Category: November 2022

TIME TO WAKE UP

11/27/2022

GOSPEL — MATTHEW 24:36-44
First Sunday in Advent

Advent is a season of waking up. Even as the days grow darker, we are awoken to the light of truth about our lives, the world, and, ultimately, God. But no one really likes being woken from sleep, real or metaphorical. No one likes being pulled from a cozy blanket to a crowded commute, from dreams to reality, from what’s comfortable and “always has been” to what’s actually happening right now. It’s why when we have pivotal, perhaps painful moments in our lives in which we become aware of something previously hidden, or about which we shed the veil of denial, we refer to them as “wake-up calls.”

THE CROSS AS HINGE

11/20/2022

GOSPEL — Luke 23:33-43
Christ the King Sunday

We end the church year in an unconventional fashion: at the cross. Today’s gospel seems a strange capstone to the liturgical calendar, and that is intentional. This is because Christ the King Sunday is not a capstone at all, but rather a hinge that opens into the new year. We end at the cross because that is where we see most fully the great, culminating example of where God is willing to go to show love for humanity. We end at the cross because in the crucifixion we see Christ’s enthronement as the one that nothing, not even death, can destroy.

BEWARE AND TRUST

11/13/2022

GOSPEL — Luke 21:5-19
Twenty-Third Sunday After Pentecost

In an instant, documents are signed six thousand miles away, and suddenly you have no job. In an instant the walls rattle, the floors rumble, ceilings crack, and you have no home. In an instant the lights flicker, the signals weaken, the screens go blank, and you have no connections. In an instant a door slams, a voice shouts, a car screeches, and you have no one. In an instant the dam breaks, the fire blazes, the winds ravage, and . . . and what?

SAINTS NAMED AND UNNAMED

11/6/2022

GOSPEL — Luke 6:20-31
All Saints Sunday

On All Saints Day, many congregations read aloud the names of loved ones who have died in the last year. We don’t call them saints because they were perfect but because they were loved by us and by God. We acknowledge that all people, being simultaneously sinners and saints, lead complex lives full of both bad and good. We rest in the sure promise that at the end of their lives, God has welcomed our loved ones to their eternal home.

GOSPEL MESSAGES

TIME TO WAKE UP

GOSPEL — MATTHEW 24:36-44
First Sunday in Advent

THE CROSS AS HINGE

GOSPEL — Luke 23:33-43
Christ the King Sunday

BEWARE AND TRUST

GOSPEL — Luke 21:5-19
Twenty-Third Sunday After Pentecost

SAINTS NAMED AND UNNAMED

GOSPEL — Luke 6:20-31
All Saints Sunday

2022/2023 — YEAR A

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GOSPEL MESSAGES

TIME TO WAKE UP

GOSPEL — MATTHEW 24:36-44First Sunday in Advent

THE CROSS AS HINGE

GOSPEL — Luke 23:33-43Christ the King Sunday

BEWARE AND TRUST

GOSPEL — Luke 21:5-19Twenty-Third Sunday After Pentecost

SAINTS NAMED AND UNNAMED

GOSPEL — Luke 6:20-31All Saints Sunday

2022/2023 — YEAR A

ARCHIVE​

Stay connected with us!

Telephone

Saint John's Lutheran Church

EMAIL

GOSPEL — MATTHEW 24:36-44
First Sunday in Advent

GOSPEL — Luke 23:33-43
Christ the King Sunday

GOSPEL — Luke 21:5-19
Twenty-Third Sunday After Pentecost

GOSPEL — Luke 6:20-31
All Saints Sunday

ARCHIVE