June 27, 2021
Pastor Rob has some fun with the terms “Monkey” and “Cat” Lutherans, talking about whether we are saved by grace or through faith!
The stories we hear from Mark’s Gospel suggest that there is great power to save in faith; yet God’s grace in Jesus Christ is relentless. Turns out that faith and grace might just work together after all.
We live a cancel culture world, not just of politics, but of all relationships in which it is easy and even righteous to walk away from people.
In his second letter to the Corinthians St Paul offers us a different way to handle the brokenness of human relationships: The ministry of reconciliation. God’s reconciliation of all people in Christ means we are always connected to each other: God did not cancel us and in the long run, we cannot cancel each other.
This ultimate reconciliation is grounded in Jesus’ death on the cross and culminates in the new creation of Heaven and Earth. While we wait for Christ’s return, the Spirit opens our hearts to God’s redeeming work of reconciliation in our lives.
Also this sermon includes a coda pondering what a ministry of reconciliation might look like in regards to racial injustice and healing in the United States.
The picture comes from https://www.woodstreamchurch.org/sermon/reconciliation/
St. Paul offers us challenging and difficult words — all must stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
Pastor
Rob reflects on our “judgy” culture permeates everything we do.
Unfortunately, the proposed solution — the curated life, in which we
carefully craft an online persona and feed, is not a tenable solution.
Instead, Pastor Rob describes the sacramental life, in which Christ is
in, with and under all things, even the brokenness and sin of life, to
make something beautiful.
June 6, 2021
“If one blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, one has no forgiveness in this age but is guilty of an eternal sin.” Even translated in this way, this verse still packs such a bite.
What is the connection between the Holy Spirit and forgiveness? Pastor Rob offers that it is all about a God, who through the Holy Spirit, interrupts our lives with grace that makes a way for forgiveness.
Holy Trinity
May 30, 2021
With six months to live, what did a dying man share with Pastor Rob? Through all the stories the man told it became clear that deep relationship and servant roles meant something. This seems a life well lived: a life loving and helping others.
To get at what this means in terms of sin and grace, Pastor Rob reflects on the story of Nicodemus, the rich and powerful man who meets Jesus by night. Turns out that God’s grace works in our lives to restore relationships and open hands for serving others. But this is not always easy; sin is powerful and gets in the way. But in the waters of Baptism, we are assured of the victory of Christ for us.
The photo comes from here, although I am not confident this is the original location of the art work. If someone knows the name of the artist, let us know!
