Grace Chicago Church

Leigh preaching our lectionary journey through the Gospel of Luke, as Jesus gets closer and closer to Jerusalem.

Homily Preview: Sunday, we continue our lectionary journey through the Gospel of Luke, as Jesus gets closer and closer to Jerusalem. In Luke 18, Jesus tells a parable about a widow seeking justice who does not take "no" for an answer. Despite her powerlessness, she exacts justice - and so invites us to an unexpected picture of Christ's victory on our behalf. This is a wonderful parable, rich with layers of meaning. I am excited to reflect on this passage with you all on Sunday morning, as we contemplate this widow, God's heart for justice, and the life of faith and prayer.

Bob preaching about the text before us recounts the occasion when Jesus healed 10 lepers and only one of them said, "thank you".

Homily Preview: This Sunday we look forward to digging back into the Gospel of Luke for our homily. The text before us recounts the occasion when Jesus healed 10 lepers and only one of them said, "thank you". The one who offered thanks and praise turns out to be a Samaritan. With echoes of the Parable of the Good Samaritan reverberating in our imagination we will think together about what this incident can teach us about how we think about and experience the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Bob preaches on Themes of Jesus' teaching.

Homily Preview: This Sunday we are back in the Gospel of Luke for our homily. The text before us will invite us to think about some of the themes of Jesus' teaching that Luke has already brought to our attention: namely, faithfulness and generosity. As always, we approach the worship service with complete confidence that God will meet us with a gracious welcome and empower us so that we might flourish and enable the flourishing of our communities.

Bob preaches on Jesus' parables

This Sunday we are looking forward to reflecting on another of Jesus' parables. Like the one from last week, this parable deals with money and the way that a "love of money" is destructive to people and their communities. As we ponder the story of the rich man and Lazarus we will talk about the relationship between grace and judgment, and human flourishing and justice. Like all of Jesus' parables, this story opens our eyes to see the world as God does.

Homily preview:

Bob preaches on the One theme that pops up again and again in Jesus’ parables

One theme that pops up again and again in Jesus’ parables is that people don’t know what time it is. And when I say: “what time it is”, I don’t mean that they don’t know if it is morning, noon, or night. Rather, they don’t understand that with the coming of Jesus and his kingdom, God is doing something new in the world that is meant to bring flourishing and salvation to all people - and in ways that seem too good to be true. We have one of these parables in front of this week: Luke 16:1-13. We look forward to digging into Jesus’ teaching and trust that the Spirit of Christ will help us know what time it is with regard to our relationships with people, material possessions, and indeed, ourselves.

Bob preaches on The Story of the Prodigal Son

Homily Preview:
We are looking forward to taking a fresh look at a story that is familiar to many: "The Story of the Prodigal Son," perhaps better titled, "The Story of Two Lost Brothers and a Father Who Never Gives up on Either of Them." It is a story that offers new grace to us each time we contemplate it. May the Spirit of Christ meet us this Sunday and transform our imagination so that we might come to know the depth of God's love for each of us.

Leigh preaches on the story of the "bent woman" from Luke 13.

Homily Preview:
This Sunday we will reflect on the story of the "bent woman" from Luke 13. There are many layers to this beautiful healing story, as uniquely told by Luke. I'm so eager to ponder with you - the life of this woman, whom Jesus releases from bondage, the mission and ministry of Jesus and how it uniquely plays out in this story, God's heart and intentions for Sabbath, and much more.

In Caleb’s Final homily (for the moment), he reflects on how the Grace Chicago community helped him rediscover and deepen his faith in Jesus.

Caleb preaches on the Good Samaritan from Luke 10. This homily is particularly addressed to the kids in the service.

This homily comes at the first week of lent. The Lenten season begins with the story of Jesus squaring off in the desert with the tempter, Satan. In this story, we see the reversal of Adam and Eve giving in to the lies told by the snake in the garden. For the first time ever in human history a human being is completely faithful to God’s gifts, and refuses to believe the dark fantasy that God is holding something back. Jesus succeeds where Adam, Eve and God’s ancient people Israel, after them, failed. He succeeded where we have all failed. The three temptations that Jesus resists are all at their core temptations to flourish apart from God’s provisions, God’s gifts.