Jesus is walking along, headed toward Jerusalem, and two of his disciples stop him with a request. Jesus hears them out-he&apos;s patient like that-and quickly hears them asking a rather cringy question that benefits their status. How often we all may cause Jesus to cringe as he walks with us in the world. How often we put ourselves first and forget (again) Christ&apos;s call to take ourselves out of the center for the sake of the most vulnerable among us. A #sermon on Mark 10.35-45. #Godspatience #forgiveness #thecross

Pastor Josh Ehrler

Familiar Conversations - A Sermon on Mark 10

Jesus is confronted by a group intending to trip him up in public. They ask him a question about divorce. Jesus, naturally, sees the game afoot and pivots on the question to put the focus on power and equity. His approach gives us an opportunity to approach and question the ways we see women in our culture, community and church. The truth is, we don&apos;t have a good record for gender equality. So what do we do about that? How does Jesus recognize the patriarchy in the sacred texts we read? A sermon on Mark 10.2-16

Beyond Papers and Patriarchy - A Sermon on Mark 10

Who is your rival? Even the church has a rival and we perpetually look over our shoulder to see what they are up to. In our gospel reading, Mark 9.38-50, the disciples call out a new rival in their midst and Jesus responds, though probably not as they expected. He keeps talking about kids and service and the cross. This time he even ramps up his teaching by recommending the sudden removal of appendages (he&apos;s being intentionally ridiculous, BTW, don&apos;t cut off your hands). There is something about rivalries that seems to get Jesus worked up. 

Staring Down Our Rivals - A Sermon on Mark 9

Being healed means being seen. In our text this week, a woman approaches Jesus on his day off and asks for healing for her daughter back home. Seems like an easy thing for the Healer of the World. Instead, and for reasons beyond our knowledge, Jesus doesn&apos;t immediately heal the girl. He pauses, and gives the woman a line about children and dogs and crumbs. Healing the Bible is less about medical rehabilitation and more about wholeness and hope. It is about being seen by God. The woman demands to be seen by Jesus, whom she knows as a revelation of God&apos;s kingdom. She might be an inspiration for any of us who are longing to be seen, or are longing for justice for the unseen and silenced in our community. You are seen by God and you are loved to wholeness. #sermon #lgbtqia #blacklivesmatter #healing #wholeness #hope

Healing Justice - A Sermon on Mark 7

Jesus is confronted by a group of people that don&apos;t like his hygiene habits. In the context of the story, these rituals are meant to reflect purity and nearness to God. By not doing them as prescribed, the group is assuming Jesus is further from God than others. Its a story and a teaching from Jesus that compels us to consider all the ways we put up barriers between ourselves and others for the sake of purity and goodness. We find differences in each other and use those as reasons to assume they are not quite as good as we. Its a troubling thought and a troubling text and doesn&apos;t really have anything to do with keeping our hands clean.

Soap Won't Cut It - A Sermon on Mark 7

The crowds declare their love of God and their want to commit to God&apos;s leadership. Joshua, standing in the midst of the crowds, tells them "You&apos;ll never do it." By the way, it was Joshua who rallied the crowds, organized them, and asked them which god they will serve. His response feels crass and disregarding and its terribly honest. We say one thing with God and will forever go our own way. It is the nature of our humaness. How God responds to our sin and brokeness is the crux of this conversation, and lies at the heart of Joshua&apos;s rally at the end of his book. #sermon #brokenpromises #summersermons #covenant #Godisenough

Ripping Up Our Promises - A Sermon on Joshua 24

Our faith in Christ makes no sense. It is fair to say, beyond the walls of a faith community, that our belief in Christ is ridiculous. We say things, believe ideas, and report events that defy logic and lived experiences. This week our gospel makes reference to Communion, our holy meal in which we believe to be consuming the real presence of Christ. Even some within Jesus&apos; followers are little bothered by the idea that we might actually be eating his flesh. Eventually these followers will leave Jesus and his nonsense. What do you do when Jesus no longer makes sense? One response we can make is to try a three point test to see if we still need Jesus. #sermon #Godhere #askGodanything #Godislistening #Goddoesntmakesense #lovedoesntmakesense

God Makes No Sense - A Sermon on John 6

he text this week is about a prophet getting his head taken off by a king. Fun stuff. Since we come to worship for good news and hope, this doesn&apos;t seem like much of a gospel text for us, so we&apos;ll go find another one. One that fits what we want and need. Of course, faith isn&apos;t as simple as picking and choosing what we expect from God and its possible that the story about the beheaded man is actually what we need to hear.

Heard About Those Things - A Sermon on Mark 6

Jesus does love a good parable. Our reading has two and they both make sense, until we take a second look. It turns out the farmer in the first parable has no clue how agriculture works. She scatters seeds almost randomly and then goes to sleep. No one does that. Then there&apos;s the story of the mustard plant that needs literally no help to grow from the tiniest of seeds into a sizeable plant. And with all that, Jesus is telling these parables to his disciples to instruct us on how to follow him. Without actually telling us what to do with our lives. A first glance. With that second look, there might be instructions buried in the soil with the seeds. #sermon #goodnews #webelongtoChristSHOW LESS

Out Of Control - A Sermon on Mark 4

Jesus tells stories about the kingdom of God in context. They are never random or simply dropped from his infinite wisdom to our feet. In this week&apos;s text, Jesus tells us about a thief binding up and strong man and stealing all the stuff from the house and he&apos;s speaking to his blood relatives and the religious authorities. Who&apos;s the thief, Jesus or the ones who are confronting him? And what is being stolen from the house, the goods that belong to others or the people who already belong to God? This is also Pride Month, so maybe all this talk of family and church and binding and unbinding is meant to widen our definitions and reimagine God&apos;s love for anyone who has been sent away from their families or cast out from their church. #sermon #Pride #LGBTQ #loveislove

The Family of Jesus

Even when all the work is complete, it doesn&apos;t always seem to be enough. When the room is full of people, we might still feel out of place. Our text from Acts (1.15-17ff) speaks of fixing a immediate problem with a simple solution. Is it enough, though? Can the disciples choose a leader to replace the one who is gone without recognizing all that is still unfinished? The final sermon in our Easter series. #OffWeGo

Missing Pieces - Easter Sermon Series

God has given you a powerful story, one of redemptions, do overs, and hope. It is story so powerful that changes how you see your neighbors and how you see yourself. Every day this story of Christ through you is renewed. How might you share this story? How can you help a neighbor, a friend, a classmate hear the good news that they are part of God&apos;s story, too? #sermon​ #Acts​ #OffWeGo​ #forgiveness​ #story

Stop Along the Way - Easter Sermon Series

Based on our reading for this week, there are consequences to speaking Christ&apos;s name. Though this may seem the case, Peter and John (Acts 4) are on trial because they did the more heinous act of loving someone who had been cast out of the community. They saw the presence of God in a man whose life others considered mattering less, and for that they must stand trial. And they do not stand alone. We do not stand alone when we speak or act or care for God&apos;s people whom our culture has pushed aside and denied life. How will we rise and speak Christ&apos;s name for the restoration of others? #sermon #blacklivesmatter #LGBTQrights #restoringhope #OffWeGo 

Standing in It - Easter Sermon Series

The preaching text comes out of disconnect between a crowd and person within it who lives a suffering life. When the person is restored to wholeness, the crowd is astounded because their expectations and vision are being challenged by Christ. Peter then makes us uncomfortable by noting that we, who are in the crowds, struggle to see Christ in the lives around us who are suffering for their sking color. Though our assumption is equality, our reality is that not every life matters the same. And suffering and violence and death continue. Can we see Christ in the face of a neighbor who lives other than us? #blacklivesmatter #ChristLives #SayTheirNames

Avoiding Eye Contact - Easter Sermon Series

Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia! Most blessed news for we are ready to celebrate. Though, before we get to the exuberance of Easter, Jesus offers us good news in the garden. Mary is stuck, unsure of where to go. She seems to be missing something, or someone. Jesus asks a question that, for we are already joyous, sounds like a prop for a big reveal. Its a powerful question, meant to break us open to recognize our hope in Christ when we are feeling incomplete. Even on Easter, this day of days. Who are you looking for? What part of our lives is still missing? 

Easter Morning 2021

Sermons from Lutheran Pastor Josh Ehrler, serving an ELCA congregation in Northern IL.