Christ Lutheran Church Harrisburg

Divisions and separations define the world and often the church.  Paul had a different idea about that based on everything that Jesus was about.  The world and our churches still struggle with this.  Our differences don't separate us, but instead help us to see a wider image of God.  The sermon is based on Galatians 3:1-9, 23-29.

Grace is not fair.  Thanks be to God!  Paul addresses grace and works in his letter to the church in Galatia.  The core of what he writes about is still relevant today.  Do we earn our way to God, or does God come to us because of who God is?  The sermon is based on Galatians 1:13-17, 2:11-21.

Membership has its privileges, as the saying goes.  But there are two ways to look at that.  One making faith something exclusive with the incentive to keep people out.  And another where we have the privilege of inviting people to see how God is at work in the world and participate in what the Spirit is up to.  The sermon is based on Acts 15:1-18.

Leviathan, that ancient description of chaos, evil, cruelty, and more shows up throughout Scripture and human history.  It causes damage, destruction, and death.  But it doesn't get the last word.  Even in the stoning of Stephen that we hear about in Acts 7, death doesn't get the final say.  Shalom does.  We aren't called to take on the methods of Leviathan and we can't defeat it.  only God can.  And we are called to follow in Jesus' footsteps with his methods.  The sermon is based on Acts 6 and 7.  

Tyrants tell stories in order to maintain control through fear.  They have done this for a long, long time.  The resurrection of Jesus is a story that does the opposite - offers hope and new opportunities, setting people free.  Pastor Matthew's sermon is based on Luke 24:13-35.

The world can feel like Jesus is still in the tomb.  But the tomb and the world can't contain him and hold him hostage.  Resurrection isn't about going back in time.  It's about moving forward in a new way.  And it's not just something that happened to Jesus 2000 years ago.  We see it today in our communities.  Resurrection gives us hope and healing here and now.  Pastor Matthew's sermon is based on Luke 24:1-12.

The crowd had expectations about Jesus.  They knew what they wanted.  So do we.  But Jesus doesn't live into those expectations.  He offers something else.  Something better.  Pastor Matthew's sermon is based on the Triumphant Entry into Jerusalem in Luke 19.  

The Narrative Lectionary gives us three stories about people who can and can't see Jesus for who he is.  Jesus gives us a lens to see him. He encounters us and transforms us.  The sermon is based on Luke 18:31-19:10.

The Narrative Lectionary takes us to Luke 15:1-32 where we hear Jesus offer three parables.  But who is his audience?  Is it the tax collectors and sinners?  Is it the Pharisees and the scribes?  What if it's both?  He proclaims good news for both groups and for us.  

Will empathy bring about the downfall of civilization like some argue?  Or will it bring healing?  Keeping love of humanity in the abstract is in stark contrast with Jesus' telling of the parable of the Good Samaritan.  He shows that love is real, it is put into action, and it impacts real people.  Pastor Matthew's sermon is based on Luke 10:25-42.

Transfiguration Sunday ends the season of Epiphany, where we get to see more fully who Jesus is and what he is about.  His glory shines bright on those that are around him.  And in so doing, we are called to shine his light to the world. Pastor Matthew's sermon is based on Luke 9:28-45.  

The Pharisee and his guests didn't want to see the woman who came in.  Just Jesus see her.  He hears her.  He reminds her that she is not alone.  He provides hope.  And he sends her out renewed and restored.  And he does that for us as well, especially when the world wants to erase people.  Jesus invites us to see and hear people, to know they are not alone.  To offer hope, and to send us out.  Pastor Matthew's Sermon is based on Luke 7:36-50.

Jesus defies expectations.  And that's good news.  While so many are expecting Jesus to cozy up with those in power, to find him in place of wealth and might, we can always find him on the margins of society with the poor and outcast - healing, restoring life, bringing good news.  Pastor Matthew's sermon is based on Luke 7:18-35.  

Words can be helpful and healing, or they can cause harm.  A Tweet this past week made unfounded claims that will have a negative impact on people.  Speeches by leaders in the past have brought healing and new life.  In our Gospel reading, Jesus brings healing and new life through the word, in literal ways.  How has Jesus spoken into our lives and communities with healing, hope, and new life?  How is Jesus calling on us to use words to bring healing and new life around us?  The sermon is based on Luke 7:1-17.

Does humanity exist to serve law and order, or do these things exist to serve humanity?  Humanity has struggled with this forever.  Religious groups have been so concerned with upholding the law, that they are willing to kill in order to maintain a preferred order.  Jesus rejected the ends justify the means.  He extends grace, even when it upsets the established order.  The sermon is based on Luke 6:1-16.

Jesus calls his first disciples, fishermen.  They stunk.  But it wasn't because of their odor.  It was the ways of the society around them that stunk on them.  He calls on them to fish for people.  That goes beyond inviting people to church.  We're called to cast a net of love on people.  The Gospel smells different - like the aroma of mercy.  The sermon is based on Luke 5:1-11.

Jesus preached an unpopular sermon.  The crowd wanted to throw him off a cliff.  Why?  Because he had the audacity to declare that their barriers, boundaries and such were not what God was about.  The message still applies today.  Jesus calls us to break down barriers in our time and place as well.  The sermon is based on Luke 4:14-30.

What should we do?  That's the question that gets asked so very often in light of so many horrible things that go on in our world.  It's the question the crowd asked John.  The answer is Good News.  The sermon is based on Luke 3:1-22.

We celebrated Epiphany.  The story of Epiphany from Matthew 2:1-12 is full of fear and joy.  Fear leads to violent actions, while joy leads to outward expression of giving.  The world is full of fear, and Jesus doesn't pretend there isn't fear.  But Jesus brings joy in the midst of fear.  

In the first week of Advent, the Narrative Lectionary presents a story that contrasts cruelty with hope.  For many in power, the cruelty is the point.  But for God, the hope is the point.  The sermon is based on Daniel 6:6-27.  

This past Sunday was Christ the King Sunday - a day we are reminded that we follow Jesus and not ideologies.  Christ's kingdom is far different than the world's.  Christ's kingdom is founded on peace, invitation, grace, and mercy.  The world's kingdoms use force, violence, oppression, and imposing on others.  We are called to live into Christ's kingdom in the midst of the world's kingdom.  Pastor Matthew's sermon is based on Jeremiah 36:1-8, 21-23, 27-28, then 31:31-34.

The Narrative Lectionary shares Isaiah's call.  We are all called.  It's just a matter of what we are called to do and to be.  How is God calling you.  The sermon is based on Isaiah 6:1-13.

Jonah is a parable about a resistant prophet who doesn't want what's best for this enemies.  He tries running away.  Nothing works.  But in spite of it all, Jonah is faithful.  He knows that God is merciful.  Sometimes we are Jonah, sometimes we are the people of Nineveh, and sometimes we are the king of Nineveh.  Pastor Matthew's Sermon is based on Jonah 1:1-17; 3:1-10; 4:1-11.  

1 Kings 17 talks about Elijah and the widow.  There is abundance in the midst of suffering.  And we shouldn't ignore the cause of the suffering - King Ahab's moral bankruptcy.  Terrible leadership causes everyone to suffer.  But God provides.  The sermon is based on 1 Kings 17:1-24.

The Temple couldn't be built without foreign help and resources.  And Solomon pleads with God to hear the prayer of the foreigner.  God has always been tearing down barriers and walls that separate humanity from God.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer is a prime example of that faithfulness.  Pastor Matthew's Sermon is based on 1 Kings 5:1-5; 8:27-30, 41-43.

God reminds David of who is in charge, and it's not David.  Humility is an essential leadership quality we are told about in 2 Samuel 7:1-17.  But that message is just for David.  It's for all of us.  We encounter humility all the time.  Just look around.  Pastor Matthew's Sermon talks about humility in leadership and in life.  

Do you struggle with prayer?  Hannah's story in 1 Samuel offers us some guidance in the midst of struggle.  Prayers from the margins of society upend the meaning of greatness, strength, and might.  The sermon is based on 1 Samuel 1:9-11, 19-20; 2:1:10.  

When we feel lost and uncertain, how comforting is it to have something tangible that can make us feel safe?  Our politics, economics, relationship, and so much of our lives are uncertain.  And there are golden calves that offer a sense of control and safety.  But they aren't God.  Golden calves help us ignore the reality of the chaos and provide us a false sense of security.  God walks with us in the uncertainty and provides a way forward.  The sermon is based on Exodus 32:1-4

The world can feel overwhelming.  So much of what goes on is designed to make us give up.  But hope raises us up and sets people free.  The sermon is based on Exodus 12:1-13; 13:1-8.  

In Genesis 15:1-16 we hear about God making a promise to Abram.  Abram struggles with that promise.  There are decades in which he doesn't hear from God.  That's just like life.  So often we can't see how things will turn out, but God is faithful and walks with us and keeps God's promises.   

The second creation account and the accompanying story of the Fall are well known by many.  And the story sets up the rest of Scripture to tell of blessings and curses in so many ways.  It is an attempt to explain to people how we get to where we are.  Look around - see the blessings and the curses of today in your life, your community, and the world.  The sermon is based on Genesis 2:4b-7, 15-17; 3:1-8.

People have been lamenting and crying to God with the question "How long, oh Lord?" It is the cry of people oppressed.  It is the cry of people who have suffered.  It is the cry of humanity exhausted by cruelty.  Daniel 12 doesn't give us an answer so much as reminds us that nothing can stop God, not even death.  The sermon is based on Daniel 12.  

Over the weekend, we witnessed two different kingdoms on display in Harrisburg.  The kingdom based on fear, anger, division, and hatred was at one end of the city.  The kingdom of God based on seeing the image of God in others, service, care, and love was at the other end.  Daniel 7 shares visions of terrible beasts that represent cruel kingdoms that all fall and shares about God's kingdom which lasts for ever.  We got a glimpse of this over the weekend.  

Oppressive systems hold everyone in bondage.  They use violence.  They are cruel.  Because at their core, they are weak and collapse from their rotten foundation.  But God's Kingdom has a different foundation that shares life to many.  We see it the story of Daniel and the Lion's Den and in the Civil Rights marches of 1965 in Alabama.  The sermon is based on Daniel 6:6-27.

Fear, threats of violence, actual violence - these are the tools of empires and shallow men.  Our reading from Daniel 3:1-30 shows us that God doesn't abandon the faithful, is with them in the worst of situations, and that ultimately, the ways of violence do not work.  

God takes the long view with creation.  The long view is the loving view.  The long view isn't stopped by set backs or obstacles.  The long view presents a vision of what is to be.  God invites us into the long view.  The sermon is based on Daniel 2:24-49.

What do you see?  What do you witness?  What are you showing?  God shows up in a variety of ways and shows us what love is.  The sermon is based on 1 John 5:9-13.

Love is bigger than we think.  The sermon is based on 1 John 5:1-6.  The author talks about love, but also addresses where that love comes from that allows us to conquer the world.  We don't conquer the way the world does.  Instead we love, which transforms the world.  

The world is throwing around a whole lot cruelty, violence, division, and hatred.  If ever there was a time for love, it would be now.  While we want to respond to what the world is offering in a similar way, Jesus calls us to respond differently.  Now is the time for us to live into this calling of love.  The sermon is based on 1 John 4:7-21.

There are so many terrible things in the world.  It can overwhelm us.  And we ask, "What can we do?"  1 John 3:16-24 offers some advice.  

Who are the real Christians?  What are the marks of a "real" Christian?  Humanity is obsessed with dividing people.  God brings us together.  That's good news.  The sermon is based on 1 John 3:1-7.

How do I pray?  Teach me God!  Jesus gives us the Lord's Prayer as an example.  But what is prayer?  And how do we do it.  The sermon is based on Matthew 6:9-13.

God invites us!  We are invited to praise God, to remember what God has done and what God will do, and how God never forgets us, even in the midst of hardship.  Come and celebrate!  The sermon is based on Psalm 66.

Come on Jesus, just tell us what the Kingdom of Heaven is.  That's not how it works.  Maybe that's because we wouldn't know if we walked into it.  Instead we get glimpses of it.  How do you encounter the Kingdom of Heaven?  The sermon is based on Matthew 13:44-50.

How do we read the Bible?  There are helpful and unhelpful ways.  It helps to start with knowing some things about the Bible.  Just after 21:30 into the podcast I offer a direct example of reading Scripture in light of shootings around the church.  The sermon is based on 2 Timothy 3:10-17.  

The Holy Spirit gives us gifts and draws us together.  We are given unique gifts to build up the body of Christ, to serve, to love, to live - in community.  It's a miracle.  The sermon is based on Acts 2:1-4 and 1 Corinthians 12:1-13.  

What is Love?  We can talk about it.  We can think about it.  We can experience it.  We can share in it.  What is the greatest?  The sermon is based on 1 Corinthians 13.  

Peter and John heal a man lame from birth.  And when healed, he becomes a part of the community.  But it is far more than just physical healing that happens.  Christ is still active in healing in a multitude of ways today. We experience this healing at Christ Lutheran Church and we witness it to the ends of the earth.  The sermon is based on Acts 3:1-10.

Humanity has great imagination for destruction, but limited in what God is capable of doing to improve creation and life.  We are called to witness to God's acts, which are much better.  The sermon is based on Acts 1:1-14.

Early Easter morning, the women come to the tomb.  They bring their expectations.  They enter the tomb where their expectations die, because Jesus is risen and unleashed on the world.  He can't be contained.  What's he going to change?  The sermon is based on Mark 16:1-8.  

There's a couple of parades in town.  One seeks to maintain order and control through the threat of violence.   The other seeks to free people, but not in a way they expect.  Which parade are you going to?  The sermon is based on Mark 11:1-11.