Monthly Archives: November 2025

Preaching, Sermons

We Don’t Do Kings [OR What Does Rihanna’s Song “Umbrella” Have in Common with an Ancient Swedish Proverb]

Pastor Caitlin Trussell with Augustana Lutheran Church for Christ the King Sunday on November 23, 2025

[sermon begins after two Bible readings – see the third one at the end of the sermon]

Luke 23:33-43 When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. 34 [[Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”]] And they cast lots to divide his clothing. 35 And the people stood by watching, but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” 36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine 37 and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” 38 There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”
39 One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom.” 43 He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Jeremiah 23:1-6 Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the Lord. 2 Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the Lord. 3 Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. 4 I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall no longer fear or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the Lord.
5 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.”

[sermon begins]

“When the sun shines, we shine together
Told you I’ll be here forever
Said I’ll always be your friend
Took an oath, I’ma stick it out to the end.
Now that it’s raining more than ever
Know that we’ll still have each other
You can stand under my umbrella.”[1]

I know some of you can keep singing that song with or without me but let’s try to focus. Terius “The-Dream” Nash, co-writer of Rihanna’s song “Umbrella” said that it “originally came to him as a metaphor for God’s unconditional protection reflected in the chorus of the song.”[2] While the song clearly morphed from those pious beginnings, it’s also possible that Terius knows the ancient Swedish proverb, “Shared joy is double joy, and shared sorrow is half sorrow.” Both “Umbrella” and the Swedish proverb shine a light on empathy. When you share my joy, it’s as if joy expands. When I feel sad and you’re with me, I may still be sad but I’m less alone which can make the sorrow less threatening.

It’s not every Sunday that you get a mash up of Rihanna and an ancient Swedish proverb, but here we are on Christ the King Sunday. Even the title of Christ the King strikes a discordant note in a Sunday worship service. We don’t do kings. Especially as Americans. A Revolutionary War was fought to separate from the tyranny of King George III. Even so, Christ the King Sunday is a relatively new holy day in the church. Almost exactly 100 years ago, there was a Catholic Pope, Pius XI, concerned about the rise of fascism in Spain, communism in Russia, antisemitism presaging nazism in Germany, and secularism in the West.[3] So seductive were these -isms, they captured the imagination of faithful Christians who decided God was on their side. Pope Pius XI spotlighted the Lordship of Jesus to refocus the faithful in 1925. Lutherans adopted the Christ the King celebration in the 1970s. That’s pretty much yesterday in the grand sweep of 2,000 years of church history.

Christ the King Sunday now ends our church year. It’s a New Year’s Eve for church types. As we wrap up this church year, the Biblical texts for Christ the King Sunday include: the prophet Jeremiah’s proclamation of the Lord’s promise to raise up a wise, just, and righteous king; the book of Colossians’ image of Jesus before all things and also in whose kingdom we are made subjects through redemption and the forgiveness of sins: and lastly the Gospel of Luke’s story of Jesus hanging on the cross under the inscription, “King of the Jews.”

I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that most of us don’t have firsthand experience living under a king’s reign. We know them in theory, in history, and in fabled story. The prophet Jeremiah knew three or four actual kings. Those kings were not taking care of the people. Jeremiah meant the kings of Judah when he wrote, “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the LORD.” In the ancient near east, shepherd was a typical metaphor for king.[4] The Lord’s intention was to raise a shepherd from the line of King David, the line from which Jesus was born 600 years after Jeremiah wrote.

The line from which this long-promised shepherd is hanging from a cross. A King. On a cross. For the disciples, Jesus’ crucifixion was proof that the kingdom hadn’t come. Their guy and their side had lost.[5] Crucifixion was how Rome controlled the empire. You didn’t have to actually be a criminal. Rome criminalized a lot of people and hung them on crosses.[6] The empire secured their power through fear. Jesus’ death on the cross was a consequence for how he lived the last three years of his life and what he taught.[7] But it was also more than that. I mean, I didn’t sing Rihanna at the beginning of this sermon for nothing. As she sang about shining together before it started raining more than ever, she’s singing about the joy and pain of life. The great mystery of suffering finds one answer in the crucified king which is God’s solidarity with us in our suffering.[8] That’s the kind of king that’s interesting. A king of compassion and mercy who says things like Jesus, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”[9] A king not interested in power over all others. A king who empties himself in service to the world.

Years ago, when I was dipping my toe back into church after ten years away, one thing was essential and that was figuring out where suffering fits in this life. It sounds silly to say that out loud. Brilliant theologians and philosophers haven’t been able to answer the question of why suffering exists although Lord knows they’ve tried. As a pediatric oncology nurse, I saw suffering that should not exist. As a six-year-old child, I had a loving father who could no longer parent because of extreme mental illness. A brilliant father who became homeless because of a brain that could not work. I needed a way to understand a loving God, if my own father’s love wasn’t enough to overcome his illness. The cross is one way to experience God’s presence in the midst of suffering, not the cause of it. A way of understanding God suffering with us because God knows suffering personally in Jesus on the cross. The cross may be insufficient in the experience of suffering in real time. But real suffering can find comfort in the shadow of the cross.

The cross is part of Christ the King Sunday but it’s not the whole story. Jesus said to the criminal hanging next to him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Jesus’ promise makes all the difference between the kingdoms of this world based on force or wealth and the kingdom of God based on cross and resurrection.[10] The shepherd who gives life and leads in love is the Lord we follow and confess. Whose kingship compels our hearts, minds, and lives into the reign of God on earth, over and above the pull of power in the world.[11] Not a bad idea given the timeless appeal of trading grace and love of neighbor for earthly power.

On this Christian New Year’s Eve, we are on the cusp of a new church year that begins next Sunday with Advent. During Advent, we await the sweet baby Jesus’ birth. A child who grew up showing us a different Way to live. A way to shine together and protect each other from the rain. Sharing joy and shouldering sorrow with each other. A way of grace, hope, and love so subversive that it threatens the powerful who would have us fear each other. Jesus the Christ was vulnerable, non-violent, self-sacrificing, and died on the cross. He was resurrected into Christ the King who shepherds us on the Way of Jesus. Happy Church New Year everyone. This is good news indeed!

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[1] Umbrella lyrics: Rihanna Umbrella (feat. JAY-Z) Lyrics – Search

[2] Nya Etienne. The Real Meaning Behind Rihanna’s Smash Hit Song Umbrella (The List: August 12, 2023). The real meaning behind Rihanna’s smash hit song Umbrella

[3] Frank C. Senn. The Not-So-Ancient Origins of Christ the King Sunday. Lutheran Forum. November 11, 2017. https://www.lutheranforum.com/blog/2017/11/11/the-not-so-ancient-origins-of-christ-the-king-sunday

[4] Rolf Jacobson, Professor of Old Testament, Lutheran Seminary, Saint Paul, MN. Podcast commentary for November 23, 2025. #1053: Christ the King – November 23, 2025 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary

[4] Skinner, ibid.

[5] N.T. Wright. Surprised by Hope (New York: HarperCollins, 2008), 40

[6] Matt Skinner, Professor of New Testament, Lutheran Seminary, Saint Paul, MN. Podcast commentary for November 23, 2025. #1053: Christ the King – November 23, 2025 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary

[7] Skinner, ibid.

[8] John Paul II. Crossing the Threshold of Hope. (Alfred Knopf: New York, 1994), 63.

[9] Luke 23:24

[10] N.T. Wright, ibid.

[11] Lucy Lind Hogan, Hugh Latimer Elderdice Professor of Preaching and Worship, Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington D.C.  Commentary on John 18:33-37 for November 25, 2018.   https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3885 AND Frank C. Senn, 2007. Lutheran Forum  The Not-So-Ancient Origins of Christ the King Sunday — Lutheran Forum

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Colossians 1:11-20  May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, so that you may have all endurance and patience, joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, 16 for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

Preaching, Sermons

Hope Holds Laughter Through Tears and Hope Lives Here

Caitlin Trussell with Augustana Lutheran Church on November 9, 2025

[sermon begins after one Bible reading; the three other Bible readings are at the end of the sermon]

Luke 20:27-38 Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to [Jesus] 28 and asked him a question: “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. 29 Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman and died childless; 30 then the second 31 and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. 32 Finally the woman also died. 33 In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.”
34 Jesus said to them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage, 35 but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. 36 Indeed, they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. 37 And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 38 Now he is God not of the dead but of the living, for to him all of them are alive.”

[sermon begins]

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has given over 300 million books to over 3 million children across 5 countries.[1] Her dad couldn’t read or write, which led her to inspire a love of reading by gifting books free of charge to children from birth to five years old. Because reading in a path to dreams coming true. Hope through literacy. I first met Dolly through the clock radio on my bedside table. She crooned about life, love, and loss in true country and pop tunes. In an interview, she was once asked about her wigs, nails, and clothes. She said that they made it handy to disappear into real life when she wasn’t wearing them. She put on a plaid flannel shirt, hop into the camper with her husband for a road trip, and no one knew who she was. The interview was around the time of her early movies. One of those films was Steel Magnolias. “Laughter through tears is my favorite emotion,” her character Truvy chimed in a cemetery. We can feel the truth of those moments, “Laughter through tears…”

Last Sunday, we celebrated All Saints Sunday. One of my favorite Sundays of the church year, we remember sinner-saints who have completed their earthly journeys in the past year. It simultaneously fills my heart and breaks it wide open as Augustana folks we know and love are named and remembered along with family and friends who have also died. When I get to do a funeral for someone, my words of welcome acknowledge the celebration of life alongside the grief we experience, that we may laugh and cry and sometimes do both at the same time. “Laughter through tears.” People often ask me whether I like to do funerals. Honestly? Yes. One of the reasons I like funerals is because God’s promises resonate powerfully in the face of loss. There’s nothing like hearing that the separation of death is not the last word. I’ve learned that people describe the afterlife in all kinds of ways that bring sweet, sweet comfort to grief.

For goodness sake, after losing three fathers, I’M comforted by images that offer hope through death. We imagine loved ones laughing with the ones they’re with and what they’re doing together. We wonder if they carry the healed wounds of their suffering in this life or if they’re perfected among the communion of all the saints in light. And we look forward to the happy reunion with them. Of course, we imagine and wonder. It’s only human to wonder about what God is up to in resurrection. And, of course, we don’t really know anything about what it will be like.

Grief and comfort, hope through death, are one of the ways into today’s Bible story. Some of the religious leaders in Jerusalem called Sadducees are testing Jesus with a riddle about an actual marriage law that protected women and their children after men died by marrying women to the next brother. The Sadducees created a hypothetical woman who married the next brother after each of them died. The riddle reduced the resurrection to an absurdity.[2] But it’s also how OUR minds work around death and afterlife. My own mother was married to Dad for 11 years, and then my stepfather, Pops, who died after 25 years of marriage, and then her third husband, dear Larry, who died after 19 years of marriage. In total, Mom has been married for 55 years. The Sadducees’ question asks who she will belong to someday after she completes her pilgrimage on earth. The answer is God. Just as do Dad, Pops, and dear Larry. For God is the God of the living and the dead.

Jesus responds to the Sadducees riddle using their resources, the Torah, the first five books of the Bible – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The Sadducees only sacred text was the Torah. No other books of the Bible. But Jesus responds to their riddle with a joke of his own. That’s the thing about jokes. They don’t translate well cross-culturally or across time. When Jesus invoked Moses and the burning bush, “where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”

Jesus’ listeners may have reacted with laughter and “oooo, good one!”[3] His response was more likely playful than proof.[4] This conversation was not going to change people’s minds no matter how many stories in the Torah pointed to an afterlife.

Similarly, any argument we make Biblically as proof of the afterlife is not going to change people’s minds. So what good is this story if it doesn’t lead the Sadducees or their followers to a greater understanding of resurrection and it doesn’t help our understanding of resurrection? Jesus reveals the limits of our lived experience when it comes to the resurrection. The rules we use to organize our world in this life simply don’t apply to the next.[5] Jesus responds to the Sadducees by challenging them to imagine a future for which they have no human reference. A future in which “children of the resurrection cannot die anymore.” [6] A future of hope not constrained by fear of death. A future of hope unleashed by love.

Jesus compares those of “this age” with those of “that age” inviting us into “that” one without being limited by “this” one.[7] In the resurrection, the long-awaited new age had already begun.[8] From the new age, Jesus coaches us to live in hope, not fear. The temptation is to take his coaching and curve it inward as a solely individual act. It is an individual reassurance, but hope is a fragile thing without others holding a vision of hope, too. Together as church, God’s mission for us unifies and elevates us above our individual buried hopes, and we are made more than the sum of our fears. Drawn into a collective hope from which we serve in love and embody Jesus’ example of feeding, healing, and connecting people in community.

In the past few months, we’ve been talking about how hope lives here through our Augustana congregation. We recorded people talking about their experience of hope in the community they find here and produced a video called “Hope Lives Here.”[9] They talk about being connected with each other, accepted for who they are, and treated like a real person who matters and belongs. They talk about putting their faith in action for the wider community and world. They talk about the hope they find in the unconditional love and grace of Jesus. We are a place and a people who receive a message of hope each Sunday, give it to each other, and take it back into the world that is oh so weary and in need of we have discovered here and what we’re able to give to each other in community.

Here and now, in this new age inaugurated by Jesus, the resurrection is less about the promise of more life and more about a promise of the presence of God in all and through all.[10] Like Job, we can say that in our flesh we shall see God.[11] Like the Psalmist we are guarded as the apple of God’s eye and sheltered under God’s wings.[12] Like the Thessalonian church, we are given eternal comfort and good hope by God’s love and grace abundantly bestowed upon us, comforting our hearts and strengthening them in every good work and word.[13] And ultimately, we are assured by Jesus, that to God we are all alive in life and in death. Thanks be to God for the good hope instilled in us and inspired through us by the power of the Holy Spirit for the sake of the world. Hope holds laughter through tears. Hope Lives Here. Amen

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[1] Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library | USA, UK, IE, CA, AU

[2] Matt Skinner, Professor of New Testament, Luther Seminary, St. Paul., MN. Sermon Brainwave podcast about Bible texts for November 9, 2025. #1051: Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost – November 9, 2025 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary

[3] Rolf Jacobson, Professor of Old Testament, Luther Seminary, St. Paul., MN. Sermon Brainwave podcast about Bible texts for November 9, 2025. #1051: Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost – November 9, 2025 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary

[4] Skinner, Ibid.

[5] Kendra Mohn, Lead Pastor, Trinity Lutheran Church, Fort Worth, Texas, United States. Commentary on Luke 22:27-38 for November 9, 2025. Commentary on Luke 20:27-38 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary

[6] Ibid.

[7] Ibid.

[8] N.T. Wright. Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2008), 244.

[9] Hope Lives Here. August 24, 2025.  https://youtu.be/74d7bqQ_hgg?si=-hAvpSihfkv5AjfC Produced by kenrinehartmedia.com.

[10] Skinner, Ibid.

[11] Job 19:26

[12] Psalm 17:8

[13] 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

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Job 19:23-27a: “O that my words were written down!
O that they were inscribed in a book!
24 O that with an iron pen and with lead
they were engraved on a rock forever!
25 For I know that my redeemer lives
and that in the end he will stand upon the earth;
26 and after my skin has been destroyed,
then in my flesh I shall see God,
27a whom I shall see on my side,
and my eyes shall behold, and not another.”

Psalm 17:1-9 Hear a just cause, O Lord; attend to my cry;
give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit.
2 From you let my vindication come;
let your eyes see the right.
3 If you try my heart, if you visit me by night,
if you test me, you will find no wickedness in me;
my mouth does not transgress.
4 As for what others do, by the word of your lips
I have avoided the ways of the violent.
5 My steps have held fast to your paths;
my feet have not slipped.
6 I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God;
incline your ear to me; hear my words.
7 Wondrously show your steadfast love,
O savior of those who seek refuge
from their adversaries at your right hand.
8 Guard me as the apple of the eye;
hide me in the shadow of your wings,
9 from the wicked who despoil me,
my deadly enemies who surround me.

2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17 As to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we beg you, brothers and sisters, 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as though from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here. 3 Let no one deceive you in any way, for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the lawless one is revealed, the one destined for destruction. 4 He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, declaring himself to be God. 5 Do you not remember that I told you these things when I was still with you?

13 But we must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth. 14 For this purpose he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter.
16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, 17 comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.