Sermons From Good Shepherd Lutheran Church In Raleigh, Nc

Gospel - John 10:22-30 In our Gospel, Jesus, the Good Shepherd, demonstrates his care for his sheep and reveals a big truth about his identity the people aren’t ready to hear.

Gospel - John 21:1-19 When our lives are shaken up by transition, trauma, chaos, or change, it is tempting to cling to what we know, to reach for the familiar. We head straight to the center of our comfort zones. But Jesus, always, is calling us forward, toward what’s next. Now, Jesus is our home, wherever we lay our heads, and he calls us to tend his sheep wherever we find them.

Gospel - John 20:`19-31 They don't tell you this often, but resurrection comes with scars.

Easter Celebration Worship Gospel - Luke 24:1-12 There are days when the signs of new life are REALLY hard to see. There are days when life really is that hard, and none of it is fair, and all the news is terrible, and it seems like death has won. There are days when Easter messages sound naïve and empty. That’s when I remember the goo… That’s when I remember that the way that a caterpillar becomes a butterfly in the first place is that it goes into the chrysalis and it turns into goo. It melts, almost completely, and out of that soupy, yucky, gooey, mess, grows a new creation that is more complex and beautiful than anything that came before. To get to trees full of butterflies, first, you gotta go through a lot of goo.

Easter Sunrise Worship Gospel - John 20:1-18 Easter dawns on us slowly…showing up in the first burst of laughter after months of grief, or in a possibility after too many dead ends…or in a new friendship after a long loneliness…or in a little more energy after sickness. It dawns on us as we furrow our brow and think, “Huh! I feel a little better today.” Easter dawns on us, creeping into the edges of our dark nights. Easter begins even while we are still weeping and confused and without a clue. But eventually, we begin to see, gradually, that Easter is here, that Jesus is alive and that because he lives, we live too.

Gospel - John 13:1-17, John 13:31b-35 Jesus gives us a new commandment to love one another through his example of washing feet. It's not just about washing feet though, it's about the decision to love. And by our love, the world will know we are his disciples.

Gospel (not recorded) - Luke 19:28-40 If God can use a donkey, God can use you.

Gospel - John 12:1-8 We know enough to be scared, because life is crazy and hard! But we've also seen enough to know that hope is real...to know that, because Jesus is with us, anything is possible...to know that we can survive pain...to know that even death cannot keep us down. We've heard this story in our weekly Wednesday evening testimonies this Lent. We've heard stories of new life after job loss, rejection by the church, illness and addiction, depression and grief. These stories - our life stories - are full of resurrection. We've walked with Jesus for a while now, and so, on our better days, in our more centered, hopeful moments, we, like Mary, trust that, whatever life brings, we have each other. We have love and friendship and community. And that, with Jesus in the mix, nothing is impossible.

Gospel - Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 Compassion can help us live from Rumi's field right in the middle of the brokenness and complications of daily life, in the middle of the reality of the news, in the middle of the reality of bad decisions and immorality and disaster. Compassion helps us to see our relationships first, to see the imago dei - the image of God - in each other, no matter how wrong we happen to be in the moment. Compassion helps us to see past our guilt and shame and ignorance and selfishness to the place where our souls are the same. Compassion sees the pain underneath the sins. It sees past the drama to who we are, and it opens us up with love.

Gospel - Luke 13:1-9 We must be people addicted to hope, not certainty.

Gospel - Luke 13:31-35 God in Jesus will gather humanity under the wings of the cross.

Gospel - Luke 4:1-13 (Due to technical issues, the Gospel is not included in this recording.) In the wilderness, we find out who Jesus is not. He’s not self-serving. He’s not going to seek personal political power. And he will not avoid the cross….even when he is starving and exhausted and just plain weary. Jesus is a rock. He is steady, sure, clear on who he is, even if we don’t know yet. He is a rock in a weary land.

Gospel - Luke 9:28-43a The transfiguration is all about God in Jesus being so much more than we ever thought possible.

Gospel - Luke 6:27-38 In our own daily brutal and beautiful lives, loving our enemies doesn’t mean we have to like them, feel warm and fuzzy about them, or even “get over” whatever they have done to us, as if that is a quick and easy thing to do. It means that, despite how wrong they were or how wrong they are or how wrong they will be, we seek their good. When they treat us poorly, we treat them well. We don’t have to be friends. We may even continue to be enemies. And still, we love. We seek the good… We love because God loves us – extremely, even when we act like God’s enemy, even when we neglect or harm the Jesus we meet in our neighbors, even when no one would recognize us as Christians. God loves us, even then. God is always seeking our good in relationship with the good of the whole world.

Gospel - Luke 6:17-26 Pr. Sara reminds us that Jesus’ invitation is for our whole selves, which means we’re all on the same level when it comes to God...whether we want to be or not.

Gospel - Luke 5:1-11 Jesus is a bit uncontrollable, so be careful when he steps into the boat.

Gospel - Luke 4:21-30 It’s no wonder they want to throw Jesus off a cliff. This Gospel message is hard. It’s hard because it’s not fair, it’s gracious. It’s not even handed, it’s abundant. It’s not just for us, it’s for everybody…even the people we know don’t deserve it. The truth is, none of us deserves this grace. None of us deserves this forgiveness. None of us deserves this indescribable love that we can’t escape, even when we are at our worst. And yet, it is here for us all. Restoration, healing, forgiveness, newness of life. It’s ours. Now. And it’s theirs, now too.

Gospel - Luke 4:14-21 God sees who we really are: the whole picture that includes the scars of the tough things we’ve been through, but that also includes who we were created to be and the gorgeous potential of this world for goodness and mercy, for peace that results from justice, for kindness and compassion and all people living full, connected, whole lives. God sees the people we are meant to be. God sees the world we are meant to have.

Gospel - John 2:1-11 In these readings between Christmas and Lent, the scriptures give us clues, signs, as to who Jesus is and what he’s up to.

Gospel - Luke 3:15-22 Beloved, these waters call us to difficult things: to love God with everything we have, to care for others and the world God made, to work for peace and justice in all the earth - no simple task. And doing these things faithfully, authentically, from the deepest parts of who we are will lead us to do things that not everyone will understand. These waters call us to look beyond labels that society gives us - labels like poor, addicted, disabled, young, old, foolish - and see the story that matters, the story that begins with God’s love. Beloved is who we are. Beloved is the story that matters.