Shepherd of the Cross Lutheran ChurchMatthew 5: 21-37 | In this portion of Jesus’ sermon on the mount, he points to the challenges of living life together with others. Just as messy as it is for us to live together with others today, it was the same back then. But even amidst the risk, and the demands that life together places upon us, Jesus points to community as the place where we find true and abundant life.
Matthew 5:13-20 | Jesus tells us that we are salt and that we are light. That is what we have been created to be, just as much as we have been created to be beloved, and to be called “blessed” in the kingdom of God. So then, what might it look like for us to be that salt and light? And what might it look like for us to get off the shelf and make a difference in the world today?
Micah 6:1-8 | Discipleship can sometimes seem like a lengthy laundry list of things to “do.” But what the Lord really requires of us? It’s for us to recall his promises, intentionally walk with him, and to let that walk transform how we live in the world. It is there, that walking with Christ, we might just find ourselves moved to pursue justice and loving kindness, not out of obligation, but as partners with God in his mission today.
John 1:29-42 | As Jesus begins his ministry in the Gospel of John, he asks his disciples, “what are you looking for?” In our lives and in our world, we seek a variety of things, but it is only in coming to see – and experience – Christ’s abiding love that we find true and abundant life.
Matthew 3:13-17, Isaiah 42:1-9 | Names often point to who we are, or where we’ve come from. Of all the names that we might attach to ourselves, or that others might attach to us, it is solely in our name as “beloved” of God that we find our identity and our purpose. As Christ was publicly affirmed and commissioned in his baptism, we, too, now, are affirmed in our identity and sent to live into this name that we have been given.
Matthew 2:1-2 | Something drew the wise men to seek and find the Christ child, born in Bethlehem. Summoned by King Herod, their journey could have turned into a standard “search and find” mission, nothing more. But as they saw the Christ child, something changed within them and their journey was diverted. For us, as people who have come to see this child, we too have been transformed. Heading into a new year, we may desire to change various things about our habits, or ourselves. But the one thing that has the power to change our journey from this point forward very well may be the only thing that is eternal and true: Jesus Christ.
Luke 2: 1-20 | Each year, we celebrate the birth of Christ our Lord, and recall that our God willingly came down to us in love. At the time of Christ’s birth, and even today, our God chooses to come to us, giving us gifts that this world simply cannot give. Now, as we behold this, this that has taken place, we are invited to extend our arms to hold this little baby, Jesus Christ, as his love takes flesh in us.
Matthew 11: 2-11, Luke 1: 46b-55 | As we inch ever closer to Christmas, we hold our hope that something more is coming, and that something more is about to be experienced. But even as we wait, we don’t wait in vain. Instead, like Mary, we are invited to live in hope and go forth in joy for all that God is about to do.
Matthew 3:1-12 | John the Baptist proclaims clearly to “repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” This Advent, we wait with eager anticipation for the arrival of our Lord and King, and we trust that our God desires to give us his lavish promises: that is, what is really true, really real and really precious. But will our hands be open and ready to receive these gifts of our God through Jesus Christ?
Isaiah 2: 1-5, Romans 13: 11-14 | In the promise of Christ’s birth among us, we dare to believe that something is about to happen to transform our lives and our world into the vision of God’s justice and peace. But for us to welcome the riches of God’s kingdom, in every aspect of our lives and our world, it might mean that some things need to change. Ready or not, God’s kingdom is going to come, and God will call us to his table filled with good things. In the meantime, we are invited to reflect, and to prepare ourselves and our world for God’s coming kingdom.