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Be Careful What You Pray For Sermon delivered by Pastor Randy Pabst.
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God Makes the Ordinary ExtraordinarySermon delivered by Pastor Gabi Schroeder.
With this Sunday we enter the interlude between seasons. Christmas with its excitement and glitter is behind us, and the sober experience of Lent followed by the glory of Easter is in the future. This is Ordinary Time: we reflect on the very ordinary ways that God enters our lives, thus making them extraordinary. We are not unlike the ordinary people of today’s scripture lessons. We do not always look beneath the surface, so we often miss the e ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Why Was Jesus Baptized? Why Were You?Sermon delivered by Pastor Randy Pabst.
The season of Epiphany (which means to reveal) begins with a Baptism—Jesus’ Baptism! As Jesus came up from the waters of the Jordan River everything changed—not just for him but for all of humanity and all time. Today, we renew our Baptismal promises as a way of renewing our response to all God has done and is doing on our behalf. And yes, once again we too are made NEW!
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My Eyes Have Seen Your SalvationSermon delivered by Pastor Gabi Schroeder.
These days of Christmas call us to celebrate, to re-order and re-frame our lives so that we can live differently, not because it’s the time of New Year resolutions, but because Jesus has come to live among us to show us the way. Through Jesus, God enters our hearts with a love that cannot be extinguished. God offers us a guide to faith and salvation that no economic collapse can erode or cheapen. God takes our puzzlement and our failure and red ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Turning the World Around!Sermon delivered by Pastor Randy Pabst.
In Jesus, the “light” of God has come into the world to expose the darkness for what it is. But sometimes we like the dark for what it hides. By exposing such darkness the world can be turned up-side-down and the powerful laid low and the lowly lifted up. It is a world of justice and peace and a world where hope is realized in joy and wonder! Are we ready to experience such “light” in our lives?!?
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Advent—A Time for Serious Road ConstructionSermon delivered by Pastor Gabi Schroeder.
Today voices from the wilderness startle our lives. We hear Isaiah crying out for the construction of a passable route through the desert; we hear John the Baptist calling us to repentance. Together, today’s readings remind us that Advent is a time for serious road construction—and we all know the inconvenience that that entails. Isaiah is not describing minor repairs, such as filling in potholes or repairing curbs. He is calling for major r ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Advent—A Time for Serious Road ConstructionSermon delivered by Pastor Gabi Schroeder.
Today voices from the wilderness startle our lives. We hear Isaiah crying out for the construction of a passable route through the desert; we hear John the Baptist calling us to repentance. Together, today’s readings remind us that Advent is a time for serious road construction—and we all know the inconvenience that that entails. Isaiah is not describing minor repairs, such as filling in potholes or repairing curbs. He is calling for major r ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Light Exposing the DarknessSermon delivered by Pastor Randy Pabst.
The battle of good and evil is often portrayed in images of light and darkness. And who does not know the power of “darkness” in their lives. As we begin this season of preparation and waiting we hear again God’s intent—that the light will overcome the darkness and the good that is God’s love will win. You see, the “light” that is God’s love is about to come down and “explode” upon us all—yes, God is coming to be with us as o ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Living Out Loud: Living Under the Reign of ?Sermon delivered by Pastor Randy Pabst.
What King are you a subject of? “I don’t live under a King,” you say? Then what “reigns” in your life? Money? What money can buy? Comfort? God? Christ the King Sunday points us once again to the only “KING” that matters—Jesus himself. Today we celebrate his reign in our lives!
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Living Out Loud: Living Out Our GiftednessSermon delivered by Pastor Randy Pabst.
“The more we have, the more that’s expected of us!” It is a truism! Giftedness does not imply privilege—it means more is expected. Jesus points to this truth over and over again and then invites us to recognize how, in his love, just how gifted we are!
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Living Out Loud: God Calls Ordinary SaintsSermon delivered by Pastor Gabi Schroeder.
Today we celebrate the extraordinary goodness of ordinary people throughout the ages-that great cloud of witnesses whose lives, known to millions or to only a few, became a prism through which shone the multicolored grace and love of God. In particular, we remember those from our own community who have passed away sometime during the previous year.
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Living Out Loud: God's Grace is DisruptiveSermon delivered by Pastor Gabi Schroeder.
Today we are celebrating our own Lutheran tradition and the ways in which God’s grace has disrupted and continues to disrupt the status quo of things. We are holding one another accountable to be steadfast followers of God’s Word and we ask God to provide wisdom and guidance to the mission and ministry of Christ’s church.
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Living Out Loud: Living as a Follower of JesusSermon delivered by Pastor Gabi Schroeder.
Paul writes that he and his fellow missionaries so deeply cared for the Christian community in Thessaloniki that he shared with them not only the gospel of God but also his own self, because the congregation has become very dear to him. In writing such, Paul breaks open for us the meaning of Jesus’ instruction to love God with all our heart, mind and soul, and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Today, we will explore together what such C ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Living Out Loud: Living Our Professed ValuesSermon delivered by Pastor Randy Pabst.
Do you live the values you profess? When you look at your finances do they reflect what you profess through your faith? Jesus was challenged about his values in a world that was focused on the power of the government. His response invite us all to reconsider how we live out our values as well.
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Living Out Loud: What Not to WearSermon delivered by Pastor Randy Pabst.
Through Jesus Christ, God has issued an invitation to us to the heavenly wedding banquet. Everyone is invited, but few accept the invitation. According to Matthew, even those who choose to attend, ought to be dressed appropriately wearing garments that are fit for the occasion—garments of loving kindness, charity, and justice.
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Living Out Loud: It's Just Not FairSermon delivered by Pastor Gabi Schroeder.
Life just isn’t fair! We hear it and experience it at many levels. So, what do we do when we are brought face to face with God’s fairness—or, as revealed today, God’s unfairness? Hopefully we will respond by learning how we too can live out God’s unfairness.
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Living Out Loud: Dare to Live Outside our Comfort ZonesSermon delivered by Pastor Randy Pabst.
Somewhere we are told that our goals center in being more and more comfortable. But is that what we are called to do as followers of Jesus? After Jesus challenged the “comfort” of the norms of Temple life the religious authorities challenged him as to what “authority” gave him the right to do what he did and say what he said. His answer points us all toward a life different from the “status quo” when that “status quo” forgets God. ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Living Out Loud: Living Out God's GenerositySermon delivered by Pastor Randy Pabst.
How generous are you? How generous is God? In a familiar story of the “reluctant prophet” Jonah we are caused to give pause to the true “generosity of God”—a generosity like no other. So, how do we live out God’s generosity in our lives? Today we see just how God God’s generosity can become our own…
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Living Out Loud: Asking for the Courage to ForgiveSermon delivered by Pastor Gabi Schroeder.
The God in whom we live and move and have our being is full of compassion. Together we pray that He be the goal of our pilgrimage, our rest by the way, and a refuge from the turmoil of the world. May we then support one another in our own efforts to offer rest, refuge, healing, and forgiveness in His name.
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Living Out Loud: Holding Each Other AccountableSermon delivered by Pastor Randy Pabst.
Disagreement, conflict, wrongs committed—unfortunately these are not options in life but rather givens. So the questions isn’t how to avoid these inevitabilities but rather how do we both face and overcome them. In other words, how do we hold ourselves and others accountable for bad behavior and brokenness? Today, Jesus points us into God’s accountability—an accountability based on forgiveness and therefore the possibility of reconciliation a ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
What Good is God: Denying Self/Receiving GodSermon delivered by Pastor Randy Pabst.
It goes against everything we affirm in this culture—self-denial, sacrifice, suffer for another. Yet, today Jesus tells us that is exactly what he is about and what it will mean to follow him. And, we are also reminded that he will never let us go through nay of this alone—that in him we do have whole life as God intended.
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What Good is God: Denying Self/Receiving GodSermon delivered by Pastor Randy Pabst.
It goes against everything we affirm in this culture—self-denial, sacrifice, suffer for another. Yet, today Jesus tells us that is exactly what he is about and what it will mean to follow him. And, we are also reminded that he will never let us go through nay of this alone—that in him we do have whole life as God intended.
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What Good is God: God's Grace Extends to all CreationSermon delivered by Pastor Randy Pabst.
After the flood waters receded, God made a covenant with all of God’s creatures. All too often, we forget to offer thanks and praise to God for the goodness of creation and for the companionship we enjoy with the animals in our life.
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What Good is God when we are at odds with one another?Sermon delivered by Pastor Gabi Schroeder.
The story of the Canaanite woman’s faith in today’s gospel lesson is a story of conflict that involves Jesus. Wanting to rest from his busy ministry, Jesus tries to get rid of a pagan woman who insists that he heal her daughter. Although increasingly irritated, Jesus keeps listening to her and, in the end, heals the child. How do we behave in conflicted situations? How do we genuinely listen to one another? How do we make our conflicts product ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
What Good is God: How do we distinguish God’s voice from the many voices around us?Sermon delivered by Pastor Randy Pabst Gabi Schroeder.
Elijah encountered many forceful sights and sounds when he sat by the mound of the cave on Mt. Horeb. He watched a storm so strong that it split the mountains and felt an earthquake so powerful that it shook the very ground. But he did not experience God’s voice in these. It was only in the sheer silence that followed that Elijah heard God speak to him. Elijah instantly knew when God began to speak to him, but how do we know how ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
What Good is God: Is there such a thing as a free lunch?Sermon delivered by Pastor Randy Pabst Gabi Schroeder.
In today’s first reading God invites all who are hungry or thirsty to receive food and drink without cost. Jesus feeds the hungry multitude and reveals the abundance of God. At the Eucharistic table we remember all who are hungry or poor in our world today. As we share the bread of life, we are sent forth to give ourselves away as bread for the hungry.
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What Good is God: Go for the Gold!Sermon delivered by Pastor Randy Pabst Gabi Schroeder.
In today’s gospel lesson, Jesus offers everyday images that reveal to us the reign of God: a tree that becomes a sheltering home, yeast that penetrates and expands, a treasured pearl, a net that gains a great catch. Jesus gives us these parable treasures to help us look with eyes of faith for signs of God’s reign that are present all around us.
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What Good is God: Separating Good from EvilSermon delivered by Pastor Randy Pabst.
How do you tell the “Good” from what is “Evil?” Some would profess that it is somewhat simple. However, is that how we experience life—pretty much “black” and “white?” Today Jesus tells us a parable that helps provide direction and opens us to new possibilities in discerning truth in a world that is, for the most part, pretty “gray.”
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What Good is God: Our Gifts MatterSermon delivered by Pastor Gabi Schroeder.
God’s word is like the rain that waters the earth and brings forth vegetation. It is also like a sower who scatters seed indiscriminately. Our lives are like seeds sown in the earth. Even from what appears to be little, dormant, or dead, God promises a harvest. At the Lord’s table we are fed with the bread of life, that we may bear fruit in the world.
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What Good is God: Finding Rest for Our SoulsSermon delivered by Pastor Randy Pabst.
We all know that there are those times when life seems to hand us more than we can bear. So, what is Jesus telling us about those burdens—those difficulties that can come into all our lives? Today we are brought face to face with a God who offers us no less than himself so that we can know that whatever life throws at us we are never left alone to carry the “burdens” of life.
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What Good is God: Freed to ServeSermon delivered by Pastor Gabi Schroeder.
Through Christ’s death and resurrection, God sets us free from the power of sin and death. In our baptism God calls us into a covenant and sends us on a mission: to serve God’s people and to be a sign of God’s merciful welcome.
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What Good is God: What is this Trinity Business Anyway?Sermon delivered by Pastor Randy Pabst.
It is one of the most difficult parts of our faith for most understand: One God in three parts. Yet, in many ways it is one of the ways we are blessed by God. Today we explore this blessing as gift and as the empowering presence that enables us to be a blessing to others.
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“Receiving the Holy Spirit” or “The Flames of Baptism”Sermon delivered by Pastor Randy Pabst.
The church of Jesus was born on the wings of the Holy Spirit. But, SO WHAT? What difference does this fact make for us today? On this Birthday of the Church 2011 we are challenged again to see more clearly what it means for us to be the Church, empowered by the Holy Spirit cleansed in the waters of baptism and anointed in the body and blood of Jesus. And to explore what difference that might make for us!
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Holy Makeovers: From Isolation into CommunitySermon delivered by Pastor Gabi Schroeder.
As the Easter season ends, we remember a prayer Jesus prayed shortly before his death—and we realize that Jesus offered this prayer not only for the first disciples, but for us and for those who come after us! In a time of polarization, separation, and alienation Jesus’ prayer offers THE way we can be community—in him and in serving each other and the world in his name! Do we dare?
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Holy Makeovers: From Feeling Abandoned to Experiencing LoveSermon delivered by Pastor Randy Pabst.
“I will not leave you orphaned…” Jesus told the disciples. Ever felt abandoned—“orphaned”? How can that abandonment be transformed? Today we are brought into the presence of the one who offers to transform us just by recognizing his presence—love incarnate—Jesus himself. How will we receive him?
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Holy Makeovers: From Anxiety to HopeSermon delivered by Pastor Gabi Schroeder.
“Let not your hearts be troubled…” RIGHT?!? These are troubling times! We can't help but feel anxious and uncertain. So, how can Jesus tell us to not let out hearts be troubled? Yet, today we are told just that! What can he mean? How can he turn our anxiety into hope? Of course, this hope stuff is just what this resurrection and transformation business is all about? That is, if we are willing to let go long enough to Jesus for him t ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Holy Makeovers: From Being lost to Being foundSermon delivered by Pastor Randy Pabst.
OK, we are not sheep. However, there are times when we just need a “shepherd” to lead us out of trouble. And let’s face the truth, there is a great deal in this life that threatens to undo us—even destroy us both spiritually and emotionally. And yet the “voice” of the Good Shepherd calls to us to guide us way from danger and save us—even from ourselves. Listen, can you hear his voice even now?!?!
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Holy Makeovers: From Mourning to RejoicingSermon delivered by Pastor Gabi Schroeder.
Ever experienced loss that seemed to overwhelm everything? Today we travel with two defeated journeymen heading to a place away from the loss and pain of what they had just experienced. And then, a stranger joins them who turns their mourning into rejoicing—who turns them around as they return to the place where it all began so they can share their joy. Can this man do the same for us? Today we are invited to let Jesus join us “along the r ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Holy Makeovers: From Fear to CourageSermon delivered by Pastor Randy Pabst.
What are you afraid of? Those early disciples were afraid for their lives! They should have been. They could easily be next to hang on a cross. Or worse, God could respond to their abandonment of Jesus at his greatest hour of need. What they experienced was something so totally different that their fear was transformed in to a courage they never knew before—the courage of God!
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Holy Makeovers: From Death to Life…Sermon delivered by Pastor Randy Pabst.
It’s a popular theme within our culture with a number of television programs dedicated to personal MAKEOVERS. Such programs, of course, focus on the “external” part of our identity. Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and expected to see Jesus. Only the Jesus she expected to see was a dead Jesus! What she found—or more importantly, who found her was in fact the Risen Jesus. And yes in that moment of recognition of who she was encountering Ma ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Walking the Walk with JesusSermon delivered by Pastor Randy Pabst.
The parade has started. There is a party atmosphere! A King is coming… But, what is this? He is riding on a donkey—that can’t be a King. Or, is this a King like no other? Yes, this is the king whose Kingdom is the one we all long for. Yes, this is the King that has come to save us… Even from ourselves. Now it is up to us to do the inviting of our families, and friends, and those we know and even those we don’t know to come and meet ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Offering Life to the LifelessSermon delivered by Pastor Randy Pabst.
“Lazarus, come out!” And he did! How often have we felt dead only to have Jesus call us into new life? Jesus was a “radical” because he didn’t see death as an end. In fact, everything he was about centered life beyond ALL death!
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Caring for the UndesirableSermon delivered by Pastor Randy Pabst.
A healing is a healing. That is until it goes beyond the convention and practice of the day. Then it is seen as “breaking the rules” going outside the boundaries, doing the wrong thing. Jesus, of course has an answer, “this isn't about rules as much as it is about “spiritual blindness.” Being able to see through Christ is seeing in a whole new way—let this be a lesson to us all!
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An Unexpected ReceptionSermon delivered by Pastor Randy Pabst.
She wasn’t supposed to be there. He shouldn’t be talking to her. And yet?… That, of course, is just the way God is. Jesus breaks with convention and receives one outside the norm. And, above all else changes a life who then reaches out to others to change their lives as well.
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Welcoming the StrangerSermon delivered by Pastor Lori Eickmann.
Most of us are pretty good at welcoming people we know (especially if we like them). But what happens when the person is a stranger—or worse someone we don’t know at all? Today Jesus encounters a total stranger—and worse, someone associated with those who find Jesus to be a threat. What he does is change everything and challenge the norm with his truth— the truth of God.
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Encountering Evil/Experiencing GodSermon delivered by Pastor Randy Pabst.
We all encounter evil in life. We begin our Lenten journey with Jesus experiencing just such an encounter. However, Jesus is able to turn this encounter into something Holy as his response to evil reminds us of what it takes to overcome evil. Which demonstrates that not only is God there with us in our experiences of evil, but that God also has the power to turn that evil into an experience of God.
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On Being Christ’s Church: Just Imagine!Sermon delivered by Pastor Randy Pabst.
Jesus was transfigured right there on the mountain for those early disciples to see. It was a revelation that changed everything! Or, did it? We are Christ’s church in this time and place. What difference do we make in the lives of those around us? What difference does any of this make in our own lives? As we conclude this season of the revelation of God in human form we are tasked with living out who god has made us to be in Jesus.
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Extravagant GenerositySermon delivered by Pastor Lori Eickmann.
Maybe we want to give our time, money, and heart to the church, or a just cause, or to someone in need. Maybe we want to welcome the stranger or care for the sick. But do we have enough time and talent, enough resources and vision, enough love and energy to go around? Together, as the body of Christ, as the Church on earth, we have more than enough. “Strive fist for the kingdom of god and God’s righteousness, and all these things will be gi ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Willing to Take Risks for Mission and ServiceSermon delivered by Pastor Lori Eickmann.
Jesus said, “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? …But love your enemies…” (Luke 6:32) So there is a “mission” and then there is “risk-taking mission.” Are you ready to go there?
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