the Bible this year, we have arrived at the ministry of Saint Paul.  His letter to the Romans is an unbelievable testimony about the work of God in our lives.  In this letter (what we call chapter 5!) Paul offers that in his life, his suffering has made him more hopeful.  How does this work?

How does Jesus do that?

In today's Gospel (Matthew 9:10-12), Jesus eats with a bunch of people known to be sinners and generally bad people.  But this isn't the only surprising this about this story.  Jesus isn't just about "tolerance" but "transformation."  That is real love

Focus and hospitality

Paul does a great miracle this week.  It begins with focus; focus of Paul on the person suffering; focus of the lame man on Paul.  In our culture, focus seems so difficult.  In this story we discover the power of focus; and how this fits in with hospitality and worship.
(We had a new microphone on Sunday.  It took a few minutes into the sermon for audio quality to become sharp).

Seeds of Faith

This past Lent our congregation tried something unique and bold:  We gave each person $10 and challenged them to use to spread a seed of faith and God's love.  It was amazing to see what people did!  After church we had a wonderful celebration of this.  For my sermon today I focused on the parable of the seeds and how we are called to plant seeds of faith, not just in this project, but every day of our lives.

Easter Morning

Life has its dark and ambiguous moments.  What helps us understand and see God's resurrection at work?  What gives us confidence and hope?  In the resurrection account in Matthew's Gospel, what finally gives the first women calm and confidence is the presence of Jesus.  Throughout the Gospel, when Jesus reveals his presence, his peace calms the storms of those around him.  The good news of Easter is that the peaceful presence of Jesus Christ is ours today because he lives and is present for us.

Our identity in Christ

This week we heard the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20).  Before we get to the "going and making disciples", we need to hear the words from Jesus regarding Baptism.  In our Baptism, we receive God's name (Father, Son and Holy Spirit).  In Baptism, thus, we learn who we are, namely, children of God.  This is the identity that motivates and makes possible spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ around the world.

Easter Sonrise

The Easter story doesn't begin with bunnies or candy.  It begins in a tomb.  It is a story of resurrection over death.  But in order to process and understand resurrection, we must process death too.  In my sermon I proclaim why we as Christians can actually say good-bye to our loved ones.

Palm Sunday: Jesus as Super Hero

Palm Sunday's story is made for Hollywood: A dramatic ticker-tape parade, the overturning of the tables in the Temple and then the healing of the blind and lame. In many ways, the Gospels set up Jesus as Super Hero...Except for one key point:  He doesn't have a tragic flaw.  So what gives?

Lent IV: Parable of the Talents

In Matthew 25:14-30, Jesus tells the parable of the talents.  The moral of the story is pretty simple:  SHARE.  Share what God has given us!  Well, duh, we all knew this since we were two years old.  Why is this so tough then?

Lent III: Parable of the Banquet

Where will you go when you die?  Is a popular question; this week's parable asks a different question: What will you wear for all eternity!

Lent II: The unfair master

In Matthew 20:1-16, Jesus tells the parable of the an unfairly generous master.  Is there anything applicable to our life about the crazy, gracious and generous master and his servants?  Indeed, there is.  But at some level this parable speaks to just how different the kingdom of heaven is than the kingdom of his world.

Lent I parable: Unforgiving servant

In Matthew 18:20-35, Jesus tells the parable of the unforgiving servant.  After being forgiven of his exorbitant debt, he punishes a person who owes him a wee bit of money.  The meaning is straight-forward.  We have been forgiven much, we should forgive others.  Why is that hard to get sometimes for us?

Empty Bucket List

We’ve heard of the bucket list. What about the empty bucket list? In the Gospel today (Matthew 16:24-17:8) Jesus declares his intention to die and rise. With his days on earth limited, what does he do? He empties his bucket, giving it all away. This week our church begins our #SeedsOfFaithZions2015 project, all about giving it away.

The story of three miracles

Jesus feeds 5,000 people (Matthew 14).  At first, this seems like THE miracle.  But a closer look reveals that a few things even more miraculous are happening.

Anxiety and Prayer

Jesus offers some common sense words about anxiety and worries during his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6).  In spite of how common sense these are, they can be tough for us to process, internalize and believe.  So how do combat worries in our life?  I suggest a few ways in which we can pray through anxieties.

Light of the World 2015

We often try to change others.  This is not the call of Jesus; rather, we are called to be a light, a pathway to Jesus Christ who can, unlike us, actually change people.

The Power of Evil

I confess — many days I have more faith in evil than in good.  It is so pervasive and persuasive.  In this sermon I explore the reality of evil, but finally, the hope we have in Jesus Christ.

Baptism and Criticism

Nobody likes to be criticized.  Yet everyone considers a true friend one who is willing to tell them when there is a problem.  I suggest our Baptism is giving Jesus permission to be that friend, that coach, really that LORD, in our life, who can tell us time and time again where we have strayed.

The Journey of Faith

The Magi travel far to find Jesus.  Their road is over mountains and through the wilderness.  What can we learn from them about our own journey of faith.