Sermon based on Luke 2:1-20 Good News, Right Here There is something almost dangerous about how familiar this story is. Luke chapter two shows up every year like a well-worn road. We know the turns. We know where the hills rise and fall. We know when the angels appear and when the shepherds enter the…

Sermon Based on Matthew 1:18-25 Most of the stories we tell at Christmas are designed to be gentle. Soft lighting. Familiar lines. A predictable story arc that ends with a baby, a song, and a sense that everything is going to be okay. We like our Christmas narratives to reassure us, to settle us, to…

Sermon based on Matthew 3:1-12 Like I mentioned last week, there’s a strange tension the Church deals with every December. On the one hand, the world is humming with joy: houses glowing, Christmas playlists running, kids counting down the days, and grocery carts full of sugar and butter like we’re all collectively training for the…

Sermon based on Matthew 24:36-44 There’s a strange kind of whiplash built into the Christian calendar year. We turn the calendar toward Advent—wreaths, candles, kids getting excited, Christmas music humming in grocery store aisles—and the church hands us… the end of the world. Not shepherds. Not Mary and Joseph. Not even John the Baptist shouting…

Based on Luke 23:33-43 I came across a news story this week. It’s the story of Kelly Gissendaner, who was executed in Georgia ten years ago. Her crime was horrific… she plotted the murder of her husband. No one denied her guilt. But in prison, Kelly underwent a transformation that was so complete it felt…

Sermon Based on Luke 21:5-19 I heard a story about fourth-grade class that was given a choice between two rewards. The class had been recognized for consistent school attendance, and they could vote on what kind of celebration they wanted: either a homework pass or the chance to bring a stuffed animal to school. Now,…

Sermon based on Luke 18:1-8 “Jesus was telling them a parable about their need to pray continuously and not be discouraged.” Those are the kinds of words that only make sense when life has worn you down. When you’ve prayed until you have no more words. When you’ve stared at the ceiling in the dark,…

Sermon based on Luke 17:11-19 Jesus is on the road again—headed toward Jerusalem, toward the cross, toward the final act of his ministry. Luke says he’s moving “through the region between Samaria and Galilee,” which, if you check a map, is not a real place. There is no region between Samaria and Galilee. They are…

Sermon based on Luke 17:5-10 “Increase our faith!” That’s the disciples’ plea in Luke 17. And you know what? It feels like a prayer that we’ve prayed ourselves more than once. It sounds so familiar that it could be whispered in a hospital waiting room, scribbled in a prayer journal, muttered in a quiet car…

Sermon Based on Luke 16:1-13 What we just read is not a comforting parable. It resists easy answers. Many preachers over the centuries have admitted that it is among the hardest of Jesus’ teachings to understand, much less to proclaim. At its center is a dishonest manager who has squandered his master’s resources, who manipulates…