June 28, 2020
Worship for 4 Pentecost, June 28, 2020 Lamentations 3:1-3, 17-32; 5:1-3, 18-22 Preaching: Pastor Jason Adams
June 28, 2020
Worship for 4 Pentecost, June 28, 2020 Lamentations 3:1-3, 17-32; 5:1-3, 18-22 Preaching: Pastor Jason Adams
June 22, 2020
When one of the kids falls down, or gets a scrape or a bump, usually the first thing that comes out of my mouth is, “Oh, you’re fine.” Why do I say that? Where did I get that? My son or daughter just hurt themselves and I need to somehow cancel out the pain they’re feeling? Yes, my instinct is to give comfort and make it better. I want to fix it. But I’m trying to learn to listen first. To respond to the spoken expression of pain. Maybe they’re not fine. A lot of people we know are not fine right now. Our planet is not fine right now. Our country is not fine right now. Our laments are justified. Our feelings of anxiety and frustration are real, and real people are crying out after centuries of oppression and injury. This book gives no easy answers. This reading ends with a call for retribution in place of reconciliation or redemption. Only in the next chapter does the detached funeral singer become a witness and advocate. The narrator is the voice of the one who hears and believes and advocates before the Lord. “Look, O lord and consider! to whom have you done this?” 2:20). We are not impotent witnesses to the suffering around us. Even if we are not directly suffering the same as our neighbor, each of us has a role a duty to fulfill.
May 31, 2020
Texts: Acts 2:1-4; 1 Corinthians 12:1-13 Subject: Gifts of the Spirit Sunday of Pentecost; May 31, 2020, Online Worship; Reformation Lutheran Church, Las Vegas, NV
May 24, 2020
Yes, God so loves us that our bodies are raised up too. If they’re not, than Jesus is not, and Jesus is, so we are, and our bodies are us. ALL will be made alive in Christ. What will they look like? Will they be the same? Will they be more? We can’t say. But we can say what has been passed on to us: Christ has ben raised form the dead. This is for a reason, it is not meaningless. We are the body of Christ in the world, in this building and out, and we will be with Him too.
May 17, 2020
Texts: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 Subject: The Gift of Love Sixth Sunday of Easter; May 17, 2020, Online Worship; Reformation Lutheran Church, Las Vegas, NV
May 10, 2020
Texts: 1 Corinthians 1:10-18 Subject: Founding of the Church at Corinth Fifth Sunday of Easter; May. 10, 2020, Online Worship; Reformation Lutheran Church, Las Vegas, NV
April 27, 2020
In the days after the Holy Spirit had shown up and fallen on the people, after three thousand were baptized, Peter and John were heading up to the temple to pray. The temple was the place where the people of God went to pray, but also to see others. They gathered there, and the ‘Beautiful Gate’ was a special entrance, a place where wealthier members or special guests might enter. It makes sense then, that those who were in need might choose that as a place to ask for help from folks that went into the temple that way. This man was unable to walk, so he had people carry him to the place where he could ask for a little money to survive. Collecting a small amount might be the difference between life and death for this man. He saw Peter and John. He noticed them. All we can know for sure is that he saw them as they were going into the temple, maybe just like anyone else, but we might wonder if after the coming of the Holy Spirit there was something different about them. Did their faces shine with the glory of God? Did they carry themselves differently after that transformative moment? How do you think they would have seemed to this man waiting at the temple gate?
April 19, 2020
I have to imagine the disciples were worried. They were afraid. They were faithful too, that’s important to know. So are we. But we worry too. In our time, we wonder how to survive, what to do next, and how to get through the trials we all face, not just a virus, but also grief, pain, illness, strained relationships, and more. How do we calm our worried minds (besides eating and watching Netflix)? How do we heal broken hearts? How do we live while we wait to see Jesus? How do we work through the worries we carry during this time?
April 12, 2020
This is Real Life. Jesus didn’t ‘virtually’ rise from the grave. He wasn’t “kind of” alive. He is Risen! And we have been raised up with Him! Our lives are already in Christ Jesus – we are already living in the Kingdom of God, and we know there’s more to come, but this is real life! We are in Christ Jesus, and His life, the Holy Spirit, the gifts of God are ours now and forever.
April 5, 2020
Other kings rode horses, other kings conquered nations, other kings ruled through fear and displays of power. Anointed beforehand for his death, this One is different. He will free His people through the power of a cross, will die there for a world that betrays and denies Him, will be raised from the grave and rule with beauty and justice from heaven and in the hearts of all who trust in Him. There is no other King like this.