Showing posts with label Luke. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Luke. Show all posts

Sunday, April 5, 2026

Sermon: "Not Here", Luke 24 (April 5, 2026 - Easter)

You may have noticed some yellow papers taped to the pews as you sat down this morning. If you’ve joined us for worship at any point over the past few weeks, you probably recognize them: they’re the names of marginalized groups that have been hanging on our walls since Ash Wednesday. These are not groups that *I* have decided are marginalized; they’re ones that you as a community have lifted up. These are the people that we tend to forget, disregard, and push away so that we don’t have to practice empathy or confront the ways that our society has failed them. These names have been on the walls throughout Lent to remind us how again and again - especially in Luke’s gospel - Jesus demonstrates compassion and solidarity with the very people that society would prefer to stay “out of sight, out of mind.”  But they’re in our pews this morning because today, something is different. Something has changed. They are no longer out of sight and mind because today, the angels tell us, Jesus is not here. 

Wednesday, April 1, 2026

Liturgy: Easter Sunday Lessons and Carols, Luke 24 (April 5, 2026)

*You are welcome to use or adapt any of my resources for free, but I ask that you provide proper citation AND comment on this post to let me know.*

 Additional Hymns:

Hymn GTG #232, “Jesus Christ is Risen Today” [vv. 1, 3, & 4]
Hymn GTG #238, “Thine Is the Glory” [vv. 1 & 2]

Tuesday, March 24, 2026

Liturgy: Palm Sunday Lessons and Carols, Luke 19-21 (March 29, 2026)

*You are welcome to use or adapt any of my resources for free, but I ask that you provide proper citation AND comment on this post to let me know.*

 Additional Hymns:

Hymn GTG #197, “Hosanna, Loud Hosanna” [vv. 1 & 3]
Hymn GTG #198, “Ride On! Ride On in Majesty!” [vv. 1-2]

Wednesday, March 18, 2026

Liturgy: Lent 5 Lessons and Carols, Luke 16-18 (March 22, 2026)


*You are welcome to use or adapt any of my resources for free, but I ask that you provide proper citation AND comment on this post to let me know.*

Additional Hymns:

Hymn GTG #396, “Brethren, We Have Met to Worship” [vv. 1 & 4]
Hymn GTG #383, “Dream On, Dream On” [vv. 1] 

Tuesday, March 10, 2026

Liturgy: Lent 4 Lessons and Carols, Luke 13-15 (March 15, 2026)

    *You are welcome to use or adapt any of my resources for free, but I ask that you provide proper citation AND comment on this post to let me know.*


Additional Hymns:

Hymn GTG #318, “In Christ There Is No East or West” [vv. 1 & 4]
Hymn GTG #771, “What Is the World Like” [vv. 1, 2, & 5] 

Sunday, March 8, 2026

Liturgy: Lent 3 Lessons and Carols, Luke 10-12 (March 8, 2026)

   *You are welcome to use or adapt any of my resources for free, but I ask that you provide proper citation AND comment on this post to let me know.*


Additional Hymns:

Hymn GTG #62, “Love the Lord Your God”
Hymn GTG #300, “We Are One in the Spirit” [vv. 1, 3, 4] 


Tuesday, February 24, 2026

Liturgy: Lent 2 Lessons and Carols, Luke 7-9 (March 1, 2026)

  *You are welcome to use or adapt any of my resources for free, but I ask that you provide proper citation AND comment on this post to let me know.*


Additional Hymns:

Hymn GTG #543, “God, Be the Love to Search and Keep Me” [vv. 1, 2, & 5]

Sunday, February 22, 2026

Liturgy: Lent 1 Lessons and Carols, Luke 4-6 (February 22, 2026)

 *You are welcome to use or adapt any of my resources for free, but I ask that you provide proper citation AND comment on this post to let me know.*


Additional Hymns:

Hymn GTG #168, “Within Your Shelter, Loving God” [vv. 1-3]
Hymn GTG #163, “Wild and Lone the Prophet’s Voice”

Sunday, December 21, 2025

Sermon: “The Art of Regifting: REDIRECT”, Luke 2:8-17 (December 21, 2025)

In just three weeks, we’ve covered a lot of ground in terms of the regifting process. Prior to Advent, some of us might have thought that regifting was a simple matter of finding something you don’t want and pawning it off on someone else, but now we know better. Now we know that regifting can be much more than that, and that there are steps to doing it well. 

Tuesday, December 16, 2025

Liturgy: Advent 4: Redirect, Luke 2:8-17 (December 21, 2025)

      *You are welcome to use or adapt any of my resources for free, but I ask that you provide proper citation AND comment on this post to let me know that you have either used or adapted it.*


Hymns
Hymn GTG #105, “People, Look East”
Hymn GTG #136, “Go, Tell It on the Mountain”
Hymn GTG #107, “Awake! Awake, and Greet the New Morn”


Sunday, December 7, 2025

Sermon: “The Art of ReGifting: REFLECT”, Luke 1:46-55 (December 7, 2025)

Last week we began our Advent series by considering why we need to fully receive and appreciate God’s gifts to us before we regift them to others. Without taking this first step in the process, we can’t explain why the gift is significant to us and why we want to pass it on. But as good as it feels to name the ways that God has blessed us, we can’t afford to get stuck on this step. Personal gratitude for God’s gifts is important, but it does very little to advance God’s kindom or make disciples on its own. So this week, we’re turning to Mary once again in order to learn what we should do next: the second step in regifting what God has given us. 

Wednesday, December 3, 2025

Liturgy: Advent 2: Reflect, Luke 1:46-55 (December 7, 2025)

    *You are welcome to use or adapt any of my resources for free, but I ask that you provide proper citation AND comment on this post to let me know that you have either used or adapted it.*


Hymns
Hymn GTG #100, “My Soul Cries Out” [vv. 1-3]
Hymn GTG #86, “The People Who Walked in Darkness” [vv. 1-3]


Wednesday, November 26, 2025

Liturgy: Advent 1: Receive, (November 30, 2025)

     *You are welcome to use or adapt any of my resources for free, but I ask that you provide proper citation AND comment on this post to let me know that you have either used or adapted it.*


Hymns
Hymn GTG #88, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” [vv. 1, 6, 7]
Hymn GTG #104, “O Lord, How Shall I Meet You”
Hymn GTG #82, “Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus”


Sunday, February 9, 2025

Sermon: "Unworthy", Luke 7:1-17 (February 9, 2025)


Ah, yes; yet another miraculous healing from Jesus. To be honest, Jesus does so much healing in the gospels that the stories all seem to blend together a bit, don’t they? I don’t know about you, but I’m guilty of occasionally assuming that all these accounts serve the same narrative purpose: to demonstrate Jesus’ power and explain how his following grew so quickly. It makes for faster reading if you can gloss over the details and just throw the story into that corner of your brain where you keep a vague awareness of all the gospel’s other healings.

Wednesday, February 5, 2025

Liturgy: Healing the Centurion's Servant, Luke 7:1-17 (February 9, 2025)

*You are welcome to use or adapt any of my resources for free, but I ask that you provide proper citation AND comment on this post to let me know.*

Hymns

Hymn GTG #386, “Come, Worship God”
Hymn GTG #782, “Hear My Prayer, O God”
Hymn GTG #744, “Arise, Your Light is Come”


Sunday, February 2, 2025

Sermon: “Foe or Friend”, Luke 6:1-11 (February 2, 2025)


By this time in Luke’s gospel, Jesus has been going around teaching and healing for a while now. He’d made quite a name for himself, to the point that people were actively seeking him out to hear what he had to say and be cured of illness and disease. But the attention wasn’t all positive – Jesus had also attracted a fair amount controversy and conflict, as we read a couple of weeks ago. And it appears that by this point, one particular group of Pharisees have had about all they can take: upon observing Jesus healing on the Sabbath, Scripture tells us that “They were furious and began talking with each other about what to do to Jesus.”

Saturday, February 1, 2025

Liturgy: Healing on the Sabbath, Luke 6:1-11 (February 2, 2025)

 *You are welcome to use or adapt any of my resources for free, but I ask that you provide proper citation AND comment on this post to let me know.*


Hymns

Hymn GTG #393, “O Day of Rest and Gladness” 
Hymn GTG #61, “Your Law, O Lord, Is Perfect” 


Tuesday, January 21, 2025

Liturgy: Fish for People, Luke 5:1-11 (January 26, 2025)

  *You are welcome to use or adapt any of my resources for free, but I ask that you provide proper citation AND comment on this post to let me know.*


Hymns

Hymn GTG #170, “You Walk along Our Shoreline” 
Hymn GTG #726, “Will You Come and Follow Me” 
Hymn GTG #751, “From the Nets of our Labors” 


Sunday, January 19, 2025

Sermon: "No Offense", Luke 4:14-30 (January 19, 2025)


“People are so easily offended these days. You can’t say ANYTHING anymore!” Such is the attitude that seems to have taken hold in certain corners of the popular modern imagination. We’re living in the era of “cancel culture,” and to hear some people tell it, it’s the worst thing that could possibly happen to society. If only people would just stop being so sensitive, we’d be able to focus on things that really matter, instead of spending all our time tiptoeing around the “snowflakes.”

Wednesday, January 15, 2025

Liturgy: Sermon at Nazareth, Luke 4:14-30 (January 19, 2025)

 *You are welcome to use or adapt any of my resources for free, but I ask that you provide proper citation AND comment on this post to let me know.*


Hymns

Hymn GTG #772, “Live into Hope” 
Hymn GTG #345, “In an Age of Twisted Values”