Tag Archives: Welcome 150

The Imperfect Ideal in Community [OR God’s Call into Risk and Possibility]

February 22, 2026 caitlin121608

**sermon art: The Temptations of Christ, 12th century mosaic at St Mark s Basilica, Venice.

Caitlin Trussell with Augustana Lutheran Church on February 22, 2026

[sermon begins after two Bible readings; Romans and Psalm 32 are at the end of the post]

Genesis 2:15-17 & 3:1-7 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. ¹⁶ And the Lord God commanded the man, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden, ¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.”
^3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” ² The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, ³ but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.’ ” ⁴ But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die, ⁵ for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. ⁷ Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

Matthew 4:1-11 Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested by the devil. ² He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was famished. ³ The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” ⁴ But he answered, “It is written,
‘One does not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”
⁵ Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, ⁶ saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,
‘He will command his angels concerning you,’
and ‘On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’ ”
⁷ Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”
⁸ Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, ⁹ and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” ¹⁰ Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written,
‘Worship the Lord your God,
and serve only him.’ ”
¹¹ Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.

[sermon begins]

Hanging out with babies and toddlers is a lot about love while saving them from themselves and what they don’t yet know. We watch them like mama bears when we’re with them and we limit their movement with gates and play yards when our attention is elsewhere. Trouble happens even with these safeguards and boundaries. Those moments stick with you. My mind’s eye still sees their big tumble off of a chair and down the stairs when our kids were very small. Tumbles taken under my watch. As they grew older, I started trying to safeguard them with words like, “Be safe, have fun, and use your power for good!” That encouragement was sometimes met with an eyeroll, but our son had a lifelong friend that started to answer me in a different way when they became teenagers. I’d say, “Be safe, have fun, and use your power for good.” And he’d reply, with his first finger pointing up in the air, “And not for evil,” before dashing out the door into teenaged life. Most of us are right there with him, avoiding evil with enthusiasm, establishing boundaries that we think we’ll keep.

Boundaries are a good way to think about the man and the woman in the garden in the book of Genesis. God gives them the garden for their flourishing. The garden was a boundary. Stay here. Be alive. And the garden contained a boundary. Eat from all the other trees but do not eat from THAT one. When they ate from it, they learned more than the knowledge of good and evil. They learned how to use it for themselves, to manipulate it for their own protection and advantage.[1] First, they breached the tree’s boundary. And then they tried to cover up who they were and what they’d done.

Albeit a cover up, the story of the man and woman in the garden does not use the language of sin. It’s Paul’s letter to the Romans that interprets their garden story through the cross with language of trespass and sin. I’m partial to the language of trespass in the story about the garden. Trespass conveys the man and woman’s breach of boundaries to eat from the tree. They trespassed where they didn’t belong and were specifically told by God not to go. The language of trespass adds dimension to sin by describing the movement of it. It’s our movement, our trespass against the humanity of others and the humanity in ourselves that reveals the distortion of God’s image. From this break with God comes all of our relational sins against God, each other, and our selves. Broken away from God’s image, we think we need to seek perfection. But we are in need of what only God can do – something we cannot do for ourselves.[2]

So God takes action. In skin and solidarity, God moved into the world in Jesus and ended up hung on a cross. Paul, in our reading from Romans this morning, uses all kinds of words to describe God’s movement in Jesus Christ – free gift, grace, justification, made righteous. Each of these words conveys that the burden is on God to mend the break, to atone on our behalf.

Whether we name humanity’s inherent flaw as trespasses or sin, it is on God and God’s promises to atone, to bring together, to reconcile, that which is broken between us and God. Baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection, we are baptized into the body of Christ in the form of this congregation. Over time, we remind each other of God’s intervention on our behalf. The language of sin and trespass are honesty and kindness to ourselves and each other.[3] A kindness that relieves us from the self-perfection project. A kindness that creates space for forgiving other people of their non-perfection and forgiving ourselves for our own.[4] Listen to Psalm 32 for a word of hope as honesty opens us to God.

Sinners need something that God can give – and God gives it…

“Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” [Psalm 32:1]

Sinners, through the cross, are given a way to tell the truth about falling short…

“Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.” [Psalm 32:2]

Sinners know that not telling this truth about themselves is exhausting…

“While I kept silence, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.” [Psalm 32:3-4]

Sinners talk to God…trusting in God’s forgiveness…

“Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the guilt of my sin.” [Psalm 32:5]

Sinners encourage each other to talk to God…

“Therefore let all who are faithful offer prayer to you.” [Psalm 32:6]

And through it all, sinners get together to remind each other of God’s promises…

“Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.” [Psalm 32:11].

“Rejoice” is an odd biblical command that doesn’t translate well in our everyday lives. We know the feeling of joy as a spontaneous reaction, not one we dreg up from inside ourselves. Like the joy we feel when we watch Olympians unify the world in a shared spirit of human triumph. Or, closer to home, the joy we feel when we come together to tend to our church home with resounding generosity with our Welcome 150 capital campaign that sparkles with welcome, enthusiasm, faith, and renewal. Our joy is the opposite of trespassing against each other when so many different people are working together towards a shared future in the gospel. Rejoicing as much about our connections with God, each other, and our community as we delight in experiencing what’s possible when we’re inspired by God’s mission for us. Rejoicing even as we confess our trespasses against each other because Jesus calls us to forgiveness, not perfection.

Jesus’ 40 day fast in the wilderness emphasizes God’s call into risk and possibility without romanticizing the power of this world and or capitulating to the forces that defy God. In the wilderness, Jesus is tempted with power that can actually be used for good. His ministry will look like some of those very things as he heals and feeds with divine power, but he will do so committed to God’s call into self-giving ministry.[5] The same Jesus who was tended to by angels in the wilderness will process into Jerusalem and will be crucified for his ministry of divine love. Pay attention in the coming weeks to how Jesus embodies divine power and to what end.[6] While he came to fulfill the law and the prophets, he did not come to bring perfection to the masses.[7] He came to save us from ourselves but not necessarily to keep us safe or make us perfect.

We may wish that perfection was possible and try to hold each other to it. But instead, we’re given an utterly imperfect ideal called the church. As church we’re not given a path to an original perfection of what we think humanity may have been back then.[8] We’re given the challenge and comfort of community as we are now to remind each other of God’s promises moving with us into the future. In Lent, we seek to begin anew by the power of the One who is with us whether our moment reflects the sweetness of life, the suffering of betrayal by our bodies, the pain of trespass against us, the darkness and confusion of the tomb, or the joy of transformation. In these 40 days of Lent, “Be glad in the Lord and rejoice!”[9] Amen.

______________________________________________________

[1] Matthew Skinner, Professor of New Testament, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN. Discussion about the lectionary readings for 2/22/26. #1070: First Sunday in Lent – February 22, 2026 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary

[2] Craig R. Koester, The Word of Life: A Theology of John’s Gospel (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008), 114.

[3] Giles Fraser, “Secular Lent is a Pale Imitation of the Real Thing…I Want Nothing to Do With It.” The Guardian on March 7, 2014. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2014/mar/07/secular-lent-pale-imitation-real-thing?CMP=twt_gu

[4] Ibid. Giles Fraser quoting: Marilynne Robison in The Death of Adam: Essays on Modern Thought (New York: Mariner Books, 1998), 156.

[5] Skinner, Ibid.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Matthew 5:17-18

[8] Valerie Bridgeman, Dean and Vice President of Academic Affairs; Associate Professor of Homiletics and Hebrew Bible, Methodist Theological School in Ohio Delaware, Ohio. Lectionary readings for 2/22/26: Commentary on Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary.

[9] Psalm 32:11

________________________________________________

Romans 5:12-19 Just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned ¹³ for sin was indeed in the world before the law, but sin is not reckoned when there is no law. ¹⁴ Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin in the likeness of Adam, who is a pattern of the one who was to come.
¹⁵ But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died through the one man’s trespass, much more surely have the grace of God and the gift in the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for the many. ¹⁶ And the gift is not like the effect of the one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the gift following many trespasses brings justification. ¹⁷ If, because of the one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one, much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
¹⁸ Therefore just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all. ¹⁹ For just as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so through the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.

Psalm 32

Happy are they whose transgressions ^| are forgiven,
and whose sin is ^| put away!
² Happy are they to whom the Lord im- ^| putes no guilt,
and in whose spirit there ^| is no guile!
³ While I held my tongue, my bones with- ^| ered away,
because of my groaning ^| all day long.
⁴ For your hand was heavy upon me ^| day and night;
my moisture was dried up as in the ^| heat of summer.
⁵ Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and did not con- ^| ceal my guilt.
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.” Then you forgave me the guilt ^| of my sin.
⁶ Therefore all the faithful will make their prayers to you in ^| time of trouble;
when the great waters overflow, they ^| shall not reach them.
⁷ You are my hiding-place; you preserve ^| me from trouble;
you surround me with shouts ^| of deliverance.
⁸ “I will instruct you and teach you in the way that ^| you should go;
I will guide you ^| with my eye.
⁹ Do not be like horse or mule, which have no ^| understanding;
who must be fitted with bit and bridle, or else they will ^| not stay near you.”
¹⁰ Great are the tribulations ^| of the wicked;
but mercy embraces those who trust ^| in the Lord.
¹¹ Be glad, you righteous, and rejoice ^| in the Lord;
shout for joy, all who are ^| true of heart.

Preaching, Sermons

Are You Ready? As We’ll Ever Be. [OR Thank God for the Holy Spirit!] Luke 1 and 3 and in between

December 8, 2024 caitlin121608

Caitlin Trussell with Augustana Lutheran Church on December 8, 2024

[sermon begins after two Bible readings]

Luke 3:1-6 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, ² during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. ³ He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, ⁴ as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,
“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.
⁵ Every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked shall be made straight,
and the rough ways made smooth;
⁶ and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ”

Luke 1:67-79 Then [John’s] father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke this prophecy:
⁶⁸“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them.
⁶⁹He has raised up a mighty savior for us
in the house of his servant David,
⁷⁰as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
⁷¹that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.
⁷²Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors,
and has remembered his holy covenant,
⁷³the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham,
to grant us ⁷⁴that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies,
might serve him without fear, ⁷⁵in holiness and righteousness
before him all our days.
⁷⁶And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
⁷⁷to give knowledge of salvation to his people
by the forgiveness of their sins.
⁷⁸By the tender mercy of our God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us,
⁷⁹to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

[sermon begins]

“Are you ready?” My fellow gym rats and I are questioned about this on the regular. When Coach asks, “Are you ready,” they mean is everyone in place with the gear that we need and the weights that we’re going to start lifting because that clock is gonna start, and we’re supposed to start moving along with it. Whenever I hear that question at the gym, the answer in my mind is, “As we’ll ever be.” Some days I even say it out loud, “As we’ll ever be, Coach!” That answer reminds me that I’m ready enough to at least start moving even if I’m not sure how much energy is in the tank. Our reaction to the readiness question depends entirely on the circumstances.

Over the past year, Sue Ann, our Faith Community Nurse, has been asking herself whether she’s ready to retire. Summer had her celebrating a BIG birthday, almost exactly five years from when Sue Ann started as the nurse of our congregation in 2019. Many of you have received her visits in the hospital or at home, shared communion, or sang your favorite hymn with her or listened as she sang to you. Some of you told her your story of loss in the Grief Support Groups that she led. Some of you have sat in her office with a health issue that needed a referral to heal your body, mind, or spirit. Others of you have served with her on E4 Mental Health or Knitters ministry.

After months of deliberation, Sue Ann decided that her summer birthday was a time on the clock that made retirement make sense. She set the date for Sunday, December 15^th. Next Sunday, we’re going to celebrate her career as a nurse and her time with our congregation. We’ll say prayers of gratitude and blessing during both worship services. Health Ministry and 60 + Ministry, with whom Sue Ann worked so closely, are hosting a brunch for all of us between worship services. Please fill out the worship slip and let us know you can be there to celebrate her faithful compassion and professionalism among us. Is Sue Ann ready? Are we ready? As we’ll ever be.

In the Luke reading, John the Baptist calls on people to be ready using the words of the prophet Isaiah. John said:

“Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”

We Coloradans may not like the sound of lowering the mountains or filling valleys. We like our trails steep, crooked, and rocky, thank you very much. Or we may see the magnitude of the metaphor and think preparation is futile. But John is talking about a clear sight line to God for everyone. All flesh. All people seeing what God has done – the saving that God is doing in our transformation by God through the power of the Holy Spirit. The first three chapters of Luke’s Gospel are full of people who are full of the Holy Spirit and ready as they’ll ever be.

You may have noticed that our psalm today in worship is actually from Luke’s first chapter. Psalms are a form of song and poetry in the Bible. They aren’t only a location in one book of the Bible. In our psalm today, Zechariah prophecies by the power of the Holy Spirit. The opening verse to the psalm, verse 67, goes like this, “Then [John’s] father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke this prophecy…” Zechariah then speaks the psalm we chanted in worship today. Zechariah prophecies while filled with the Holy Spirit.

On the fourth Sunday in Advent, two weeks from today, we’ll hear about John’s mother, Elizabeth – “And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry [to Mary], ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.’” On that same Sunday, we’ll hear Mary’s consent to God’s will by the power of the Holy Spirit. Then there’s John the Baptist himself, “…even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Two of my favorite Bible characters are Simeon and Anna – both elderly prophets in the Jerusalem Temple. Also in Luke’s second chapter, the Holy Spirit rested on Simeon, and he was guided by the Spirit to prophecy as Anna praised God and talked about Jesus to everyone in earshot. They were as ready to see God as they would ever be, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is a major actor in the Gospel of Luke. The Holy Spirit opened sight lines to God and the people had a lot to say about what God was doing for an oblivious world. The Holy Spirit prepared each one of those people and then they said something about God. It wasn’t always tidy or easy though. Zechariah, our psalmist and John the Baptist’s father, had a tough time on the way to his prophecy by the power of the Holy Spirit. He didn’t believe that he and Elizabeth would have the baby John at their advanced age. The angel Gabriel pushed the mute button on him and Zechariah couldn’t make a peep until John was born. His first words after John’s birth are found in his psalm.

Why does any of this matter? Because this is the selfsame Spirit that empowers and refines us through the water of baptism. The selfsame Spirit who feeds us holiness through bread and wine. The selfsame Spirit who opens our eyes to God’s action on our behalf so that we see, talk, and act in the world differently. The selfsame Spirit who prepares us, who fills valleys, flattens mountains, and who straightens and levels the way – the way of God to us through Jesus. Are we ready? As we’ll ever be.

On Friday, the Welcome 150 Workgroup and a few of us stragglers went on a field trip to Risen Christ Catholic Church over on South Monaco. The congregation of Risen Christ just completed a Sanctuary renovation that includes ramp accessibility to the newly redesigned altar and ADA restrooms. Sound familiar? The architect, project manager, and Father Scott gave us the tour and talked about their multi-year process and an almost equivalent capital campaign goal. I asked Father Scott if there was anything that he wished he knew ahead of time going into their construction project. He couldn’t answer me right away but emailed me later that afternoon. He said he wished that he’d known how long the pre-building process would take – schematic drawings, building diagrams, construction documents, and city approval all took longer than he thought.

We have a little taste of that timeline watching construction of the affordable housing of Augustana Homes. Thankfully, our Welcome 150 Workgroup has experience with construction timelines through their various professions, so they’ll be helping the rest of us understand these things. While our capital campaign thus far allows us to commit to the Priority 1 projects. It strikes me that it’s our own Advent story of sorts. Each step of Welcome 150 preparing the way, preparing us as the people, to more clearly tell OUR congregation’s experience of the gospel – connecting us more deeply with God, each other, and our community so that God’s welcome is our welcome. And we are guided by the selfsame Spirit who opens our eyes to God’s action on our behalf so that we see, speak, and act faithfully in the world. Are we ready? As we’ll ever be.

Preparation by the Spirit who also opens our eyes to see as Zechariah saw. He described it like this:

“By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Zechariah prophesied in the temple about God’s promises that fill us, transforming our lives by the power of the Holy Spirit. The promises of God’s mercy, redemption, holiness, and peace in Jesus. Zechariah reminds us that as the world gets loud and busy, time together in sacred space allows us to pause together and be prepared by the One for whom we wait.

The Holy Spirit prepares us to see light in the darkness and in the shadow of death as our feet are guided into the way of peace. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we are given eyes to see and ears to listen to Jesus who prepares us by his Spirit whether we’re old and faithful like Simeon and Anna, young and fierce like Mary, joyful and diligent like Elizabeth, dubious and dunderheaded like Zechariah, or wild and outspoken like John. Are we ready? As we’ll ever be. Because Jesus prepares us during this time and across time with the power of the Holy Spirit. Thanks be to God. And amen.

Preaching, Sermons

Inflection Points and Intention Sunday [OR May God’s Welcome Be Our Welcome] Mark 13:1-8[9-10]

November 17, 2024 caitlin121608

Caitlin Trussell with Augustana Lutheran Church on November 17, 2024

[sermon begins after two Bible readings; Titus and Psalm readings are at the end of the sermon]

Mark 13:1-8[9-10] As he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!” ²Then Jesus asked him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”
³When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, ⁴Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished? ⁵Then Jesus began to say to them, “Beware that no one leads you astray. ⁶Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. ⁷When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. ⁸For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.
⁹As for yourselves, beware; for they will hand you over to councils; and you will be beaten in synagogues; and you will stand before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them. ¹⁰And the good news must first be proclaimed to all nations.

Hebrews 10:19-25 Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), ²¹and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²²let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. ²³Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. ²⁴And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, ²⁵not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

[sermon begins]

Did anyone else note the irony of a gospel reading about the destruction of the temple on Intention Sunday? Intention Sunday, the very same day that we’re stating our intentions to give towards sustaining Augustana’s ministries AND renewing our building. Believe you me, I thought long and hard about changing this reading to something with more pizazz. But the more I sat with it, the more it became the perfect reading for today because we’re living at an inflection point in the human story – an inflection point of rapid change. An inflection point that defies predictable outcomes. While our moment in time is unique, we share similarities with Jesus followers across time who experienced other historic inflection points. Other contentious and confusing times. Other simultaneous death-and-life moments when there are endings and beginnings all over the place.

Mark’s gospel was written around the time the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by Rome, about 35 years after Jesus died. In the Bible story itself, Jesus’ disciples were reacting to his teachings about the destruction of the Jerusalem temple. Whether Jesus was looking ahead to an inevitable outcome or Mark was situating Jesus’ teachings for his readers isn’t knowable. But for first century Jesus followers, the destruction of the temple was an inflection point. Rome was on the rampage, annihilating Jews and the earliest Gentile and Jewish Christians. It’s truly a wonder that the early church lived through Rome’s campaign against them. It was a contentious time of confusion and fear. A simultaneous death-and-life moment right before the crescendo of Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection on Easter morning. And what did Jesus tell his disciples to do at that inflection point? Verse 9 – give testimony to governors and kings. Verse 10 – and the good news must be proclaimed to all nations. Give testimony and proclaim the gospel.

In the midst of our inflection point, what’s our task? Testimony and proclamation. Why do we exist as a church? Testimony and proclamation of the good news of Jesus. What does our worship do? Proclaim the good news. What does the Chancel Choir’s singing do? Proclaims the good news. What does our Human Dignity Delegate ministry do? Give testimony about the good news. What does generosity towards a building renewal campaign and sustaining ministries with our offerings do? Stewards our church of proclamation and testimony about the good news of Jesus.

Welcome 150 is more than a convenient chance to celebrate Augustana’s 150^th birthday and make the floors shiny by 2028.[1] Welcome 150 connects us to God, each other, and our community. Welcome 150 is about Jesus and a world deeply in need of God’s unconditional love. A love so powerful that darkness is transformed into light.[2] A love so powerful that hate is driven out and hope is welcomed in. This is not a syrupy sentiment. Unconditional Love fuels courage and is the only power that inspires transformation resembling Jesus and his ever-expanding circle of welcome into the love of God. The power of that love is why Jesus was so dangerous to Rome and the local religious leaders. The power of that love is ultimately why he was hung on that cross. Jesus, his love and his teachings, were just too threatening.

Jesus’ teaching gave his followers an assignment during an inflection point. Testimony and proclamation. Jesus’ teaching also gives us, his followers today, something to do during an inflection point. Testimony and proclamation of the good news of Jesus in our day-to-day lives. The reading from Hebrews also suggests a thing or two for the Jesus follower to do during an inflection point. Listen to these verses from Hebrews once more:

“Approach [God] with a true heart in assurance of faith;

Hold fast to the confession of our hope;

And provoke one another to love and good deeds.

not neglecting to meet together…but encouraging one another.”[3]

Hmmm….faith, hope, and love…the trifecta of what remains as God makes all things new.[4] In Hebrews, faith in what God is doing on our behalf and on behalf of all creation, opens up our approach to God with confidence won through Jesus Christ. We’re invited into the bold, humble confidence of Jesus’ ministry and Christ’s victory. These glimpses of God through the window of Christ inspire us to what the Hebrews preacher calls “holding fast to the confession of our hope while we provoke one another to love and good deeds.”

Six weeks ago, Welcome 150 launched with a capital campaign and 2025 giving appeal. Some of you were provoked to deliver inspiration bags to other members while others of you were provoked to open your door to them. (No small things for the introverts among us.) Some of you were provoked to write generosity stories that ended up in those bags. Here’s one story about those inspiration bag deliveries. Pastor Kent had preached that morning and was delivering bags that afternoon. At one apartment address, the woman who answered the door exclaimed, “I just saw you preach on the livestream!” She’s had a difficult time getting to worship and is able to stay connected with the proclamation. This conversation and connection would not have happened had we not been provoked by our campaign consultant.

When it comes to provocations, we tend to align ourselves with the role of provocateur who provokes love and good deeds. We generally like to be the sender rather than the receiver who is provoked. Here’s the deal though, the preacher of Hebrews is provoking us to regularly meet together, encouraging each other. One reason to meet together is that it’s tough to provoke and be provoked outside of ongoing relationships. It’s easy to forget that the One ultimately provoking us is the One who’s promising the radical healing of creation. The assurance of faith and the confession of hope comes to us through the Love of this One who provokes us to love – Jesus the Christ.

Last Sunday at the All-Congregation Brunch, Katrina Crook spoke. She chairs the Welcome 150 Steering Team. She is also part of a multigenerational Augustana family. Katrina provoked us to good deeds through Welcome 150 and our 2025 offerings by saying, “We know the outcome for Augustana if we do nothing; Now is the time to renew our building so that our ministry momentum may continue for future generations.” She has the authority to provoke us because we all regularly meet together and encourage one another.

In this inflection point that defies predictable outcomes, we’re called into testimony and proclamation of the good news of Jesus. Good news in which Jesus teaches us to love God, love our neighbors as ourselves, care for orphans and widows, welcome strangers, share resources, free the oppressed, feed the hungry, and pray for our enemies.[5] Our Augustana congregation has named our latest response to God’s grace and Jesus’ call, Welcome 150, as we ask for the courage to let God’s welcome be our welcome for children and adults of all ages, abilities, and attributes; and for the sake of those longing for unconditional love and the provocation to good deeds.

In a moment we’ll sing a hymn together. While we sing, you’re invited to bring forward your Statement of Intent cards, placing them in a basket with other cards to symbolize the impact of combining our gifts. Each verse will end with a few measures of organ music before the next verse begins allowing time for walking, for praying, and for singing our testimony and proclamation.

As church, we try to heed God’s call and hope we’re following God’s imagination over and above the management of our own fears. The world is rapidly changing, and the worldwide church is changing right along with it. No one knows what the outcome of any of those changes will be. Augustana has emerged from the pandemic with the momentum to live anew, so we’re going to err on the side of aligning with that momentum. As church, we’re called by the gospel to proclaim the gospel and give our testimony in the ways we’ve been gifted by the Holy Spirit to do so. By that same Spirit, we’re reassured of God’s love and grace as our efforts and our offerings unite to renew Augustana for God’s purposes now and in the generations to come.

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[1] Read more about Welcome 150 here: augustanadenver.org/welcome-150/

[2] John 1:5

[3] Hebrews 10:22-25

[4] 1 Corinthians 13:12-13

[5] This list is a compilation of Jesus’ teachings in the Bible.

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Titus 3:4-5 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, ⁵he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

Psalm 16:5-11 The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot.
⁶The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
I have a goodly heritage.
⁷I bless the LORD who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
⁸I keep the LORD always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
⁹Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices;
my body also rests secure.
¹⁰For you do not give me up to Sheol,
or let your faithful one see the Pit.
¹¹You show me the path of life.
In your presence there is fullness of joy;
in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Preaching, Sermons

From Managing to Imagining [OR Children Can See What Grownups Can’t] Mark 10:17-31 and Titus 3:4-5

October 13, 2024 caitlin121608

Caitlin Trussell with Augustana Lutheran Church on October 13, 2024

[sermon begins after two Bible readings]

Mark 10:17-31 As [Jesus] was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” ¹⁸Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. ¹⁹You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.’ ” ²⁰He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.” ²¹Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” ²²When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions. ²³Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” ²⁴And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” ²⁶They were greatly astounded and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?” ²⁷Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.” ²⁸Peter began to say to him, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.” ²⁹Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, ³⁰who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. ³¹But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”

[sermon begins]

Children are storytellers. It’s one of my favorite things about talking with kids. Conversations can range from their morning cereal to a favorite picture book to a fairy tale that they’ve made up in their head. What I can tell you from hanging out with them as a pediatric oncology nurse, as a parent, and as a pastor, is that children believe in possibility more than grownups do. They spend a lot less time managing their fears and expectations, and more time imagining what could happen. Of course, there are a million developmental reasons why that’s true. But it’s worth wondering what Jesus is saying about children in the verses leading up to todays’ Bible story of the rich man. Children had a lesser social status in the 1^st century than they do in the 21^st.Regardless, Jesus taught his disciples that welcoming children in his name meant welcoming God (Mark 9:36-37). He cautioned against putting stumbling blocks in front of children’s faith (Mark 9:42). And he taught them to receive the kingdom as a child and ended that teaching by taking the children up in his arms and blessing them (Mark 10:13-16). We’ve heard these stories over the past three Sundays.

One verse later, we come to the rich man and Jesus. Jesus had put the children down and was going on a journey when the man ran up to him, knelt, and asked him about what he must do to inherit eternal life. The man thought he knew the answer to his own question. He had kept the 10 commandments. Jesus shattered him when he told the man to sell everything and give it to the poor. The man left grieving. It was a step too far. We end up managing this story in all kinds of ways trying to figure out how we’re not like the man.[1] But let’s cut to the chase and save ourselves a heap ton of self-justification. We are ALL that man.

Being human is hard as often, or maybe more often, than it’s easy. There are limits and blind spots that we try to ignore, explain, and control. They cannot be managed individually. They can only be grieved as the man grieved walking away from Jesus. We’re never told what happens to this man. Whether or not he had a changed heart, or followed Jesus to the cross, or was at the birth of the church at Pentecost. We’re left with his grief. But we’re also left with something else.

The rich man is the only person in Mark’s Gospel who is described as “loved” by Jesus.[2] The only other place in Mark that love is used is in chapter 12 when Jesus passed the scribe’s test about the greatest commandment based on Old Testament Levitical law and Deuteronomic code.[3] Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love God; the second is to love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus’ love for the rich man is as much a declaration as it is a relief. The man couldn’t manage Jesus’ demand. And the disciples couldn’t manage to understand it.

I have to admit that when I saw that this Bible story coincided with the launch of our Welcome 150 Capital Campaign and 2025 Annual Ministry Appeal it took a lot not to change the gospel reading to something easier. Preachers are not locked into the assigned lectionary readings. We can change them. But this story of command, money, love, grief, human limitations, and God’s imagination was ultimately too good to pass up.

Last fall, our congregation’s Council voted to investigate the possibility of a Capital Campaign. Our Property Committee had been keeping a list of needed projects for this beautiful 1959 mid-century modern building – Augustana’s third church building and location. Our Transition Team had been collecting and synthesizing many of your comments about who we think God is calling us to be and how our building, staff, and members fit into God’s call to welcome children and adults of all ages, abilities, and attributes.

Our mission statement developed a few years ago celebrates God’s grace and WELCOMES everyone to worship Jesus. It’s been almost 150 years since Swedish immigrants founded this congregation in 1878. With all those things coming together, Council caught the vision of what might be possible. While Welcome 150 is launching with a capital campaign, the Welcome 150 vision is “to deepen our relationships with God and each other, foster new relationships in the wider community, and intentionally renovate our facilities to create a welcoming and enduring space.”

Last January, church members with a range of personal skills and professional expertise started a methodical process of meeting, and talking, and dreaming, agreeing and disagreeing (remember: we celebrate unity, not uniformity), and imagining what might be possible both by way of projects and priorities and by way of raising the money to do them. Rather than relocating to a fourth church building, we are renewing our campus with projects related to energy efficiency, hospitality, accessibility, flexibility, theology, and more, in keeping with its mid-century modern form. Many people in our congregation are working on Welcome 150 from a variety of angles as we move forward together to each next right step. It’s inspiring to witness their faithful imagination as the momentum builds.

When our campaign consultant asked me a few weeks ago to write a prayer and choose a Bible verse that would reflect Welcome 150, I spent a lot of time in the Bible. It’s weird to dive into the Bible looking for something like that. I kept coming back to the language of renewal and who’s in charge of ours, eventually stumbling into the book of Titus. A letter likely written by one of Paul’s students a few decades after Paul’s first century ministry ended with his execution. Titus is a letter focused on the good works and structure of the church centered around God’s grace. A little like the book of James we just finished – similar in its intense demands from Jesus followers but oh so much more filled with grace.

Titus 3:4-5 reads this way:

“When the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.”

These verses in Titus remind us that any good works we attempt are anchored and inspired by what God has first done for us by God’s mercy. Even though the church is called “the risen body of Christ in the world,” we need to take great care to remember that the only one who is actually Jesus IS Jesus.

As church, we try to heed God’s call and hope we’re following God’s imagination over and above the management of our own fears. The world is rapidly changing, and the church is changing right along with it. No one knows what the outcome of any of those changes will be. As church, we’re called by the gospel to proclaim the gospel in the ways we’ve been gifted by the Holy Spirit to do so. With Welcome 150, our congregation is committing to the faithful witness built by a few Swedish immigrants and seeing what’s possible much like they did. They started a church to welcome arriving immigrants and would be stunned to see this congregation now. We are waaaay beyond welcoming Swedes as we build on their foundation of faith and “we welcome everyone to worship Jesus.”

Jesus reminded his disciples that the limits of human management are no match for God’s imagination. Jesus called the disciples “children” as he taught them, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.” Perhaps Jesus was inviting his disciples to imagine the possibilities as only children can. In that spirit, we’re reassured of God’s love and mercy as our efforts and our offerings unite to renew Augustana for God’s purposes now and in the generations to come. We hope and pray for the courage to let our welcome be God’s welcome. Thanks be to God, and amen.

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[1] Sarah Hinlicky Wilson, Pastor, Tokyo Lutheran Church, Tokyo, Japan. Commentary on Mark 10:17-31 for October 13, 2024. Commentary on Mark 10:17-31 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

Pastor, Preacher, Speaker