Sermons From Good Shepherd Lutheran Church In Raleigh, Nc

Gospel - John 12:20-33 There is death on the trash heap. When something happens, you will never be the person you were before. There is an ending that will need to be grieved. But this death, this suffering, this grief is not the end. With God, it is the seed. Sometimes, we all feel like trash: Like we don’t fit. Like we are worn out and used up. Like we are a hassle for those around us. Like we have been tossed aside to make way for someone newer, shinier, braver, better. When we feel that way, God is there. On the trash heap, beside the dumpster, behind that restaurant door, ready to see you and get so excited that there is life in you yet!

Gospel - John 3:14-21 What do you see when you look at the cross? A tool you can use? Or one God fashioned because we love to look for salvation in all the wrong places?

Gospel - John 2:13-22

Gospel - Mark 8:31-38 With Jesus as our true north, we will take risks. We will suffer. And yet, we can do this because we see that there is really no other way. There is no other way but to love God and love neighbor and let the chips fall. We could try to avoid suffering (we’re good at that), but to do so would be to deny the larger truth…the truth of nonviolence and kindness and mercy. The truth of love and life abundant that we have experienced and that has changed us and those we love. And so, when we find ourselves bearing a cross – losing a friend or choosing the harder path or making less money because we cannot willingly be a part of injustice or violence or exploitation – we see that we are not alone. We are living the Christian life.

Gospel - Mark 1:9-15 We are tempted to see the wilderness wandering periods of our lives as wasted, but as Jesus shows us, they can be proving grounds full of wild blessings...if we'll pay attention. Note: The Genesis text referenced is Genesis 9:8-17.

Gospel - Mark 9:2-9 As Christ is Transfigured before the disciples, they get a glimpse of the terrifying truth that God keeps promises and is more loving than they could possibly have imagined. Image Credit: Creation by Lewis Bowman

Gospel - Mark 1:29-39 Jesus calls us to human connection, even when we are sick. Jesus calls us to serve, in whatever ways we can, given our circumstances. Jesus calls us to healing, even when a cure is not possible. Jesus calls us back to life. Perhaps we’d like a more dramatic resurrection. Instead, we get resurrection that is everyday. Every. Day. It is not always dramatic, but it is always a miracle, always a gift.

Gospel - Mark 1:21-28 There are many things in this world that steal our voice. God is about giving humanity their God-given voice back when they lose it.

Gospel - Mark 1:14-20 Jesus’ yells for the disciples to follow him, upsetting their professions, goals, and agendas. Is Jesus yelling today? And are we listening?

Gospel - John 1:43-51 Can anything good come out of Haiti? Can anything good come out of Oakland? Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Come and see. Come and see the hometown of God….where all the goodness and grace and healing comes from…where God is born and nurtured and raised and formed and launched out into the world to bring life and life abundant. We can turn our backs if we want to. We can be too good for all of that. We can want the best – and only the best. We can leave them alone in the messes we helped create. Or, we can “come and see” the very face of God. We can allow ourselves to be reborn and nurtured and raised and formed and launched out into the world to bring life and life abundant.

Gospel - Mark 1:4-11 A new hobby begins in a quiet moment of curiosity. A new relationship begins in the quiet, unspoken awareness of attraction. A new job begins with the quiet inkling that your old job isn’t quite the right fit anymore. A new life forms in secret, before mom and dad have any idea. Before the big leaps are taken and the big declarations are declared, the new beginning is there, changing everything… Today we are invited to consider: What new beginning, what new creation, is God’s Spirit bringing about in us, in our ordinary yet extraordinary lives? How will the epiphany of Christ – his manifestation – be made manifest in our gifts and time and intentions? How will this new year be new, for us? The world awaits the answer.

Gospel - Matthew 21:23-32 Pr. Tim encourages us to wrestle with whether we are willful in our belief, or willing to give some up to follow Jesus.

Gospel - Matthew 20:1-16 Jesus challenges our propensity to consider status and value over people in this tough Gospel parable. How does this play out in your parable of a life?

Forgiveness ain’t easy. And it’s an invitation that comes to us in strange fire. And mixed up in that strange fire is God’s very specific love for us. For you. A love that includes forgiveness – for you. This gift that is so difficult for us to give, God gives to us so very freely. So very often. Now and forever.

Gospel - Revelation 21:1-6 What are the thresholds in your life? The God encounters? And how can the church community help you put the puzzle pieces together?

Gospel - Matthew 16:21-28 The truth is that life will kill us all. And first, it will knock us down a few times. But when we rise, by God’s grace, we too show the world the incomprehensible power of God to save. In this way, we will follow Jesus…not by trying to be good disciples or attempting to pick up little crosses as we go through life. We will follow Jesus…not by working our way into good discipleship or earning gold stars toward a spot in heaven. We will follow Jesus by getting in line and surrendering to reality – by acknowledging the fullness of life with its fear and difficulty and trouble and pain and suffering - and riding the wave, trusting that the way out is through, trusting that grace has got us and is not letting go.

Gospel - Matthew 16:13-20 Though Peter has the right answer in this Gospel lesson, his deepest spiritual insights (and ours) come from experiencing the grace of God upon him when he gets it wrong.

Gospel Reading - Luke 1:46-55 Friends, we come here to remember who we are in God, just like Mary went to Elizabeth, and just like Mary, we are called to SING - out loud in the world - whatever the cost. Because when we are rooted in the God who sees everything about us and embraces us anyway…what other people think about us or do to us is really irrelevant. And then, we are called to become the sanctuary we have found so that others, too, might sing God’s song… So that all the world might meet each other in that deep, soul place where we see ourselves in the other, where we see God in all people and all of creation, where there is no longer need for powerful and lowly, rich and hungry, us and them.

Gospel Reading - Matthew 14:22-33 Pastor Tim wonders if we're willing to be 'that person' Jesus calls to speak out against racism, walking on the water of baptism.

Gospel Reading - Matthew 14:13-21 God doesn’t pick representatives and ambassadors because they are the smartest, fastest, or strongest. God chooses those whose character reflects truth about the kingdom of heaven and then equips them with the gifts, or with able, complementary companions, to be the hands and feet, mouth and heart of God in the world.