To listen to the sermon this sermon references, please click here.  

Preached on Luke 6:17-26.

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This sermon references a news story of the week.  In my attempt to make our faith relevant to our daily lives, and to help us be better disciples of Jesus in our everyday engagement with the world, I preached some incorrect facts about the news story.  I did not have all of the information.  The incorrect facts are that the Covington teenage boys did NOT in fact start the altercation, and that the situation was more complicated than I originally believed. Although I am not perfect and sometimes make mistakes in details, the reality is still that the boys choose to make fun of another person and their culture when they felt threatened. The reality is that if those boys has been primarily Black, they might have been tased, arrested, handcuffed, or otherwise beaten for doing and saying the exact same things.

Additionally, this is a good time for us to examine the Lutheran Church's involvement in the breaking apart of Native families.  I invite all of us to follow the lead of Jesus and to trust the voices of those less powerful than ourselves.  

John 2: 1-11 A wedding feast where only the mother of Jesus and the servants know what's really going on. 

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How does glitter connect to baptism?  Find out by listening to this sermon Pastor Jess preached at Lutheran Church of the Cross on January 13, 2019.  A video was played in the sermon at the point that the voice fades out and back in.  You might consider pausing at that point to watch it.  The text was Luke 3: 15-22.

So many ways to learn about Christmas in new ways!  

1. Read Luke 2:1-20
2. Listen to the prequel for even more context: Hunger Games, Resistance, and Hope
3. Watch the Sermon Video
4. Watch the Kid's Time Video
5. Watch the entire worship service
6. Listen to the Sermon Audio, below.  

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Sermon from Christmas 4, Luke 1:39-55, Preached at Lutheran Church of the Cross, Arlington Heights, IL

How do I know?  Because John the Baptist tells me so.  Preached at Lutheran Church of the Cross in Arlington Heights, IL. Read Luke 3: 7-18 here for the Bible passage. 

What is your path like?  How do we create paths for one another?  What does baptism have to do with it all?  P.S.  Did you know Jesus was born a Brown Middle Eastern man to a homeless teenage unwed mother who ran for her and her child's life as a political refugee when Jesus was a baby? How smooth would his path be today?  

Preached at Lutheran Church of the Cross in Arlington Heights, IL.  Texts include Luke 1:68-79 and Luke 3:1-6. 

Christ the King Sunday, John 18:33-37.  Who do we worship?  Why?  Do we need or want a king?  Who is Christ for? This sermon is dedicated to Elle Dowd and Rosalind Chesson.  

I left the intro in this recording, even though I normally do not.  For Reformation Day, we did some activities instead of a sermon.  Click here to read all about it.   To study the Bible through activity instead of or in addition to listening, you can check out Open Heart faith gathering.  If you are comfortable in church 100% of the time, then someone else is uncomfortable 100% of the time.  Being in true, mutual community, means we make room for different ways of doing faith and take turns, without judgement.  

I used the normal themes for All Saints Day, and preached about my late Father.  How does the faith of our ancestors give us clues about sharing our faith with those who come after us?  What happens when we become the ancestors?  The text used was Mark 12:28-34; yes, I know that is technically not the All Saints Day text, but it worked.  Enjoy!  Feel free to comment with a story of someone who taught you about faith. 

For more ideas on Reformation Day activities, you can check out what happened last year at Calvary.  

The story goes that in 1517 a Catholic Priest and Monk nailed 95 theses to the door of a church in Wittenburg, Germany, thus beginning the Protestant Reformation.  This Reformation was a Protest in reaction the the institution of the church abusing people and taking advantage of those living in the most poverty.  This year, at Lutheran Church of the Cross in Arlington Heights, IL, we decided to live out a couple of the themes of the Reformation.  If you were to protest a thing a church does today, what would it be?  Be sure to comment below. 

At the front of the church, near the pulpit, we placed a table with multiple Bibles of all versions, paraphrases, and pictures.  People were invited to write and/or illustrate their favorite Bible verses and tape them onto the altar rail and pulpit.  Before Martin Luther, the Bible was in Latin.  He translated it into the language of his people, which was German.  For the first time, everyday people could read the Word of God, instead of having to go through a priest.  In the church today, we celebrate our direct access to the Bible.  Sometimes, though, direct access can be dangerous to those in power.  You can learn more about base communities and how their direct access changes things at this post.  

Last time I was at the congregation, those Bible verses were still posted on the wall.  

Did you know they make huge post-it notes?  We had bright orange ones, and invited people to write their statements of belief, their theses, on them.  Then, they were stuck to the doors and windows that form the back of the sanctuary.  A few of the statements were from Vacation Bible School even.  What do you believe?  What would you like the church to be discussing?  Let us know in the comments!