In Greek mythology, Sisyphus is punished for his self-aggrandizing craftiness and deceitfulness, and forced to roll an immense boulder up a hill. Then thing is, when it gets to the top, it only rolls down...
Friends, grace and peace to you this morning. It is good to be with you, and a joy to be invited to speak a word as we journey from the open tomb, as a changed...
When my father was a young man, he was a pastor and leader in the Lutheran Free Church, a nationally based Lutheran denomination which later became part of the ELCA. Anyway, he was proposing some...
Here’s an interesting little fun fact about the palms we wave every Palm Sunday. Matthew, Mark and Luke mention no palms being waved as Jesus enters Jerusalem. Only in the gospel of John do palms...
It’s been famously written that the story of Jesus, including the passion narrative, is simply “the greatest story ever told.” The ultimate story of good vs. evil. But think of how strange this story is!...
Thank you for the invitation to be with you this morning! Actually I should thank Pastor John in his absence . . . I know he’s on vacation but I’m not sure where . ....
The news of the aftermath of the Parkland shootings continues to dominate the news. Sprinkled into this coverage is the steady drumbeat of more shootings, arsenals discovered in our neighbors’ homes, and so on. Meanwhile,...
This week, Pastor John delivered a short sermon to Mt. Carmel’s children during the Children’s Message. The sermon, as you will read and hear, was about the power and impact of foot washing, and how...
Raising Lazarus from the dead was a whopper, bigger than the other miracles. This is the miracle that did Jesus in – the final straw, as far as the Pharisees were concerned. We learn about...
We begin our story today with the Jesus’ disciples observing a blind man begging in the streets, who was believed to have been born blind. The disciples wondered out loud what had caused this man’s...