Preaching, Sermons

Sin and Grace, Saint and Sinner – What Does This Mean? [Confirmation and Reformation Sunday]

Caitlin Trussell with Augustana Lutheran Church on October 26, 2025 Confirmation and Reformation Sunday

[sermon begins after two Bible readings]

John 8:31-36 Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” 33 They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?”
34 Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. 36 So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”
Romans 3:19-28 Now we know that, whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For no human will be justified before him by deeds prescribed by the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.
21 But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed and is attested by the Law and the Prophets, 22 the righteousness of God through the faith of Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, 23 since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; 24 they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed; 26 it was to demonstrate at the present time his own righteousness, so that he is righteous and he justifies the one who has the faith of Jesus.
27 Then what becomes of boasting? It is excluded. Through what kind of law? That of works? No, rather through the law of faith. 28 For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law.

 

[sermon begins]

Parenting is a strange task. Older humans caring for the tiniest humans, born with their own personalities and daily rhythms. Our son arrived as an immediate night owl who slept in. Our daughter was an o-dark-thirty, morning baby. We celebrated when she started sleeping until 5 a.m. Younger humans are their own people with their own God-given gifts and their own sins in which Jesus meets them. Yes, even my children. A friend of mine greets babies with, “Oh, aren’t you the cutest little sinner.” Hearing the moniker of “sinner” cooed at a baby is jarring but gets at an essential truth. Human creatures WILL hurt themselves and others thinking they know better than God. It’s going to happen no matter how special and good humans are. And human creatures WILL do wonderful things. It’s going to happen no matter how broken the human is.

As parents, the combination of saint and sinner in our children can be hard to experience and to witness. Oh sure, sometimes it’s comedy with lots of laughs. Sometimes it’s also tragedy and there are no words or kisses to make it better. Such is life for parents and for young humans – just when you think you know something, either the thing changes or you do, and grace for self and others is needed along with the natural consequences of our actions.

In that way, there are some similarities with Augustana’s young people studying towards Confirmation. Each is their own person with their own God-given gifts and their own sins in which Jesus meets them. There is comedy and there is tragedy – laughter and tears and sometimes both at once. I sometimes wonder if the age of Confirmation in the mid-teens is the “right” time. And then I end up wondering if it might not be the best time because their questions are enormous and honest.

They ask questions about self and God and the world. Questions about fantasy and faith. Questions about myth and truth. In the Rite of Confirmation, the student takes on the promises of baptism that their parents made to them so long ago:

To live among God’s faithful people.

To hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s Supper.

To proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed.

To serve all people, following the example of Jesus.

To strive for justice and peace in all the earth.

They will take on these promises for themselves, affirming their baptism, and they will continue asking questions of faith as baptized people awash in grace.

Jesus cuts to the chase about truth in the Bible reading from the Gospel of John:

Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”[1] Truth and freedom. They’re compelling on a gut level until you start trying to figure out the truth. A little like Pontius Pilate a few chapters later. He asks Jesus at the trial before the crucifixion, “What is truth?” A lot of us ask that question with Pilate. We want to know the truth.

Jesus goes on to say, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.”[2]  Slavery language is tough enough when we talk about historical or modern-day slavery, but it can make us downright uncomfortable when we use it to talk about ourselves. Maybe one place to start is to get used to the truth that each of us is simultaneously saint and sinner. Daily, we are sainted through the waters of baptism and daily we struggle with the next right step out of those waters.

Jesus tells his Jewish followers to continue in his word, assuring them that they will know the truth that will free them. Part of this truth is that we are slaves to sin in need of grace. If I’m honest in my demand for truth, then I’m also honest about the truth of who I am and the enslavements that bedevil me. The truth is that given the right set of circumstances, most of us are capable of just about anything. Our sisters in Christ in New Beginnings Worshipping Community at the Denver women’s prison know this better than anyone. It’s a powerful thing to sing with them, praise hands in the air, about justice and unconditional grace through the cross of Jesus. Those of us living outside the walls have a harder time seeing the truth of our need for grace. Another part of the truth, maybe the harder part, is that we need a liberator. Slaves do not typically free themselves. But we’re inclined to talk like the religious leaders in the Bible story. We’ve never been slaves to anyone – what do you mean we’ll be made free?![3]

It’s interesting that it’s easier to understand the Jewish followers questioning Jesus than it is to understand Jesus. Although it’s a little surprising that they ignore their ancestors’ enslavement under Pharoah and freedom led by Moses as they ask Jesus, “What do you mean, ‘made free?” At our youngest ages this question first comes out as, “Why?” From then on, that question doesn’t stop. We ask it over and over as children. As people of faith, as people of church, we continue to ask it. Questions seek answers. Faith seeks understanding.[4]

In seeking understanding, our faith is formed. Faith, given by God, is formed by experience and intellectual exercise, by comedy and tragedy, by people around us, and by more than I can think of right now. How do we imagine that Martin Luther was able to hammer those 95 theses onto the door of a German church, issuing a challenge, a theological smack-down to the church leaders of his time? Luther’s experience, intellect, friendships, suffering, and his determination to wring good news from the Bible contributed to the world changing event of the Reformation. In the 1500s, translating the Bible into everyday language was a crime against the Holy Roman Empire. Theologians before and in Luther’s time were executed, even burned at the stake, for translating the Bible into the common language.[5] Luther managed a full translation of the Bible into German while protected to do so.

The Bible is a library of 66 books written by many people over thousands of years. Imperfect people wrote it and they disagree with each other between books and sometimes in the same book. They wrote about their experience of God and Jesus, and their stories in light of those experiences. There is power working through that book casually sitting in the pews and in our homes. But we do not worship this book that we call the Bible. The Bible is not Jesus.

We may revere and respect the Bible but we do not idolize the Bible. We do not say the Bible is God. We experience it as God’s Word. The Holy Spirit works through the Bible to form faith as the Holy Spirit works through our families and each other as the church to form faith. Luther could do what he did in part because of his relationship with his family and his church. He was formed by asking questions of faith and the church. And then he turned the church of the Holy Roman Empire upside down with the clarity gained through his formation. Never underestimate the power of asking, “What does this mean?”

Confirmation students, keep asking “What does this mean?” And remember your questions. Keep asking them. There are people of all ages, times, and places asking similar questions. Parents and church faith formation teachers, keep holding space for challenging questions and conversations even if there are no answers. These young people ask honest questions hoping for good news. Faith seeking understanding is faithful and good. It changes lives. It changes the world. It changes the church. Because isn’t reformation about change? Changing our hearts through faith, drawing us closer to God, and aligning us to God’s will and mission for us today as God’s grace is poured out to us and through us by Jesus.

Jesus frees us through our baptisms and God promises to:

Always be with us even, and maybe especially, when we don’t feel God.

Always take us back by grace, even when we turn away from God.

Always work to make our lives ever more Christ-shaped.

And to keep these promises forever.

Children of God, in baptism you are sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever.[6] Jesus sets you free and you are free indeed. Amen and thanks be to God.

___________________________________

[1] John 8:31-32

[2] John 8:34

[3] John 8:33

[4] Sze Zeng, “Where Did the Phrase “Faith Seeking Understanding” Come From?”  theology + life on October 12, 2010. http://szezeng.blogspot.com/2010/10/where-did-phrase-faith-seeking.html

[5] Rolf Jacobson, Karoline Lewis, and Matt Skinner podcast conversation on John 8:31-36, October 25, 2015 for WorkingPreacher.org. http://www.workingpreacher.org/brainwave.aspx?podcast_id=805

[6] Evangelical Lutheran Worship. Holy Baptism. (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2006), 231.

Sermons

Sowing Hope and Not Losing Heart [OR Persistence Towards Justice]

Caitlin Trussell with Augustana Lutheran Church on October 19, 2025

[sermon begins after the Bible reading–two other Bible readings are at the end of the sermon]

Luke 18:1-8 Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. 3 In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my accuser.’ 4 For a while he refused, but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’ ” 6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? 8 I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

[sermon begins]

I’ve learned a thing or two from doing CrossFit for 14 years.

  • Showing up for class is THE hardest part.
  • Modifying workouts to my fitness level is the way to make gains.
  • Incremental gains take patience and persistence.
  • Community and fitness are built on consistency not speed.

Consistent presence and incremental gains add up over time until suddenly you’re lifting heavier or squatting deeper or stretching further. Oh, how many of us wish that gains could happen more quickly.

Quickly. It’s how the widow in our Bible story would likely have preferred her justice. She kept showing up to demand that the judge grant her justice against her opponent. Jesus’ parable says that she kept it up until the unjust judge gave her justice. Her presence bothered the judge until he gave in.

“Jesus told them this parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart (v1).” That’s what verse 1 says – to pray always and not to lose heart. Not losing heart jumps out of the text this week. The widow’s example of showing up many times is an example of how not to lose heart. Hope is a long game and showing up is the main thing.

First century listeners would have heard the word “widow” and understood that Jesus meant a vulnerable person with no way to support herself.[1] More than that, they would have heard about the widow and connected her with Jewish scripture about protecting the poor, the widow, the orphan, and the resident alien – all people of community concern and of God’s concern.[2] Given her social status, it’s remarkable that the widow had her own voice and used it with the unjust judge. She doesn’t have to convince him with a logical argument. She doesn’t have to convince him at all. She simply has to show up and demand justice.

The widow’s repeated presence in front of the unjust judge is an embarrassing indictment of his unwillingness to help her. He isn’t worried about giving her justice. He’s worried that she’s going to make him look bad. In the end, though, she gets the justice she’s looking for no matter the motivation of the unjust judge.

In the face of an unjust judge, or people like him, it’s easy to lose heart and give up when a situation doesn’t change or changes for the worse. It’s also easy to become the very thing we’re working against. Reverend Dr. King, in his sermon called Transformed Nonconformists, cautions against passive patience which is an excuse to do nothing but he also cautions against hardened and self-righteous rigidity that is simply annoying and easy for other people to tune out.[3] Rather, he calls for restraint “from speaking irresponsible words which estrange without reconciling and from making hasty judgments which are blind to the necessity of social process.”[4] The transformed nonconformist knows that justice “will not come overnight,” yet “works as though it is an imminent possibility.”[5] In these terms and in the story of the parable, not losing heart involves taking action when justice seems as though it will never happen knowing that it could come quickly at any time through perseverance and presence.

The parable is an example of what Reverend King is encouraging his listeners to do. Praying, showing up, and not losing heart are key to hope. Jesus closes the parable with the encouragement that if even the unjust judge can finally bestow justice, how much more will justice be given by a just and merciful God. Jesus also wonders if faith will be found on earth when he comes again. This question about finding faith on the earth makes me wonder if that somehow ties back to the introduction to the parable about praying always and not losing heart.

Is faith, in this reading, about not losing heart, about perseverance, and about staying connected to the one who is faithful? Faith is often understood as confessing Jesus as Lord. Here, Jesus seems to connect faith with not losing heart, with prayer, with perseverance, and with justice for the most vulnerable.

For some, Jesus’ connecting faith to other people beyond our own self is where the wrestling with God begins. Like Jacob in the first reading from Genesis, our encounters with God in scripture can throw us off balance, making us wonder if faith is worth the trouble it seems to regularly draw us into. If Jesus’ constant demand of giving justice to the vulnerable can feel overwhelming in the face of such need, imagine what being in that kind of desperate need feels like. No wonder the Timothy reading exhorts us to keep at it – “to be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable (4:2).” And warns us against “itching ears” who find teachers to suit our “own desires” rather than continuing to draw us in the direction of vulnerable neighbors.

Perhaps exercising faith practices brings us full circle and helps us hold fast when the pressure builds. Practicing faith in our worship, in our connections with God and each other, in our prayers, in not losing heart as God’s faithful people, in persevering, and in justice for the most vulnerable may be just the conditioning we need when those faith practices seem so small in the face of injustice that we wonder what we’re accomplishing. That’s why it takes all of us, called by Jesus who’s as persistent as the widow, figuring it out together as we keep the faith, trusting in God’s grace through our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.

Our Augustana congregation has named our latest stewardship appeal and response to God’s grace and Jesus’ call, Sowing Hope 2026, as we ask for the faith to embody hope for each other and our communities with a spirit of generosity and giving financially towards our three ministry initiatives. The first initiative is to Continue and Sustain Ministry Excellence. The heart of this initiative is rooted in the principle of economic justice in staff compensation, viewing fair wages and benefits not simply as a social goal, but as a spiritual practice for our congregation. Ensuring that all aspects of our ministry are adequately resourced allows us to continue serving our community with persistence, compassion, integrity, and excellence.

The second ministry initiative is Pastor Involvement and Support for Confirmands and their families. During this critical stage of spiritual and emotional development, middle schoolers face a complex and often overwhelming world. The Confirmation process offers a vital opportunity to nurture their faith, build resilience, and help them explore what it means to live with hope.

And finally, the third ministry initiative invites the entire congregation and our immediate neighbors to a joyful celebration marking the completion of the Augustana Homes. This neighborhood-wide event, co-hosted by our neighbors and us is a recognition of the shared effort, vision, and community spirit that made these affordable homes possible. It is a chance for everyone to connect, build relationships, and celebrate the good that neighbors can do when we work together for good. Rooted in our values of hospitality and inclusion, this gathering reflects the kind of neighborhood we strive to be; one where everyone belongs, participates, and is celebrated for their part in creating community.

In a moment we’ll sing a hymn together. While we sing, you’re invited to bring forward your Statement of Intent cards, placing them in a basket with other cards to symbolize the impact of combining our gifts.

As church, we try to heed God’s call and hope we’re following God over and above our own fears. The world is rapidly changing, and the worldwide church is changing right along with it. No one knows what the outcome of any of those changes will be. As the Augustana congregation, we are leaning into the incremental gains of a growing church. And, as church, we’re called by the gospel to sow hope in a weary world as we’ve been gifted by the Holy Spirit to do so. By that same Spirit, we’re reassured of God’s love and grace as our efforts and our offerings unite for God’s purposes. Amen and thanks be to God.

_______________________________________________

[1] Brittany E. Wilson, Assistant Professor of New Testament, Duke Divinity School, Durham, N.C.  Commentary on Luke 18:1-8 for WorkingPreacher.org. workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=4201

[2] Ibid.

[3] Martin Luther King, Jr.  “Transformed Nonconformist” in Strength to Love: A book of sermons. (New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1963), 16.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.

________________________________________________

Genesis 32:22-31 The same night [Jacob] got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. 24 Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” 27 So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28 Then the man said, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans and have prevailed.” 29 Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. 30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, yet my life is preserved.” 31 The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.

2 Timothy 3:14 – 4:5  But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have known sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 so that the person of God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.
4:1 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: 2 proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage with the utmost patience in teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound teaching, but, having their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. 5 As for you, be sober in everything, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.

Preaching, Sermons

Serving Others in Uncertain Times [OR Blessing Animals in Honor of St. Francis]

Caitlin Trussell with Augustana Lutheran Church on October 5, 2025

[sermon begins after three Bible readings]

Genesis 2:19-20a So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air and brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all cattle and to the birds of the air and to every animal of the field.

Luke 17:5-10  The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 The Lord replied, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.
7 “Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here at once and take your place at the table’? 8 Would you not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me; put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink’? 9 Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? 10 So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!’ ”

2 Timothy 1:1-14 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, for the sake of the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus,
2 To Timothy, my beloved child:
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
3 I am grateful to God—whom I worship with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did—when I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. 4 Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. 5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you. 6 For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands, 7 for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.
8 Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, in the power of God, 9 who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace, and this grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, 10 but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 11 For this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher, 12 and for this reason I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day the deposit I have entrusted to him. 13 Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 14 Guard the good deposit entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.

[sermon begins]

Our dog Sunny has been a part of our family for almost 11 years. She was originally rescued in New Mexico, fostered here on the Front Range, and initially adopted by a different family. Someone died in that family and the foster dog-mom was asked to take Sunny back. That’s where we came into the picture. Sunny was six months old. A very slender caramel and black, medium-sized mutt that we were told was part Lab, part Greyhound, part Rottweiler, and part Other. She had the speed and shivery nerves of a greyhound, the sweetness and snorts of a Rottie, and the smiles of the Lab. We theorize that Sunny’s anxiety was due to uncertainty and trauma as puppy and she has carried it with her for 11 years. While she is sweet and loves us very much, she is not brave. She wishes she could be your friend, but she was formed in uncertainty and finds it hard to trust you. Very few of us are allowed to pet her all over. But she has taught us about grace, about meeting animals and people where they are, not where we think they should be.

Meeting animals and people where they are was a specialty of primatologist Jane Goodall who died on Thursday at the age of 91. I grew up admiring her intelligence, her patience, and the way that chimpanzees responded to her. In a 2021 interview, Dr. Goodall had talked about her grandfather a Congregationalist minister, her new pastor when she was a teenager, and how religion “entered” her and “how science and religion are coming together.”[1]

In a video of her from just a few years ago, this faithful, smart, gentle scientist was part of a group releasing a recently rescued and rehabilitated traumatized chimp named Wounda onto an island of refuge.[2] Jane had not met Wounda before. While the group made their way to the island, she touched the chimp’s hand through the bars of the travel crate. When they opened the crate, Wounda snuggled with her main rescuer and then she climbed onto the crate, sat there for a minute, and turned to Jane who stood still and silent. The traumatized and rehabilitated chimp reached out and gently hugged and held Jane for several seconds and then left the group to check out her new home. Jane Goodall quotes are everywhere at the moment. One of my favorites is, “Let us develop respect for all living things. Let us try to replace violence and intolerance with understanding and compassion. And love.” My response to that is, “Preach it, sister.”

Dr. Goodall died just a few days before the annual celebration of St. Francis of Assisi that we’re ritualizing today with the Blessing of the Animals. St. Francis is honored for his love for creation, for his challenge to faithful Christians to tend and care for creation, and for saying, “Preach the gospel always, and, if you must, use words.” I suppose I must use words as a preacher or this moment in the pulpit would be awkward, but there are so many times when actions speak louder than words especially related to animals’ trauma and tending and to our own uncertain times.

I’m not interested in turning this time into a scientific lecture, nor do I have the expertise to pull it off, so I won’t. Suffice it to say that there are many layers to trauma in both our individual and collective experiences of it and the ways we make our way through it. I AM interested in our congregation’s, experience of faith when suffering and uncertainty seem to be piling on either personally or publicly like it is these days of religious, political, and school violence, as well as government shutdown.

While theologians and philosophers have tried, there remains no satisfactory explanation for the existence of suffering. All we know for sure is that uncertainty, suffering, and trauma are part of the human condition. It’s so much a part of the human condition that God knows suffering personally in Jesus’ death on the cross and, through Jesus’ suffering, God knows our suffering personally too. Such is God’s promise to us to always be present even, and maybe especially when we don’t feel it. When times are dark. When hope feels lost. Those are the times when God is present with us. The churchy words for that is the Theology of the Cross.

Just before the Bible verses in Luke we hear today, Jesus challenges his followers to see and help people who suffer, to not cause other people to stumble in their faith, and to forgive and forgive and forgive again.[3] Then we get to the apostles pleading for more faith, literally in the Greek “add faith to us!”[4] Who can blame them?  Jesus raises the bar high on discipleship telling them to relieve deep suffering—not ignore it, to give away money and possessions, and to forgive each other. A bit more faith to get these things done would be awesome! Most of us would like a heap more faith if it actually worked that way.

The apostles plead for more faith as a group – “Increase our faith!” This is unfamiliar ground for most of us. We tend to think of faith as an individual rather than a group project. In an individual way, I can wonder if I have any faith or enough faith or certain faith. It’s one reason why the apostles’ demand is so interesting. “Increase OUR faith,” they say to Jesus. They say it as a group. Jesus replies to them as a group. In the Greek, Jesus uses the plural “you” that means “all y’all,” and then he uses an awkward 1st century slavery metaphor to call them to obedience in service to others. I don’t know who would need to move a mulberry tree into an ocean but it’s more possible with a team of folks working together than with one person.

In the Bible book that bears his name, Timothy was encouraged to trust and obedience by faith. But he wasn’t encouraged to trust alone. Paul reminded Timothy of the faith of his mother Eunice and grandmother Lois. Ancestors to whom Timothy could look for inspiration from faith larger than himself. By the larger faith of community, he could trust and endure the uncertainty and trauma of the present.

Trusting in God’s grace doesn’t negate or minimize uncertainty or suffering and the experience of being overwhelmed by them. Trusting in God’s grace means that we’re given a community of Christ to share each other’s burdens as we have the capacity to do so. It also means admitting something is beyond our capacity, and we need help. And, when we’re able, it means stepping in when help is needed.

Stepping in when help is needed is something that we tend to learn a little more easily from our pets. Maybe it’s because we can’t reason with animals. Caring for animals includes the tone of our voice, key words that they may know, and the way we touch them or give them space. Voice, words, touch, and personal space make a difference whether it’s my dog Sunny, Dr. Goodall’s chimpanzees or other people. And we are people formed by God’s grace to be present with each other in whatever we bring to the mix.

We are a church of the cross as much as we are a church of the resurrection. It means we tell the truth in times of uncertainty, name suffering for what it is, and actively work privately and publicaly to alleviate it or, at the very least, be present with those who are suffering. Loving them in obedience to the One who sent us to do so. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we can trust God’s good news of grace given in Christ Jesus before the ages began and we can serve creation and one another in love. Amen.

_____________________________________

[1] Religion News Service, ‘Religion entered into me': A talk with Jane Goodall, 2021 Templeton Prize winner. May 22, 2021. ‘Religion entered into me': A talk with Jane Goodall, 2021 Templeton Prize winner | National Catholic Reporter

[2] Dr. Jane Goodall and the Jane Goodall Institute. Wounda’s Journey – Jane Goodall Witnesses Release of Chimpanzee Into New Island Sanctuary Site. February 5, 2015.  https://youtu.be/ClOMa_GufsA?si=2D16QmbmrjlPpXIv

[3] In order: Luke 16:19-31 (challenge against indifference), Luke 17:1-2 (challenge to teach well), Luke 17:3-4 (forgive).

[4] Audrey West, Adjunct Professor of New Testament at Lutheran School of Theology Chicago. Commentary on Luke 17:5-10 for WorkingPreacher.org, October 2, 2016. http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3028

Preaching, Sermons

Exuberant Delight [OR “God’s work. Our hands.” Sunday]

**sermon art: Black Boy Joy by Ija Monet

Caitlin Trussell with Augustana Lutheran Church on September 7, 2025

[sermon begins after two Bible readings–hang in there through the Philemon reading, it’s worth it); the Psalm and Deuteronomy readings are at the end of the sermon.]

Luke 14:25-33  Now large crowds were traveling with [Jesus], and he turned and said to them, 26 “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he cannot, then while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. 33 So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.”

Philemon, the whole one chapter book: Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother,
To our beloved coworker Philemon, 2 to our sister Apphia, to our fellow soldier Archippus, and to the church in your house:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4 I thank my God always when I mention you in my prayers, 5 because I hear of your love for all the saints and your faith toward the Lord Jesus. 6 I pray that the partnership of your faith may become effective as you comprehend all the good that we share in Christ. 7 I have indeed received much joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, my brother.
8 For this reason, though I am more than bold enough in Christ to command you to do the right thing, 9 yet I would rather appeal to you on the basis of love—and I, Paul, do this as an old man and now also as a prisoner of Christ Jesus. 10 I am appealing to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I have become during my imprisonment. 11 Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me. 12 I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you. 13 I wanted to keep him with me so that he might minister to me in your place during my imprisonment for the gospel, 14 but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your good deed might be voluntary and not something forced. 15 Perhaps this is the reason he was separated from you for a while, so that you might have him back for the long term, 16 no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a beloved brother—especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
17 So if you consider me your partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. 18 If he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge that to me. 19 I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand: I will repay it. I say nothing about your owing me even your own self. 20 Yes, brother, let me have this benefit from you in the Lord! Refresh my heart in Christ. 21 Confident of your obedience, I am writing to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask.
22 One thing more: prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping through your prayers to be restored to you.
23 Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, 24 and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my coworkers.
25 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

[sermon begins]

I was driving out of my neighborhood and stopped at a red light. Six feet from my car stood an older gentleman waiting at the crosswalk with a massive red rolling suitcase on his way to catch the light rail. The intersection was packed with cars. I was wearing my pastor collar heading to church to do a funeral. Suddenly, the man looked at me, started smiling widely and moving exuberantly, making huge signs of the cross in my direction. Left hand clutching the roller handle, right palm out towards me, he flung his arm as tall as his hand could go, then down, then side to side. He did this several times and then crossed himself. I couldn’t help but smile and laugh with him.

His exuberance was infectious. He was right there on the corner. Six feet from my car. It finally occurred to me to return his blessing for the few brief moments that the light was still red. There we were, blessing each other, blessing ourselves, and laughing together. The light changed and we parted ways delighted by joy. The other people in cars had no idea that I was in a pastor’s collar or what inspired the man to make the sign of the cross at my bright green car or that I was returning his blessing. I’d love to hear THEM tell the story. What was clear was that there was nothing that was going to stop this man from blessing me. He may have been on the way to the light rail station, but he was definitely on the Way of Jesus.

Meanwhile, in his letter to Philemon about Onesimus’ enslavement, Paul was figuring out the Way of Jesus without much to go on by way of precedent or road map.[1] No one knew how to welcome a slave into the Way of Jesus. Paul didn’t know what the consequences would be for Onesimus or anyone else. Could it be dangerous for Onesimus? But with love and courage, he implored Philemon to reconfigure the enslaver/enslaved relationship into a family relationship. From slave to brother. A radical request.

This tiny, one chapter book in the Bible was used in our own country and across countries during the Transatlantic slave trade to justify the enslavement of Black African people by White Christians as a gentle, merciful, and kind act to make people’s lives better.[2] Not only COULD those 19th century enslavers justify their actions but they SHOULD enslave people to save them from an uncivilized, unChristian life. The 19th century abolitionists also used Philemon to work AGAINST slavery, claiming that Paul’s letter upended the relationship between the enslaver and the enslaved person. Find your home Bible or hop online and read Philemon with fresh eyes. As a Roman citizen, Paul was caught in the slavery norm of the empire. As a Jew, Paul remembered the Egyptian enslavement of his people and the Exodus led by Moses that freed them. He was in new territory as a follower of the Way of Jesus and a preacher of Christ and him crucified.[3] So goes the Biblical bind of the ethical interpretation of scripture.

The Biblical bind of ethical interpretation is a helpful caution on “God’s work. Our hands.” Sunday. Our desire to follow Christ towards the very people left out of human dignity, justice, and flourishing can result in unintended consequences for those very people. It’s not a reason not to help. But it is a caution when we choose life as commanded in the Deuteronomy text or delight in the law of the Lord as instructed in Psalm 1. We do the work of God for the life and delight of all people, for God’s sake, and for the sake of the world. The minute we turn in on ourselves and make it about the church is the minute we miss the point. Understanding God’s mission for us is a good example of law and gospel. The gospel, which means the good news of Jesus, frees us to be people of courage and people of hope, knowing that God’s mission of life, love, and human flourishing is necessarily for each one of us, too.

At the same time that the gospel frees us, the law convicts us. The law is the command that Jesus gives us. Jesus said:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”[4]

And we are to delight in that law, says the Psalmist, even though there is a cost to being on the Way of Jesus. Jesus’ stinging words about family in the Luke reading jolt his listeners into awareness. In the first century, family was essential to survival. He had their attention. Jesus hits on three things that we love a lot—life itself, our immediate family, and our money.[5] Loving these things are prioritized elsewhere in the Bible as good things so we know that Jesus is emphasizing something big with his intense delivery.

What are we to make of Jesus’ teaching as we follow his way while also loving these things? ARE we too quick to make idols of them? Meaning, are life, family, and money really just self-absorption in disguise? Or is it more complicated, is Jesus challenging us to consider the cost of discipleship over time? Following the Way of Jesus changes who you are, how you love and who you love.[6] Following Jesus’ Way changes how we spend our money and what we think about our stuff. Persistence over time gives us perspective as we learn the Way. We’re not expected to know all the things there are to know about the destination or what perfection looks like. Remember, there is nothing you can do or not do to make God love you any more or any less.

When Jesus commands us to love our neighbor, it’s not optional. It’s essential to who we are and to whom we belong. The good news is that the gospel frees us to love our neighbor with wild abandon and exuberant delight, unafraid of looking ridiculous at intersections. Unafraid of speaking out and showing up with all of our neighbors—immigrants, LGBTQ, Palestinian and Jew, unhoused, and hungry. All. Our. Neighbors. Unafraid of making mistakes while being thoughtful in our exuberance to minimize mistakes so that God’s mission of human flourishing in God’s image and for God’s kingdom purpose takes hold. “God’s work. Our hands.” Indeed, and amen. [Exuberantly making the sign of the cross towards the people.]

_____________________________________________________-

[1] Matt Skinner, Professor of New Testament, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN. Sermon Brainwave podcast on worship readings for 9/7/2025. #1040: Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Ord. 23C) – September 07, 2025 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary

[2] Skinner, ibid.

[3] 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 (verse 2 “Jesus Christ and him crucified.”)

[4] Matthew 22:37-40

[5] Rolf Jacobson, Professor of Old Testament, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN. Sermon Brainwave podcast on worship readings for 9/7/2025. #1040: Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Ord. 23C) – September 07, 2025 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary

[6] Skinner, ibid.

____________________________________________

Deuteronomy 30:15-20 “Choose life.”

“See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. 16 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. 17 But if your heart turns away and you do not hear but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today that you shall certainly perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, 20 loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him, for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”

Psalm 1 “Their delight is in the law of the Lord.”

1 Happy are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked, nor lingered in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seats of the scornful!
2 Their delight is in the law of the Lord,
and they meditate on God’s teaching  day and night. 
3 They are like trees planted by streams of water, bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither; everything they do shall prosper.
4 It is not so with the wicked;
they are like chaff which the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked shall not stand upright when judgment comes, nor the sinner in the council of the righteous.
6 For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked shall be destroyed.

Good News, Preaching, Sermons

Holy Rest in Our Bone-Weary World [OR Rest Well] Luke 13:10-17

Caitlin Trussell with Augustana Lutheran Church on August 24, 2025

Luke 13:10-17  Now [Jesus] was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11 And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” 13 When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. 14 But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the Sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured and not on the Sabbath day.” 15 But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it to water? 16 And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the Sabbath day?” 17 When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame, and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things being done by him.

Does anyone else think that it’s a little odd that we need to sleep? Hang with me on this for a second. There are 24 hours in a day, and the generally agreed upon amount of time for good sleep is eight hours. Eight hours that can play hard to get, so we bless each other before bedtime with a sincere, “Sleep well.” Eight hours of sleep so that our bodies can heal at the cellular level, make the helpful hormones, and integrate our brain functions including focus, memory, and mood. A good night’s sleep makes us feel more like ourselves. Dare we say that sleep draws us closer to God’s image in us, to the good that God created in the beginning, when even God rested?

“Remember the sabbath and keep it holy.”[1] Let’s geek out on that for a minute. It’s the third commandment of the big ten. In the Bible books of Exodus and Deuteronomy, this commandment is given with extra emphasis on who gets to rest. God commands rest for all the people – free people, enslaved people, and alien residents in the land. God commands rest for animals too – ox, donkey, and all livestock. In Exodus, the command is given to honor God’s rest on the seventh day after creating creation. In Deuteronomy, the command is given because the Hebrew people were once slaves without rest in Egypt, so rest is not to be taken for granted. In both books, the sabbath command is “to the Lord your God.” Resting to the Lord. Resting in the Lord. A holy day of rest. Breathe that in for a minute. Holy rest for everyone and everything. Holiness for everyone and everything.

Holy rest. Holiness. Sabbath. A thing of beauty but a different kind of beauty rest. When we put it this way, it’s easier to have compassion for the synagogue leader when Jesus heals the woman from a crippling spirit on the Sabbath. Holy rest is hard to come by. We all know it. We know it bone deep—deep in the weariness that cripples our own spirits. But unless we have a daily battle that’s physical or cultural, it’s tough to appreciate the woman’s moment in the story. And Jesus had a way of expanding commandments at inopportune times, disrupting the moment while freeing the person in pain. Perhaps we could say he blew apart holiness only to reform it into something even holier. Jesus is always one step ahead, isn’t he? At least one step ahead, disrupting what we think should be happening with what God thinks should be happening. Jesus taking action is sometimes called gospel, a churchy word that means “good news.” But in Lutheran Christian land, we often talk about law and gospel because law is often on the flipside of the gospel. We’re both freed by Jesus’ actions while at the same time convicted by Jesus’ actions.

Much like the synagogue leader whose reaction to Jesus’ action was angst and indignation, our reactions to law can be similar. Sabbath rest is a great example of law and gospel. Here we are this morning, Sabbath resting to God, listening to God’s word, reassured by God’s presence and promise in our lives. Sabbath rest for God to remind us who we are and align us with God’s will in the world. That’s gospel.

At the same time, there are people who can’t be here, people who can’t take a Sabbath rest because they’re working. So, is Sabbath rest optional? Is Sabbath rest just for some of us? That can’t be right. Deuteronomy includes the alien in your lands, not just people who follow God’s command. Do we assume that everyone is able to rest at other times? Have we constructed a society in which rest isn’t for everyone? Is it possible that there is no such thing as true Sabbath rest until even the most vulnerable among us may rest?

The discomfort grows as the questions smolder. Much like when Jesus asks questions in our reading and his opponents were put to shame. Shame is an unhelpful emotion. Regret is a more useful cousin of shame because we learn from regret what it is we don’t want to do again. Regret edges us towards being convicted by the law which provokes our discomfort. It helps us by shaking us free to see our neighbor’s situation differently and therefore our own situation differently. Last Sunday, Pastor Kent preached the ways that Jesus stirs the pot about who we’re paying attention to and the divides created by stirring the pot on behalf of our neighbors. This Sunday, Christ’s compassion stirs our conscience and pokes at our contentment.

In our Bible story this morning, Jesus healed the woman from a crippling spirit. For her, freedom from 18 years of being enslaved to that spirit freed her for a Sabbath rest like none in her recent past. There was nothing more holy than her freedom in merciful healing. As she stood straight, she was living and breathing pure gospel. For that moment in time, she embodied the good news of Jesus. But her vertical body made another body uncomfortable. Jesus’ approach didn’t make the synagogue leader feel comfortable. It did the other thing. It disturbed his conscience, and it disturbed the sense of contentment that he had. I would say that it disturbed his own ideas about the holy with a greater holiness.

When Jesus healed the woman, he changed at least two people’s perspectives. The unnamed woman saw the world around her at everyone else’s eye level for a change. Her perspective literally shifted from looking at the floor to looking people in the eye. The synagogue leader saw the woman’s healing as a disruption to Sabbath holiness rather than her healing as holiness. His perspective shifted when Jesus started asking him questions and he realized he wasn’t right. All of this to say that I wonder how greater holiness raises questions, stirs our conscience, and shifts our perspective. I wonder where the law convicts us, and the gospel heals us simultaneously through Jesus’ actions.

In this summer’s Eucharistic Prayer during communion, we praise God’s grace shown to God’s people in every age, including now the gift of Jesus Christ, who proclaimed the good news in word and deed, in his ministry on earth, and through the mystery of his death and resurrection. In our weekly communion celebration, our praise of God’s grace links to Jesus’ death on the cross. On the cross is where God in Jesus chooses vulnerability and refuses to raise a hand in violence against the world God loves. Jesus absorbed human violence into death, burying it in a tomb, and revealing a love so powerful that even death could not end it. A love that now lives in us as the body of Christ, the church.

Sometimes the church is called the Body of Christ because Christ’s death and resurrection promise lives in us through our baptisms which empowers us by the Holy Spirit to love God, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. But I wonder how we as the church more quickly react like the synagogue leader when our perspective of holiness is challenged rather than like the body of Christ from whom Christ’s love pours out to renew an exhausted world, deeply in need of rest and the reminder that God loves people, not power.

Jesus made himself vulnerable to power when he healed the woman in pain despite it being the Sabbath rest day. Embodying God’s love and grace was high risk for him. God’s grace is so radical that the world as it was, and as it is now, could not fathom a holier way. A holier way through which there is no time like the present to receive God’s love and grace. And there’s no time like the present to give away God’s love and grace. God’s grace-filled glory is revealed through Jesus, our healer, who pours out his love for us here in this place of Sabbath rest. Rest well.

_______________________________

[1] Deuteronomy 5:12-15 and Exodus 20:8-10 – Remember the sabbath and keep it holy…

Good News, Preaching, Sermons

Hearts on the Move [OR World Building for the Good of All] Luke 12:32-40 and Genesis 15:1-6

Caitlin Trussell with Augustana Lutheran Church on August 10, 2025

[sermon begins after two Bible readings]

Genesis 15:1-6  After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” 2 But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “You have given me no offspring, so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.” 4 But the word of the Lord came to him, “This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.” 5 He brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” 6 And he believed the Lord, and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.

Luke 12:32-40 [Jesus said to the thousands:] 32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
35 “Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; 36 be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. 37 Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. 38 If he comes during the middle of the night or near dawn and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.
39 “But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

[sermon begins]

What do the stars see when they look towards our pale blue dot swirling through the Milky Way? Maybe cloud spirals and lightning flashes stand out. Or city lights that coalesce into radiant diamonds across the land. Or creatures of all kinds across earth and sea who are foraging, frolicking, and fighting. What could the stars tell us about ourselves that we can’t see for ourselves because we’re too close to the action, building incomprehensible worlds that we can’t seem to shift from the habits built over millennia. I’m into world building stories like Lord of the Rings where events shape the characters as much as the characters shape events. I just recently finished The Liveship Traders trilogy complete with dragons, sea serpents, pirates, and liveships who spoke because they were carved from the wizardwood of dragon cocoons.[1] Division and hierarchy were entrenched from the kings to the enslaved people. Hope was shaped by sinner-saint characters, including the liveships themselves, who say things like, “…life is to be lived, rather than hoarded against an unseen tomorrow.”[2] Small wonder to be compelled by stories that build worlds. Isn’t that what the Bible is, after all? A story of a people in a relationship with the God of the cosmos whose word created life in which God took delight and forms us as people of faith to usher in God’s vision for the world.

In the Genesis story, [the Lord] brought [Abram] outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them—So shall your descendants be.” When Abram looked back at the stars’ gaze, he saw the promises of God. Not the worlds millions of miles away but a world of possibilities in his time through God’s reckless abundance given to him. Abram was a wayfarer on a journey from his homeland at God’s invitation to renew the earth by building a world in which God’s kingdom reigns for the good of everyone – the stranger, the poor, the widow, and the orphan. Unlimited goodness from a God of steadfast love and lovingkindness.[3]

You may have heard that the ELCA Churchwide Assembly just elected Presiding Bishop-elect Yehiel Curry to serve a six-year term beginning in October. Presiding Bishop-elect Curry was born on the South Side of Chicago, raised in the Catholic church, went to Catholic schools, and became a social worker, then a seventh-grade teacher.[4] One of his college friends invited him to a worship service at Shekinah (She-kine-uh) Chapel on the South Side that had a focus on mentoring young Black boys in a program called SIMBA – Safe in My Brother’s Arms. He went because he’d heard they’d also organized a SIMBA camp, and he wanted to take his students camping.[5] Bishop Curry went to this church not even knowing it was Lutheran. Started attending. Fell in love with the ministry. Two years later he learned it was Lutheran. Now he’s our ELCA Presiding Bishop-elect. Bishop Curry said, “I went into a church looking for ministry and found a Lutheran church – a church [centered] on grace, God’s word for all people, and loving each and every person.” Now that’s a good word about our church and the world God is building through it from our new Presiding Bishop to his ELCA flock.

Right after Jesus’ lovely speech to the flock about fearing not, Peter says, “Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for everyone?”[6] It’s a classic question. Is Jesus’ speech a general kind of “all y’all” or is Jesus talking to me? As if I’ll fly under the radar if I don’t make eye contact with Jesus on this one. We don’t get to hear Peter’s reply to Jesus in the Bible reading today although it comes as the very next verse in Luke. He is still talking to the crowd of thousands. In the verses just before ours today, preached last Sunday by Pastor Karen, Jesus warns the crowds. “Be on guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” He wraps up those verses telling them not to worry about their lives but to strive for the kingdom. A kingdom, we hear today, in which we need not worry about our treasure being taken by thieves or destroyed by moths because they are secured by God.[7]

Right away, though, Jesus says:

“Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

This is one of the challenges in the way we read the Bible Sunday-to-Sunday.  If left with the striving of last week’s verses against greed, we could assume wrongly that striving is the whole plan. It’s too easy to leap from striving to earning. Earning God’s pleasure. Earning God’s salvation. On the heels of earning comes deserving. I deserve God’s pleasure. I deserve God’s salvation. Until, suddenly, I’m left wondering if I’ve strived enough, earned enough, and am deserving enough. I’ve left myself no room for grace.

Jesus says, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” God’s good pleasure to give the kingdom to Jesus’ followers is an antidote to their fear.[8] In scripture, “do not be afraid” is the clue that we’re going to hear about God’s power and promise; God’s mighty deeds.[9] We hear it multiple times in Luke’s gospel from angels and from Jesus. Abram hears it in the Genesis reading. These promises come from God to Abram, to Luke, and to us – unconditional promise and reckless grace.

This week, Jesus offers another way to be on guard against the greed he warns about in the earlier verses.

Jesus says:

“Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”[10]

It is God’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom! Through this kingdom promise, disciples can guard against all kinds of greed and resist the urge to worry 24/7. Jesus tells us to love our neighbor and then directs us to be generous with money.[11] Telling us that where our treasure, our money, goes then our hearts will follow. People assume that you give to where your heart is already. But Jesus says the opposite here, you can direct where your heart goes by what you do with your money.[12]

Jesus is interested in our hearts because of God’s heart for the cosmos, for the nations, for the people. God’s heart is revealed through God’s kingdom come through Jesus whose humility and self-sacrifice lead us to live as he did. Jesus who calls us to build a world on the subversive economy of the kingdom where generosity of treasure moves our hearts towards people and places loved by God, too.[13] People foraging, frolicking, and fighting under the vast expanse of stars gazing our way. Have no fear little flock, for it is God’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Today. Here. Now.

__________________________________________

[1] Robin Hobb. The Liveship Traders (Harper Voyager: 2010).

[2] Ibid., p. 2809.

[3] Psalm 33:18 and 22

[4] Bridgette Adu-Wadier interviews Presiding Bishop-elect Yehiel Curry. August 7, 2025. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Elects First Black Presiding Bishop, a Chicago Native | Chicago News | WTTW.

[5] Lutheran World Federation. May 19, 2023. USA: from summer camp leader to Chicago bishop | The Lutheran World Federation.

[6] Luke 12:41

[7] E. Trey Clark, Professor of Preaching and Spiritual Formation, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA. Commentary on Luke 12:32-40. Commentary on Luke 12:32-40 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary

[8] Matt Skinner, Professor of New Testament, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN. Sermon Brainwave Podcast #1037: Ninth Sunday after Pentecost (Ord. 19C) – August 10, 2025 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary.

[9] David Lose, President of Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. Commentary on Luke 12:32-40 for WorkingPreacher.org, August 8, 2010.  http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=729

[10] Luke 12:33-34

[11] Luke 10:25-37 Parable of the Good Samaritan: Love God and love your neighbor as yourself.

[12] Rolf Jacobson, Professor of Old Testament, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN. Sermon Brainwave Podcast. #1037: Ninth Sunday after Pentecost (Ord. 19C) – August 10, 2025 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary

[13] Clark, ibid.

Preaching, Sermons

Why Isn’t God Texting Me Back?! [Ask, Seek, and Knock Because the Door is Already Open]

 

Caitlin Trussell with Augustana Lutheran Church on July 27, 2025

[sermon begins after three longish Bible readings. The Psalm is at the end of sermon]

Luke 11:1-13  [Jesus] was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”2 So he said to them, “When you pray, say:
Father, may your name be revered as holy.
May your kingdom come.
3 Give us each day our daily bread.
4 And forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.
And do not bring us to the time of trial.”
5 And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, 6 for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.’ 7 And he answers from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything out of friendship, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.
9 “So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 Is there anyone among you who, if your child asked for a fish, would give a snake instead of a fish? 12 Or if the child asked for an egg, would give a scorpion? 13 If you, then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Colossians 2:6-19 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
8 Watch out that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority. 11 In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, by the removal of the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ; 12 when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses, 14 erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it. [
16 Therefore, do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food or drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or Sabbaths. 17 These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the body belongs to Christ. 18 Do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, initiatory visions, puffed up without cause by a human way of thinking, 19 and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and tendons, grows with a growth that is from God.]

Genesis 18:20-32  Then the Lord said, “How great is the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah and how very grave their sin! 21 I must go down and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me, and if not, I will know.”
22 So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham remained standing before the Lord. 23 Then Abraham came near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will you then sweep away the place and not forgive it for the fifty righteous who are in it? 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” 26 And the Lord said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will forgive the whole place for their sake.” 27 Abraham answered, “Let me take it upon myself to speak to my lord, I who am but dust and ashes. 28 Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” 29 Again he spoke to him, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.” 30 Then he said, “Oh, do not let my lord be angry if I speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.” 31 He said, “Let me take it upon myself to speak to my lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.” 32 Then he said, “Oh, do not let my lord be angry if I speak just once more. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.”

[sermon begins]

Have you ever texted someone and waited days for a reply? Okay, not just me then. I can conjure up many reasons why they might not be texting back. Sometimes I tell myself that my text really isn’t that urgent in the scheme of things. I don’t have to text the double question mark to make sure they saw the first text. OR maybe you’ve been the person who’s taken days to text back. There could be any number of good reasons for the delay. You justify your delay with those reasons. The silence is just hanging out there and we fill silence by imagining things that may or may not be true because the silence is deafening. This is kind of like when we pray. We pray for all kinds of things for all kinds of reasons at all kinds of times. We often pray as if we’re texting God. When we interpret prayer as unanswered, it’s like screaming into a void asking, “Why isn’t God texting me back?!!”

How we pray says a lot about our unexamined, embedded theology. Theology is the fancy word for who we think God is and what we think God does. There’s a lot that reveals our theology without revealing a thing about God. Prayer is one of them. The Bible is an often-confusing guide in this regard. Take the Sodom and Gomorrah story in Genesis 18 this morning. It was likely paired with the Luke reading to show persistence in prayer as Abraham negotiates with God for the lives of the righteous. But it’s a horrific story that’s fueled religious retribution and wrongly used to justify much harm against humanity throughout the centuries. It’s way better to go after this story in a Bible study than a sermon because the layers of historical interpretation are painful, problematic and complicated. One problem is that these kinds of Bible stories get conflated with our own impulse for punishment and revenge. Another problem is the content of Abraham’s negotiations. Let’s scoop up this story and set it over in the more-study-needed box. Moving on…

Hanging out with Jesus as he teaches his disciples to pray may be more fruitful. The promise here is that God is listening. God listened to Jesus pray. And Jesus taught his disciples to pray because God is listening to them, too. The first posture and promise of prayer are God’s. God loves us first. God speaks to us first through the word made flesh in Jesus.[1] As Jesus teaches prayer, what we now call the Lord’s Prayer is aligning us with God’s kingdom and will, a kingdom and will that have to do with daily bread and forgiveness, a kingdom and will assured by God’s trustworthy promises.[2]

Jesus taught his disciples and said, “Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.” Asking, seeking, and knocking is a posture of trust that there’s something to be found.[3] Asking, seeking, and knocking goes way beyond what I think I need or want or wish for—although we certainly pray for needs, wants, and wishes all the time. And, of course, we should. I pray for all kinds of things and for all kinds of reasons. Censoring my prayers doesn’t make any sense to me if God already knows the joys and concerns on my heart.

Theologians and church-types love to talk about what happens when we pray.  Dissecting it into parts and giving us theories on how prayer works and how it doesn’t work and how God works in the midst of prayer. Out of all of those theories, some which come from tangling with our text in Luke today, I haven’t found one that is intellectually satisfying. I have prayed desperate prayers and silly prayers and everything in between to all kinds of outcomes. So the outcome of prayer is simply a mystery to me. The mystery of prayer is especially true when my or someone else’s world is torn apart by loss. And yet…and yet…I pray.  I continue to pray desperate prayers and silly prayers and everything in between. If there’s any agreement about prayer, it’s that prayer is part of the Christian life. And if it’s part of my life as a Christian, then God’s grace is certainly extravagant enough to cover a few errant prayers of dubious content.

Prayer is a mind-bender in the best sense of the word. As I ask, seek, and knock, prayer bends my mind towards God’s future, towards the will of God regardless of the ways prayers seem to be answered. One argument against prayer by non-praying types is that the outcomes of prayer could just as easily be explained by random chance as by the power of God. But surrendering to the Holy seems to be about leaning into God no matter what is happening around us. God isn’t much more than a vending machine if we reduce the power of prayer to an equation between our quantity of faith and getting what we ask for. But bending our minds towards God’s will through prayer and being given the Holy Spirit holds a promise that no one can take us captive or disqualify us as cautioned in the Colossians reading. We’re so tempted to disqualify others based on what captivates us as right or wrong or who’s in or out. People were apparently puffed up without cause and disqualifying each other in the Colossian church based on who was and who wasn’t captivated by visions of angels, self-abasement, and initiatory visions.

Disqualifying people is a lot like the modern-day tendency to announce who is and who isn’t a Christian based on whatever we think a Christian looks like or sounds like. The closest I get to it is when I’m asked whether I think “those people” or “those churches” are really Christian. I’ll say that their actions or theology don’t fit into my understanding of Jesus’ teachings or the way of Jesus. The risk in disqualifying people is that we confirm ourselves and judge others according to our own notions of worthiness, captivated and puffed up by a human way of thinking. But our head is Christ. The Christ, as Paul writes to the Colossians, who nailed to the cross the record of our trespasses, disarming rulers and authorities.

Christ is the head of the church. Seems almost silly to say it out loud on a Sunday morning but there you go. The prayer that Jesus teaches the disciples is the church’s prayer we pray together as “The Lord’s Prayer” during worship.  It is a corporate prayer; meaning that all of us, the whole body of Christ, pray this prayer together and on each other’s behalf. Some of us widen the net a bit with this prayer and pray it in the morning before we get out of bed or on airplanes when the weather is bad. This is a go-to prayer.

The Lord’s Prayer has served the faithful for over 2,000 years and will continue to serve the faithful long after we’re gone. We pray this prayer with our ancestors in the faith and with those yet to come, leaning together into God’s will and future. This is THE most persistent prayer of the body of Christ. It is a prayer that positions us for action into God’s will on behalf of each other—for daily bread for us and for those being starved by famine, war, or genocide; for forgiveness for ourselves and for others who need our forgiveness. We pray for God’s kingdom to come as we consent to playing our part in its inbreaking. God gives us the Holy Spirit and no telling what the Spirit will work in us as we’re reoriented to God’s kingdom and will.

Have you ever entered a room or an office where someone is already there and you quietly say, “knock, knock,” to get their attention? Or you pick up your phone to text someone and there’s already a text there from them? God’s promise to us in prayer is that God is already listening. Thanks be to God. And amen.

________________________________________________

[1] Rolf Jacobson, Professor of Old Testament, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN. Commentary of Bible readings for July 27, 2025. #1034: Seventh Sunday after Pentecost (Ord. 17C) – July 27, 2025 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary.

[2] Matthew Skinner, Professor of New Testament, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN. Commentary of Bible readings for July 27, 2025. #1034: Seventh Sunday after Pentecost (Ord. 17C) – July 27, 2025 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary.

[3] Skinner, ibid.

___________________________________________________

Psalm 138

I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart;
before the gods I sing your praise;
2 I bow down toward your holy temple
and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness,
for you have exalted your name and your word
above everything.
3 On the day I called, you answered me;
you increased my strength of soul.

4 All the kings of the earth shall praise you, O Lord,
for they have heard the words of your mouth.
5 They shall sing of the ways of the Lord,
for great is the glory of the Lord.
6 For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly,
but the haughty he perceives from far away.

7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
you preserve me against the wrath of my enemies;
you stretch out your hand,
and your right hand delivers me.
8 The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me;
your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.
Do not forsake the work of your hands.

Preaching, Sermons

What’s Good about the Good Samaritan? [OR It’s Hard to Get Along with the People Most Like Us] Luke 10

 

sermon art: Good Samaritan by Thomas Bertrum Poole

Caitlin Trussell with Augustana Lutheran Church on July 13, 2025

[sermon begins after the Bible reading]

Luke 10:25-37 An expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” 27 He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”
29 But wanting to vindicate himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and took off, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan while traveling came upon him, and when he saw him he was moved with compassion. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, treating them with oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him, and when I come back I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

[sermon begins]

Baptizing a baby can be simultaneously sweet and powerful. The little one is held over the font, they blink their eyes at me and look at their parents and back at me as they’re baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Sometimes, though, the baby is in a mood and things are less than easy. I tell the parents ahead of time that we’re just going to keep going no matter what because God accepts us no matter what. It’s also true that the more antsy a baby gets, the more antsy the parents get and there’s nothing that’s going to shut that cycle down in front of a bunch of people. Keeping it moving gets the baby back into the parents’ arms to be soothed. When adults or older kids are baptized, it’s powerful in a different way but it also goes pretty smoothly as water is poured over the top of their heads while they look down into the water that claims them. Toddlers and preschoolers are a whole other story. There’s just no explaining to a three-year-old how this is going to come down. It takes time ahead of the baptism to gain their trust, show them how to stand on the stool, look down into the bowl, and let water move over their head in this new way. It takes being calm with these wide-eyed kiddos and letting their sense of self lead them through the water part.

While baptizing people of all ages looks slightly different, God’s promises in baptism remain the same—to always be present, to always take us back, to invite us into lives that are ever more Christ-shaped, and to keep these promises forever. I go over those promises when I meet with parents or youth and adults being baptized. It’s good for folks to know that God’s promises are the focus of our baptism, not our less than perfect intentions that we call promises or our hesitant faith that we’re not sure would hold up to scrutiny. The promise of God’s invitation into lives that are ever more Christ-shaped is where Jesus’ parable of the Samaritan takes us.

About 1,000 years before Jesus was born, Samaritans were part of the Northern Kingdom of Israel that split from Judea. A few hundred years later, Samaria was conquered by the Assyrian Empire and the Samaritans identity was shifted by intermarriage. They remained similar to the Jews of Judea in the Southern Kingdom but Samaritans and Jews had different temples, Bibles, and claims and attachment to Abraham.[1] The Jews and Samaritans are analogous to the differences between Shia and Sunni Muslims or, closer to home, like ELCA Lutheran Christians and American Evangelicals. Jesus tells the story of the Samaritan, reimagining an existing ethnic division. We’re often most hostile to those with whom we’re closest. Maybe because we think they should know better or perhaps because we think we know better from our perceived self-righteous high ground. Jesus does one of the things that Jesus does best and reframes the high ground in a ditch on the side of the road.

In the story, it’s the Samaritan who saw the naked, beaten, half-dead man on the side of the road and was “moved with pity.” This word “pity” is from a Greek word that is also translated as compassion elsewhere in Luke. Luke uses this word only three times in the Gospel.[2] In the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke it’s used 12 times and used specifically to either describe Jesus’ compassion or used by Jesus in parables to describe a major characters’ response.[3] This translation gem gets a shout out because this kind of compassion is quite specific when it shows up in the gospels. More than a moral claim, it’s a divine claim.

In our tradition, we understand humans to be created in the image of God.[4]  Imago Dei. Our humanity is imprinted by God. One of the reasons we worship weekly is to remind ourselves of what we are and to whom we belong. We are forgetful people . When we are reminded of what we are in the story of the Samaritan, we hear the parable in its rightful place. Not as a moral action, rather as a divine reaction inspiring us across the road like the Samaritan. Jesus never calls him “good.” It’s divine compassion that shines through and is good.

Our bodies are created by divine compassion for divine compassion.  When we act compassionately, endorphins are released in our brains which feel amazing. When we act compassionately, the hormone oxytocin is also released. Oxytocin reduces inflammation in our hearts and circulatory systems.[5]  Also amazing.

Additionally, compassion is contagious. Social scientists have found that there’s a ripple effect. If you are kind and compassionate, your friends, your friends’ friends, and your friends’ friends’ friends have a greater inclination towards compassion. Our bodies’ systems are wired to react positively to compassion and our community systems are wired to react positively to compassion. This is one of those moments when faith and science come together like the thumb and index finger – between them we can grasp so much. Experiencing compassion ourselves inspires us to cross the road in compassion. Even witnessing acts of compassion prepares us to cross the road in compassion – especially across difference as the Samaritan did. Inspiring us to the compassion that is also in us as the image of God empowered by our baptism into the death and life of Jesus, making our lives ever more Christ-shaped.

In the parable, Jesus reveals the compassion of the neighbor, the compassion that Jesus first and foremost reveals in himself as his own compassion is stirred by the people around him and ultimately his own compassion poured out at the cross. Jesus’ compassion that is highlighted by Luke in Jesus himself and in the parables about Jesus is compassion stirred by death.  Compassion stirred by the death of the widow of Nain’s son in chapter 7, by the man left half-dead at the side of the road in the parable of the Good Samaritan, and by the prodigal son showing up after he was assumed dead.  In each of these instances, the compassion of Jesus transforms the ones who are dead, half-dead, or assumed dead. We could say that the compassion of Jesus, the deathless one, draws him toward death because there is nothing left to fear.

The lawyer questioning Jesus gives the right answer about the law, the Torah – love God and love neighbor as self. These are the main things, and Jesus agrees with him. The parable of the Good Samaritan highlights the main things in a way that speaks to us because we’ve hesitated like the priest and the Levite when confronted by difference and need. Perhaps the hesitation to cross the road makes sense to us. Maybe we know deep down who we would not want to help or who we wouldn’t want help from.[6] If we received help from someone we oppose, what would that mean about ourselves and our shared humanity. This isn’t theoretical or only in the distant past. American prisons and ICE detention centers incubate more violence not less. The United States is 5th in the world for incarceration rates behind El Salvador, Cuba, Rwanda, and Turkmenistan.[7] Yet we know that isolation, poverty, addiction, and violence breed more violence, and we can’t seem to stop ourselves. Perhaps divine compassion can inspire us beyond our moral failures to cross that road and help our Hispanic neighbors out of the ditch of our own making.

Remember that the compassion extended by Jesus includes you too. It can be difficult to see love of God, neighbor, and self as simultaneous. We’re tempted to say that we have to love ourselves before we can love our neighbor. Or we have to love God before we can rightly understand love of self. The actual experience is messier – more like football than baseball. A lot is happening at one time in Christ-shaped lives.

Crossing the road in compassion breaks the cycle of shame, judgment, and violence that we inflict on ourselves and other people just as human as we are. However divine compassion comes to you and through you, for today, know that the savior who claims us in the waters of baptism crosses the road into whatever ditch you currently find yourself in, pulls you out, tends your wounds, and reminds you who you are and to whom you belong, along with your neighbor. Alleluia and amen.

____________________________________________

[1] Matt Skinner, Profession of New Testament, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN. Sermon Brainwave podcast for scripture readings for July 13, 2025. Working Preacher’s Sermon Brainwave: #1032: Fifth Sunday after Pentecost – July 13, 2025

[2] Luke 7:13 – Jesus was moved with compassion for the widow of Nain and her dead son; Luke 15:20 – the prodigal son’s father is moved with compassion when he see that his son has returned.

[3] Girardian Lectionary (Proper 10, Year C, Ordinary 15) on Luke 10:25-37, Exegetical Note #5 re Luke 10:33 (2013).

[4] Genesis 1:26-27

[5] The Book of Joy, 258.

[6] Skinner, ibid.

[7] Most prisoners per capita by country 2025| Statista

Preaching, Sermons

What’s Pride Got to Do with It? [OR To Love Jesus Means to Love People]

**sermon art: Rainbow Jesus by Tony Rubino, 2020, acrylic on canvas

Caitlin Trussell with Augustana Lutheran Church on June 29, 2025, on the feast day honoring the Apostles Peter and Paul

[sermon begins after two Bible readings – the third reading is at the end of the sermon]

John 21:15-19 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. 18 Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” 19 (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.”

2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18 As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. 8 From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
17 But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. 18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and save me for his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

[sermon begins]

It was a stunning, bluebird day in Colorado. Hope was in the air. My long hair was pony-tailed under a white hard hat with my name taped to the front of it. T-shirt and overalls were donned as I prepared to paint at a “clergy Habitat build” back in the day. Both of my internship pastors from Bethany were there, as were clergy from many faiths including Christian denominations across the Metro Denver area. (Although, unleashing clergy en masse on a project is questionable.) We muddled through our morning of good deeds and broke for lunch. Sitting down on a curb with my sandwich and bag of chips felt well-earned. A pastor about 20 years my senior sat down next to me, and he started a get-to-know-you conversation that included our denominational affiliation. This bit of information changed the tone. He asked what I thought about the ELCA’s vote to call gay clergy and bless same-sex partners.[1] (The ELCA is our flavor of Lutherans.) It would be another six years until the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage across the country on June 26, 2015.[2]

In August 2009, a few months before my lunch chat with that pastor, the ELCA Churchwide Assembly had just lifted its ban to call LGBTQ+ pastors and deacons, and I was thrilled for my LGBTQ seminary peers and friends even as the weirdness of voting about a group of people rankled me. I had exactly three years of seminary under my belt (after being a nurse for many years) and was a few months into my pastoral internship before graduating. Turns out that the pastor eating his sandwich next to me at that Habitat build was not interested in having a conversational exchange of ideas. He wanted to tell me that I was wrong and that the ELCA was wrong, and he used scripture to do it.

These days, I’m better equipped to talk about the 7 verses in the whole Bible that allegedly address LGBTQ concerns, the 50 Bible verses in which Jesus talks about love, the 250 Bible verses in which Jesus talks about money, and the ZERO Bible verses in which Jesus has anything to say on the topic of LGBTQ folks. ZERO. More about scriptural authority and LGBTQ folks are in my June 1st sermon at the beginning of Pride Month. At that clergy build in 2009, I was ill-prepared. After many long minutes of going back-and-forth, here’s what I finally said to that pastor. “I hang my hat on Jesus’ teaching when he said that greater love hath no one than to lay one’s life down for one’s friends—so I’m going to err on the side of love and go get another sandwich.”[3] I stood up and did just that while internally I was shaking like a leaf.

Looking back, it was but a small moment of courage. Nothing even close to the martyrdom of the Apostles Peter and Paul whose ministries we’re honoring today. The Bible readings include Peter’s prisonbreak aided by the angel, Paul’s summary in his letter to Timothy as he nods to the end of his ministry AND his life, and Jesus’ questioning Peter about his love.

Paul was reflecting on his proclamation of the message to all the Gentiles. Paul was a Jew who proclaimed an expansion of God’s love given through the Jewish people by way of Jesus to everyone else. It was a radical message of who belonged to God. When Paul talked about being poured out, he likely meant that he was being poured out like a drink offering. [4] The Greek verb spendo, which means to pour out, is used in only one other place and that’s in Paul’s letter to the Philippians.[5] Paul’s meaning is that his life and his death had been an offering to God. The authorities might indeed kill him, but Paul uses this language to say that he offers his life back to God who carries his life through this death.[6] By Paul’s example, we learn that living as a gospel people means that our lives are an offering to God.

By Peter’s example, we learn that the love of Jesus means that we love Jesus’ people as Jesus renews Peter’s call to follow him. Three times, Jesus asks Peter if he loves him. Three times, Peter says, “Yes.” Three times, Jesus tells Peter to feed his sheep. Not Peter’s sheep. Jesus’ sheep. No one belongs to us. We all belong to God through Jesus’ death and resurrection, through Jesus pouring out of himself.

Years ago, during my first interview with Augustana, the Call Committee asked what I would fight for. I answered that I would fight for the gospel. The gospel means the good news of Jesus is for everyone. The good news that there’s nothing you can do or not do to make God love you any more or any less is expressed with words like grace, forgiveness, freedom, and hope. There are times when the gospel for everyone means that we turn to particular groups of people to say that the gospel is for them, too. Today’s celebration of the Apostles, Peter and Paul, is a nod towards exactly that. They risked everything, including their lives, to preach the good news of Jesus to Gentiles. Gentile means non-Jew. The earliest Jesus followers were Jews. Jesus was a Jew. Jesus began the Gentile movement that expanded their inclusion in his Way of hope and freedom. He was ultimately killed for it by the Roman Empire and Jewish religious leaders. Peter and Paul continued the Gentile movement, and they were also martyred as threats to the empire. God’s grace and freedom are just that powerful when you’re no longer dividing people as insiders and outsiders and pitting them against each other.

Pitting people against each other is the worst of identity politics. No one wins when we’re riled up by the differences that are used to divide us. The best of identity politics happens when people work together to solve a cultural challenge with groups of people who have been treated as “less than,” and whose lives are made more difficult because who they are doesn’t fit into accepted cultural norms.[7] Examples of productive identity politics are the Women’s Suffrage movement of the 19th century that lasted 80 years and led to women being able to vote in this country and the Civil Rights movement of the 20th century that lasted 15 years and gained equal rights under the law for Black Americans. In the early church, Peter and Paul made sure that the Gentiles knew they were included in God’s love through the cross of Christ—arguably one of the earliest identity politics movements. Augustana in Denver is a Christian church today because Jesus and his earliest Jewish followers like Peter and Paul fully proclaimed the gospel to all the Gentiles. Us. Let’s take good care not to throw the baby out with the baptismal water when we declare that all identity politics are bad for humanity. The argument for identity politics is more nuanced than that.

Last Sunday, we had a teacher here from The Center on Colfax who instructed us in LGBTQ+ basics.[8] She was utterly grace-filled while responding to our questions and teaching us to use the acronym LGBTQ+. We learned what those letters mean to people who use them to identify themselves. We learned again that we can’t know all the things as she encouraged us to keep learning so that we can better affirm LGBTQ+ members, friends, family, and communities. The wider church has work to do in this regard and our small corner of the church does too.

Which brings me to the difference between acceptance versus affirmation. Acceptance is an ambiguous live-and-let-live posture. Whereas affirmation celebrates LGBTQ+ folks as created by God to be themselves in the world. Just as same sex behavior exists throughout the animal kingdom across species, it exists in humans, too.[9] You can check out the footnote in my sermon or do a web search. Seek to understand. There’s so much to know and affirm. Pride weekend is a good time to be curious as we celebrate and affirm LGBTQ+ folks.

Jesus’ call to love involves risk. Peter and Paul embodied the risk of love taken to the extreme. Most of us are called by Jesus’ love to smaller acts of courage. When we err, we err boldly on the side of love, fueled by God’s grace that dares us to live into the promise of God’s unconditional love for the sake of the world God so loves. Amen.

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[1] John Dart. “Study process aided ELCA breakthrough: Third denomination to accept gay clergy. September 22, 2009.  Study process aided ELCA gay breakthrough: Third denomination to accept gay clergy | The Christian Century

[2] Same-sex marriage is made legal nationwide with Obergefell v. Hodges decision | June 26, 2015 | HISTORY

[3] John 15:13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

[4] Stephen Fowl, President and Dean, Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Berkeley, CA. Commentary on 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18. October 23, 2022. Commentary on 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary

[5] Ibid. (Philippians 2:17)

[6] Ibid.

[7] Karen Dienst. “Gutmann examines ‘the good, the bad, and the ugly” of identity politics. Princeton – Weekly Bulletin 3/24/03 – Gutmann examines ‘the good, the bad and the ugly’ of identity politics

[8] The Center on Colfax – LGBTQ Colorado

[9] Karen A. Anderson et al, PLOS One, 19(6), June 20, 2024.  Same-sex sexual behaviour among mammals is widely observed, yet seldomly reported: Evidence from an online expert survey – PMC

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Acts 12:1-11 About that time King Herod laid violent hands upon some who belonged to the church. 2 He had James, the brother of John, killed with the sword. 3 After he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. (This was during the Festival of Unleavened Bread.) 4 When he had seized him, he put him in prison and handed him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover. 5 While Peter was kept in prison, the church prayed fervently to God for him.

6 The very night before Herod was going to bring him out, Peter, bound with two chains, was sleeping between two soldiers, while guards in front of the door were keeping watch over the prison. 7 Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared, and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his wrists. 8 The angel said to him, “Fasten your belt and put on your sandals.” He did so. Then he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” 9 Peter went out and followed him; he did not realize that what was happening with the angel’s help was real; he thought he was seeing a vision. 10 After they had passed the first and the second guard, they came before the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went outside and walked along a lane, when suddenly the angel left him. 11 Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hands of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”

Preaching, Sermons

Daring to Look Back to Move Forward as Peacemakers [OR Pigs and Demons…What Could Go Right?!] Luke 8 and Galatians 3

Caitlin Trussell with Augustana Lutheran Church on June 22, 2025

[sermon begins after two Bible readings]

Luke 8:26-39 Then [Jesus and his disciples] arrived at the region of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27 As he stepped out on shore, a man from the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had not worn any clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him, shouting, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me,” 29 for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.) 30 Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” He said, “Legion,” for many demons had entered him. 31 They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss.
32 Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding, and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. 33 Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd stampeded down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.
34 When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. 35 Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they became frightened. 36 Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. 37 Then the whole throng of people of the surrounding region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. 38 The man from whom the demons had gone out begged that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.

Galatians 3:23-29 Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. 24 Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be reckoned as righteous by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. 27 As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.

[sermon begins]

A couple of weeks ago I had a whirlwind, 72-hour, trip to see family related to my first Dad who was lost to schizophrenia. No ordinary get together, the goal was to tell Palm family stories, look at Palm family pictures of my Grandma Ruth and Granddad Palm, their parents, and their children who were my first dad and my uncle Robb who died a year apart, both near 50 years old. Three of my siblings were there, my mom, one niece, my Aunt Jean, one cousin, two teens, and two kids. One rental house. Mmm-hmmm. What could go right?! A lot, actually.

My Aunt Jean, a retired social worker, and I planned the structured time to show pictures and tell stories. We had a big flipchart that I used one afternoon to draw the family tree as a genogram along with more stories, health histories, and personality traits. The flipchart came in handy again the next day to draw the gifts and strengths that we each feel we gained from being part of the Palm family. It’s good to talk about the gifts when there are such obviously hard things in my family’s story. My Grandma Ruth was taken to live at an orphanage when she was 13 years old. We didn’t know a lot about her family. She wasn’t interested in talking about them. My niece has dug up a ton about Grandma Ruth’s mother who was committed to Kankakee State Hospital for the Insane and died there 20 years later.[1] It’s likely that Grandma Ruth never knew any of this about her mother. The asylum’s cemetery is surrounded by an 8-foot fence and not open to the public. The resting place of my great grandmother, Clara, is walled off.

Talking through this new information with my family and getting perspective on our family’s history, it makes sense to me that the impact of such a story is as invisible to us as the air we breathe. Whatever the gifts and challenges of my family’s story happen to be, they are normal to us. Daring to look over the walls of the cemetery, daring to look back to move forward, is worth a try.

The Gerasene demoniac in our Bible story had become a normal part of his community, too. Oh, sure, Legion was naked, unpredictable, dripping with demons, and living in the cemetery alongside the dead when he wasn’t shackled and chained in town, but his community knew what to expect from him. He was their normal. They knew what to expect from the man until Jesus showed up from across the sea. It was the first thing he did in Gentile country. Gentile means non-Jewish, territory. It was the only thing he did on that trip before returning home to Galilee. Must have been an important trip!

Jesus showed up, gave permission for the demons to enter a herd of pigs who then raced to the lake and drowned. It’s curious that the city folks were afraid when they saw the man sitting calmly at the feet of Jesus. Their fear was so great that they asked Jesus to leave town. If this Jesus could heal their demon-possessed neighbor, what other power might he have that could turn against them. Their normal had been disrupted with healing. It makes me wonder about our own comfort with the demons that we know versus the healing that we don’t know.

A lot is known about individual healing and transformation especially related to addiction and recovery. We know that those of us who face addiction and find healing in rooms of recovery like Alcoholics Anonymous process those experiences with an honest accounting of the past. Less is known about how we might transform systems, whether that system is our family, our town, our country, or our world. The more people you add, the more complicated it gets. I’m interested in those systems and what it takes to fight through fear of the unknown future to peer into the cemetery so that we can leave behind the chains and shackles that bind us. I’m interested in how a God who loves the whole world gives us hope and courage by the power of the Spirit to do so.

Notice that Jesus sent the healed man back into his community, back with his people. Restoring the man into relationships long thought irredeemable. I see that demoniac reconciled with his community, and I see our families, and cities, and country and I wonder, do I believe in a God of transformation or don’t I? Do I believe that God has a role for Jesus followers in that transformation or don’t I?

Last Thursday was Juneteenth.[2] Juneteenth celebrates June 19, 1865, the day when many enslaved people in Texas learned of their freedom through the Emancipation Proclamation. Juneteenth is also known as America’s second Independence Day and considered the longest-running African American holiday. Juneteenth is as good a time as any for us as Coloradans and as Lutherans to wonder about how we work for truth and reconciliation across differences of race that are unexamined and embedded—things that seem normal in our policies and practices because it hadn’t occurred to us to look at them in that way. On my mother’s side, I’m the great-great-great granddaughter of a lowcountry enslaver of Black African people in South Carolina. Slavery and its modern iterations including mass incarceration continue to ensnare Black Americans in cycles of poverty, violence, addiction, and isolation from their friends and families. We can do better as we advocate for a transformed justice system that dares to break these cycles and imagine a different future. We can look back to the cemetery to move forward to a different future.

Juneteenth is also a new holiday in Augustana’s Personnel Manual. This means that the office was closed on Thursday along with the Augustana Early Learning Center. Commemorating Juneteenth aligns with Augustana’s mission statement, especially that, “we welcome everyone to worship Jesus…and go serve in the world.” For many of our Black members, staff, friends, family, and neighbors, this is a major holiday celebrating liberation from enslavement and forced work at the hands of White enslavers. Commemorating this holiday in the life of our congregation, doing this one small thing, dares us to look back to move forward.

As a confessional church, we confess our faith in Jesus as Lord of heaven and earth, giver of radical grace and unconditional love. We also confess each Sunday that there is much we do and leave undone that hurts ourselves and our neighbors. Frankly, there’s not much difference between family systems like yours and mine, and larger cultural systems that bring both gifts and challenges. There are differences of scale and impact for sure. But there is no difference in the ways that most of us leave patterns of behavior unexamined and, if they are examined, we can end up justifying those patterns as just the way the world works. It’s just our normal.

The apostle Paul wrote to a congregation of Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians unified by baptism but struggling with the details like who should or shouldn’t be circumcised.[3] Paul reminds us in his letter to the Galatian church that we are free because of our baptism into Christ. Freed in Christ by faith so that all are one in Christ – no longer Jew or Greek, no longer slave or free, no longer male and female. Bible stories name differences all over the place and names us neighbors across difference – think the Syrophoenician woman[4], the Good Samaritan[5], and the Ethiopian eunuch[6] – although in fairness, race as we understand it is a much later 16th century social construct.[7] Paul isn’t erasing our differences with Christ unifying theology. Unity is not uniformity. Unity in Christ dares to level the hierarchies of race, gender, class, and creed, to level the hierarchies that divide us and help us see Christ in each other. To dare to look into the cemetery of past actions that hurt ourselves and other people in order to move forward in hope.

While it’s reassuring that Christ is the great leveler, hierarchies that divide us seem true in our unexamined assumptions, our biases, our normal. It takes practice to celebrate and not fear difference in other people – practice in prayer, practice in worship, practice in thought and conversation, practice in advocacy, and practice in relationship with all kinds of people. As people freed by Jesus, without any reason to have to justify ourselves, we are free to practice as the body of Christ so that all may freely live without fear.

We live in a time when the world is moving fast, and action is needed. Slowing down to look over the walls of the cemetery can seem indulgent, however, slowing our thinking down is vital when fear shackles our humanity so that our actions align with Christ’s call to us to be peacemakers. Thankfully, Jesus breaches cemetery walls and sets us free. Jesus leads us through fear into community. In Christ, we are children of God who live in hope. Amen, and thanks be to God.

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[1] Kankakee State Hospital, Illinois, Historic Asylums. Kankakee State Hospital (Historic Asylums)

[2] What is Juneteenth? https://www.history.com/news/what-is-juneteenth

[3] Brigitte Kahl, Professor of New Testament, Union Theological Seminary, New York. Commentary of Galatians 3:23-29 for June 22, 2025. Commentary on Galatians 3:23-29 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary

[4] Mark 7:24-30 Jesus and the Syrophoenician Woman

[5] Luke 10:25-37 The parable of the Good Samaritan

[6] Acts 8:26-39 Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch

[7] The History of the Idea of Race https://www.britannica.com/topic/race-human/The-history-of-the-idea-of-race

Pastor, Preacher, Speaker