Tag Archives: Jesus

Sermons

Heart & Hope [OR When is a Cookie a Christmas Cookie?]

 

**sermon art: Rob’s Christmas Cookies Ready to Deliver

Caitlin Trussell with Augustana Lutheran Church—December 24, 2025, Christmas Eve, The Nativity of Our Lord

[sermon begins after the Luke reading; the Isaiah reading is at the end of the sermon]

Luke 2:1-20 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 All went to their own towns to be registered. 4 Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. 5 He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no place in the guest room.
8 Now in that same region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: 11 to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”
15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the child lying in the manger. 17 When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them, 19 and Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told them.

[sermon begins]

My husband is arguably a contender for king of the chocolate chip cookie. I know, it’s not the classic Christmas cookie per se but when is a cookie a Christmas Cookie? This is akin to the age-old question about whether Die Hard is or is not a Christmas movie.[1] Many years ago, Rob modified and remodified a chocolate chip cookie recipe and began baking these massive cookies for his clients at Christmas. Don’t bother asking, he does not divulge his secret recipe. When our kids were small, he would take them along on the adventure of cookie delivery.

Rob thought the pandemic would end the tradition, but his clients set even more hope on receiving the home-baked, ooey-gooey, chocolatey goodness. They start asking about the cookies in November. Our kitchen was a one-man flurry of flour and chocolate, hand-squeezed into dough, scooped onto rotating cookie sheets for many hours totaling 22 dozen cookies, before delivering to clients. Are they Christmas cookies? You decide.

Rob’s cookies are a bit like the Christmas story itself. There’s a hefty heap of mystery with a daring dash of hope. There’s breathless anticipation. And there are a lot of people paying attention to the final creation.

Christmas engages our imaginations beyond the cookies and kitschy décor that we know and love. One Christmas miracle is that we keep returning to the hope-filled story of a very young woman, an adoptive father, and a baby asleep on the hay. Our return to this story and the hope we feel is almost more mysterious than the mystery of God showing up in a baby. Perhaps it’s because he’s more than a baby. At Jesus’ birth, the angel announced, “good news of great joy for the all the people.” In the baby Jesus, the mystery of the good news unfolded through his adulthood right on through today.

Isaiah wrote about a child born to us—a child who counsels, who is everlasting, and who brings peace. That child sounds like someone worth welcoming and worth knowing. As it turns out, that child sounds like a Savior worth waiting for with breathless anticipation. Perhaps it’s because, if you live long enough, it’s obvious we need some saving. We need saving from ourselves and from the harm we inflict on one another even when we’re trying to do good. Why is it that we do not do the good we want but do the very things we know aren’t good?[2] We need something, that’s for sure. The self-help project isn’t working. A community of hope may be just the thing.

In the Gospel of Luke, the angels sang a starlit announcement to the shepherds who were ready to hear the good news of this child’s arrival and eager to see it for themselves. Maybe they needed to be saved from themselves and each other too. Their awe of the angel encounter inspired hope amid breathless anticipation. Who knows what they were expecting during their hasty run from the field to the manger side, turning up at the manger sweaty and out of breath. Words tumbling out as they talk over each other to tell the story about the angel in the field. Mary and Joseph looking at the shepherds, the baby, and each other with exhausted amazed eyes, wondering what in heaven’s name is going on.

The angel told the shepherds that the sign of the Savior will be found in “a child, wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” Their anticipation, hope and haste turned into rapt attention towards this brand new little one. It fascinates me that the baby Jesus was wrapped in bands of cloth when he was born and the crucified Jesus was wrapped in linen cloth when he died. The bands of cloth around the baby tease our memory with what’s to come. Revisiting the Christmas story each year is worth another go round as our attention turns toward what this new life could possibly mean to our lives.

Here’s one thing that it means. Just down the street, on donated land from this congregation, Augustana Homes were completed by Habitat for Humanity and hundreds of volunteers from around the city. Affordable homes that hold hope in the form of three-to-four-bedroom townhomes for working families to call home. Going from a baby born in a manger because there was no room in the inn, to families who have recently signed closing paperwork for homeownership, may be a leap of faith, but it also makes perfect sense when told alongside the Christmas story.

On Christmas, hesitant hearts dare to hope regardless of the many reasons to end up at church on Christmas Eve.

Maybe it’s your habit or annual tradition.

Maybe it’s easier to be here with family than to be somewhere else without family.

Maybe your family is fractured, and you wandered in wondering if community can be found.

Maybe your faith calls you here in gratitude.

Maybe your life has become such a hot mess that church on Christmas Eve feels like a last-ditch attempt to find a way through.

Maybe the collective effervescence of singing together fills your heart.

Or maybe the peace of candlelight during Silent Night is good for your soul.

Whatever draws you here, you are cradled in this sacred space with the thousands of people who have gathered across time in joy, grief, and hope. Sinner-saints who gather to remind each other of the hope we share despite the anxiety of life, the disarray of politics, and the competition of culture. We are a community of hope, who support each other through suffering as we celebrate our joys and serve with our neighbors in compassion and action. We remind each other that God’s welcome through this congregation includes everyone. Being human is complicated. Being yourself shouldn’t be. You are welcome here.

If even that is too much to get our hearts around, let’s try our hands. When you come forward for communion, your hands held together and facing up make a manger for the bread given to you, imperfectly cradling Jesus’ presence as we eat. Despite our imperfections or, just maybe, because of them, the perfect presence of Jesus dwells within us, the holy One who taught us that there is nothing we can do or not do to make God love us any more or any less. This is definitely good news of great joy for all people, which also means that it is good news for you.

Like Mary, we treasure the story that the angels sang, and the shepherds told while we ponder the mystery in our hearts. The Christmas mystery inspires our anticipation, regardless of how breathless it may be, and draws our wonder to this ancient story, making it new again each year. We’re scooped into God’s timeless story and delivered to the world that God so loves. A world in need of hope-filled hearts. A world in need of a Savior who embodies everlasting peace. Merry Christmas!

__________________________________________________________

[1] Jacob Stolworthy. Is Die Hard a Christmas Movie? The Independent on December 22, 2025 Is Die Hard a Christmas film? | Culture | Independent TV

[2] Romans 7:19

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Isaiah 9:2-6

The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness—
on them light has shined.
3 You have multiplied exultation;
you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
as with joy at the harvest,
as people exult when dividing plunder.
4 For the yoke of their burden
and the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor,
you have broken as on the day of Midian.
5 For all the boots of the tramping warriors
and all the garments rolled in blood
shall be burned as fuel for the fire.
6 For a child has been born for us,
a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders,
and he is named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Great will be his authority,
and there shall be endless peace
for the throne of David and his kingdom.
He will establish and uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time onward and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Good News, Preaching

Impossible Hope [OR Joseph is Our Guy] Matthew 1:18-25

**sermon art: Joseph by Laura James (2000)

Caitlin Trussell with Augustana Lutheran Church on December 21, 2025

[sermon begins after three short Bible readings – hang in there]

Matthew 1:18-25 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant from the Holy Spirit. 19 Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to divorce her quietly. 20 But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
23 “Look, the virgin shall become pregnant and give birth to a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,”
which means, “God is with us.” 24 When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife 25 but had no marital relations with her until she had given birth to a son, and he named him Jesus.

Isaiah 7:10-16  The Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, 11 “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” 12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” 13 Then Isaiah said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals that you weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son and shall name him Immanuel. 15 He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.”

Romans 1:1-7 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, 3 the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4 and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the gentiles for the sake of his name, 6 including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,
7 To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

[sermon begins]

 

O come, o come, Emmanuel.   We sang from longing hearts of an impossible hope as we gathered for worship today. We sang the seven names of the One for whom we wait during Advent. All seven come from the first several chapters of the Bible’s book of Isaiah and are traditionally sung in the last seven days of Advent—one per day. The prophet Isaiah lived about 700 years before Jesus at a time when the Assyrians were gobbling up territories for their empire and had begun a slow march towards Judah and Jerusalem. The poignant poetry of the hymn ties us to these ancient Jewish roots of impossible hope in the face of overwhelming odds.[1] The impossible hope of ancient people is invoked in Paul’s letter to the Roman church and the reading from Matthew’s gospel.

Paul greets the Roman church with the words of the prophet Isaiah who referred to servants of God’s household bringing the good news of God’s restoration.[2] As God’s servant, Paul expands the ancient impossible hope of the Jews to include everyone else, a.k.a. the gentiles. Us. In Advent, we remember that the birth of Jesus is not the beginning a story but the continuation of an ancient one birthed by Sarah and Abraham, freed by Moses, and led by negligent kings challenged by pesky prophets like Isaiah.

Matthew opens his gospel with a genealogy of Jesus right up through Joseph. Then, there’s a BIG wrinkle. Mary is pregnant with a growing, impossible hope. Over time, we’ve learned to tell this complicated story in a simple way. So simple that even a child can tell it. Last week our young friends here at Augustana put on costumes, learned their timing, and preached the story of Jesus through fun and funny lines. Their telling of this good news was a mash-up from the gospels of Luke and Matthew and called, “The Newest Angel,” including Joseph’s surprise at Mary’s pregnancy and how he planned to unburden himself from it.

The gospel writer gives the summary:

“Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.”

That’s it. Nothing flashy. But there is someone who gets a newsflash. Joseph. His betrothed, Mary, is pregnant and he is not the father. His hopes crushed. Confronted with the news, his initial plan is legal. Dismiss Mary in divorce. Send her on her way quietly, saving her from public disgrace but shattering her private hopes. Joseph justifies his position. Not only in his own mind but in the eyes of the law. No harm, no foul. He is good to go. Legal. Justified. Resolved.

“But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream.”[3]

The angel, the Lord’s messenger, thwarts Joseph’s justified resolve and instills hope once more. It’s rough when a good resolve swirls down the drain. Resolve feels good. It feels right and powerful, knowing what to do. Powerlessness? Not so much. Here’s a clue to part of the good news today. If there’s room for Joseph in the nativity story, then there is room for me, and there is room for you.[4]

Our personal stories are stories within stories. Many of us have stories that sound either too good to be true or too mind-bending to be believed. If we were sitting in a small space with just a few of us and enough time, we’d hear surprising stories that connect us in their depth and in their truth. Stories that create who we are and how we move through the world but sometimes surprise even ourselves the telling. How many of us get used to telling our strange tales of impossible hope that have become normal in our own lives but surprise other people. Jesus’ birth story is along this line for Christians. We tell a strange tale, my friends. We celebrate it in sacred scripture. We sing about it. We display nativities representing Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. But it’s a strange one.

The good news is that there’s room for us in the Nativity story because Joseph’s first instinct was to resolve a problem on his own. But then he is invited into grace. The angel tells Joseph to take Mary as his wife and to name the baby conceived by the Holy Spirit, “Jesus.” The angel’s annunciation in Matthew’s gospel is to Joseph and not to Mary.[5] The angel tells an unexpected, mysterious story. A story that doesn’t amount to anything he can share with friends as justification for staying with Mary, especially considering the vague paternity. And, still, he obeys the angel and extends grace to Mary.

Joseph obeys and offers Mary grace without any knowledge of what this means. Just around the corner, what he can’t see is the visit from the magi from the east. Strange people from a faraway place who come to visit Jesus with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.[6] He can’t see the magi’s decision to thwart King Herod.[7] He can’t see King Herod’s edict to slaughter all infants and toddlers less than two years old because they may or may not be the rumored Messiah.[8] He can’t see his and Mary’s escape and refuge in Egypt.[9] There’s so much that Joseph can’t see when he agrees to take Mary as his wife and name the baby Jesus.

James Harnish, a long-time Christian pastor, recalls a story from when he was in college. He went to see a professor with a very intelligent friend who had a lot of questions about his faith and was frustrated by the simplistic answers people gave him. His friend asked the professor, “How can I [follow] Christ when I don’t know all that it will mean?” The professor answered, “None of us knows all that it’s going to mean, but we know enough [to follow Christ] and we spend the rest of our lives finding out what it means.”[10]

Joseph is obedient without an “i” dotted or “t” crossed. Some of us see ourselves in Joseph because, like him, our resolve to do what we want can be thwarted by grace. We do not save ourselves from ourselves. The name “Jesus” means “God saves” or “God is salvation.”[11] He will be born and named Jesus “for he will save his people from their sins.” Week-after-week we scratch the surface of what this means for us. Some of us wonder about intellectual problems raised by scripture that don’t jive with our experience or knowledge. Some of us struggle with the mystery and want it solved so that then we can have faith. Some of us are drawn to action on behalf of people who need help but don’t know where to start or how to keep going. Some of us long for an answer to suffering. For all of us in those moments, Joseph is our guy.

In light of Joseph’s lack of information, his obedience to the angel’s wild request is shocking, confusing, and disturbing.[12] If we let it, our familiarity with Jesus’ birth story means that our quiet, matter-of-fact way of telling it can oversimplify what God is doing all around us. God’s audacity in slipping into powerless, vulnerable skin is echoed by Joseph’s powerless vulnerability as well as our own. Like Joseph, we spend the rest of our lives figuring out what it means to follow Jesus. Like Joseph, we watch, wait, and wonder as Emmanuel, God with us, shows up. Our familiarity can oversimplify our Advent waiting, too. In Advent, we remember that Jesus’ birth is the continuation of an ancient story. Jesus Christ has come.[13] Also, in Advent we know that his birth isn’t the end of the story.[14] Jesus Christ will come.[15] Advent is a pregnant pause as we look ahead with impossible hope for God’s renewal, restoration, and peace by the grace of God.[16]

_______________________________________________________

[1] Joel B. Green, Senior Professor of New Testament Interpretation, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA. Commentary on Romans 1:1-7 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary for December 21, 2025.

[2] Isaiah 40:9, 52:7

[3] Matthew 1:20

[4] James Harnish. When God Comes Down. (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2012), 20.

[5] Eugene Park, Professor of New Testament San Francisco Theological Seminary of the University of Redlands San Anselmo, CA. Commentary on Matthew 1:18-25 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary for December 21, 2025.

[6] Matthew 2:1-11

[7] Matthew 1:8 and 12

[8] Matthew 2:16-18

[9] Matthew 2:13-15

[10] Harnish, 23.

[11] Park, ibid.

[12] Harnish, 19.

[13] Fleming Rutledge. Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Co, 2018), 266.

[14] Green, ibid.

[15] Rutledge, ibid.

[16] Ibid.

__________________________________________________________

 

Preaching, Sermons

Longing for the Peaceable Kingdom [OR Advent Calendars are for Everyone]

**sermon art: Peaceable Kingdom by Debbie Kingston Baker

Caitlin Trussell with Augustana Lutheran Church on December 7, 2025

[sermon begins after the Bible reading; two more Bible readings from Romans and Isaiah are at the end of the sermon]

Matthew 3:1-10 In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, 2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 3 This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,

 “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
make his paths straight.’ ”
4 Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region around the Jordan were going out to him, 6 and they were baptized by him in the River Jordan, confessing their sins.
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Therefore, bear fruit worthy of repentance, 9 and do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 10 Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is more powerful than I, and I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
 [sermon begins]

 

Advent includes the four Sundays before the Christmas welcome of the sweet baby Jesus. It’s a time of waiting, of anticipation and longing. We have rituals that count upwards from the first Sunday in Advent, to the second Sunday, and so on, lighting one candle, then two. Advent calendars often begin on December 1st, daily building our anticipation for Christmas with things like pet treats or chocolate or craft beer.[1] You name it and there’s likely an advent calendar for it. German Lutherans began the tradition a couple hundred years ago with candle lighting and chalk lines. And, after World War II, paper calendars lifted people’s spirits across the globe. As our rituals lift the spirits, what in the blue blazes is John the Baptist doing here? And why is he so angry about it?

Let’s just say that John the Baptist isn’t someone you’d put on our Sunday morning greeter ministry. As Paul writes in his letter to the Roman church, we welcome one another just as Christ welcomed us. That welcome is evident walking into our church. It’s evident from the welcome to holy communion that includes everyone. Yes, even you. We regularly examine our welcome from multiple perspectives so that we are actually and authentically welcoming. If all of that is true, then what is John the Baptist doing here with his name-calling and fearmongering? What kind of welcome is this on the second Sunday in Advent?

To understand John, it helps to understand the Biblical prophet Elijah who lived about 900 years before Jesus and John. Elijah was one of two Biblical characters who avoided death by being “taken up into heaven.”[2] He railed against idolatrous prophets, malevolent kings, and neglectful leaders who failed in their religious commitments to their people.[3] Elijah’s reappearance was expected to herald God’s messiah. People were longing for him to return for just this reason. John the Baptist called the religious leaders to repentance as Elijah once did. The people swarming out to see John and be baptized by him knew enough about Elijah to be curious. They also knew enough to have their own doubts about the state of their world. John’s challenge against the powerful who regularly let them down resonated with them, too. We tend to think of him as a peculiar rando out in the desert, but his message was similar to other preachers of his time. He was very popular in part because the people were tired of the world around them. Tired of greed, power, and disadvantages baked into their daily lives. They were ready for God’s promised Messiah to come.

And who was that Messiah to be? According to the prophet Isaiah, the king will come from the line of King David whose father was Jesse. We’re busy with our Advent calendars and simultaneously putting up Christmas trees. In the Isaiah reading, the tree is a stump.[4] A stump in the Christmas tree holder would be a little more difficult to put ornaments on, wouldn’t it? From the stump, the family tree of Jesse, came the great and beloved King David. And from King David’s descendants will come the Messiah who is savior and king, who will judge the poor with righteousness, and “decide with equity for the oppressed of the earth.”

And how will we know the ideal king has arrived? Last Sunday, Isaiah celebrated the ringing of swords beaten into farm equipment which is echoed in our culture by the ringing of Jingle Bells through malls and halls.[5]

This Sunday, the king’s vision is the peaceable kingdom.

+ The wolf shall live with the lamb; the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the lion will feed together, and a little child shall lead them.

+ The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

+The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.[6]

What’s your favorite part of the peaceable kingdom? Mine is that its beauty is the seeming impossibility of it.[7] The peaceable kingdom is the opposite of our experience in the world. You may know the Darwinian expression, “Survival of the fittest.” In other words, survival comes from strength and predation. We’ve spent centuries taming those survival instincts, so that we can live beyond the vision of evolutionary biologists, only to find ourselves at odds with each other in every possible humanly way.[8]

Isaiah’s poetry explores the tragedy of our human nature by showing us its opposite in the vision of the peaceable kingdom. Christians call the tragic element “sin.”[9] John the Baptist called the tragic element “chaff” that needs to burn away so the wheat can be enjoyed. Individually and collectively our tragic efforts turn us towards terrible things—war, theft, greed, hatred, bullying, dehumanization, and more. The promise of the gospel is that God has a solution for the tragic ends we have on repeat. His name is Jesus.

The Apostle Paul’s letter to the Roman church was written about 20 years after Jesus’ lived. He is talking to the fledgling Jewish and gentile Christians of the church in a way that echoes Isaiah’s peaceable kingdom. (Gentile means not Jewish.) These new Christians were struggling to be church together from their different cultural backgrounds and assumptions. Paul reminds them that harmony is centered by God’s steadfastness and encouragement according to Christ Jesus for the glory of God. God is the reference point and the guide is Jesus. Paul taps the image of Jesse’s root in his letter to the Roman church. He expands the Jewish expectation and messianic hope to include non-Jews. The ruler will rise to rule the gentiles and “in him the gentiles shall hope.”

Paul uses the word “welcome” but welcome may be too tame a translation for what he means. He’s asking more of them. To bear one another. To get along. Ultimately, he’s asking those Roman church folks to fully accept and embrace each other across lines that once seemed hard and fast. Cultural lines that no longer separate them from their siblings in Christ. Paul wrote, “For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the [Jews] on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the ancestors and that the gentiles might glorify God for his mercy.” The cultural divisions highlighted in the Roman church hold up a mirror for our culture today. For them the dividing line was Jew and non-Jew. We could write a list a mile long of the divisions plaguing us today.

The festive anticipation of Advent calendars overlays a deeper longing. As we lit the Advent wreath at the beginning of worship today, we sang a song filled with that longing. We sang for justice, for freedom, and for mercy. We sang for wisdom, for courage, and for comfort. We sang for God to be near us in sorrow, in grief, in weakness, and in fear. Our song is a prayer as we ask God to keep God’s promise to be with us. Another name for “God with us” is Emmanuel. So we sing again in longing, anticipation and hope, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”
____________________________________________________

[1] Show Me the Doors: Why There Is An Advent Calendar for Absolutely Everything. The Economist. December 2, 2025. Why there is an Advent calendar for absolutely everything

[2] Enoch is the other one.

[3] Matt Skinner, Professor of New Testament, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN. Podcast commentary on the Bible readings for December 7, 2025. #1055: Second Sunday of Advent – December 07, 2025 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary

[4] Rolf Jacobson, Professor of Old Testament, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN. Podcast commentary on the Bible readings for December 7, 2025. #1055: Second Sunday of Advent – December 07, 2025 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary

[5] Ibid.

[6] Isaiah 11:6-8

[7] Jacobson, ibid.

[8] Skinner, ibid.

[9] Jacobson, ibid.

__________________________________________________

Romans 15:5-13 Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. 5 May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, 6 so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

  7 Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. 8 For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the ancestors 9 and that the gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,
“Therefore I will confess you among the gentiles
and sing praises to your name”;
10 and again he says,
“Rejoice, O gentiles, with his people”;
11 and again,
“Praise the Lord, all you gentiles,
and let all the peoples praise him”;
12 and again Isaiah says,
“The root of Jesse shall come,
the one who rises to rule the gentiles;
in him the gentiles shall hope.”
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

 

Isaiah 11:1-10

 1 A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
2 The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3 His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see
or decide by what his ears hear,
4 but with righteousness he shall judge for the poor
and decide with equity for the oppressed of the earth;
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist
and faithfulness the belt around his loins.
6 The wolf shall live with the lamb;
the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
the calf and the lion will feed together,
and a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
9 They will not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
10 On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.

 

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!

_____________________________________________

[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

__________________________________________

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

_________________________________________________________________

[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

____________________________________

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.

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.

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.

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.

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[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.

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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.

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[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