Sermons from Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Raleigh, NC

Gospel - John 5:1-9

Some questions have no answers, and that can be so hard. But this time, we get an answer, and it’s a good one.

“Why do you love me?” we ask Jesus. And he looks at us, with all sorts of personality traits and sweet memories and things we’re good at running through his head…thinking of our smile and our laugh and our quirks and our charms, and he says, “just because.”

Awe and wonder are spiritual muscles that must be practiced.

Gospel - John 10:22-30

In our Gospel, Jesus, the Good Shepherd, demonstrates his care for his sheep and reveals a big truth about his identity the people aren’t ready to hear.

Gospel - John 21:1-19

When our lives are shaken up by transition, trauma, chaos, or change, it is tempting to cling to what we know, to reach for the familiar. We head straight to the center of our comfort zones. But Jesus, always, is calling us forward, toward what’s next.

Now, Jesus is our home, wherever we lay our heads, and he calls us to tend his sheep wherever we find them.

Gospel - John 20:`19-31

They don't tell you this often, but resurrection comes with scars.

Easter Sunrise Worship

Gospel - John 20:1-18

Easter dawns on us slowly…showing up in the first burst of laughter after months of grief, or in a possibility after too many dead ends…or in a new friendship after a long loneliness…or in a little more energy after sickness. It dawns on us as we furrow our brow and think, “Huh! I feel a little better today.”

Easter dawns on us, creeping into the edges of our dark nights. Easter begins even while we are still weeping and confused and without a clue. But eventually, we begin to see, gradually, that Easter is here, that Jesus is alive and that because he lives, we live too.

Easter Celebration Worship

Gospel - Luke 24:1-12

There are days when the signs of new life are REALLY hard to see. There are days when life really is that hard, and none of it is fair, and all the news is terrible, and it seems like death has won. There are days when Easter messages sound naïve and empty.

That’s when I remember the goo…

That’s when I remember that the way that a caterpillar becomes a butterfly in the first place is that it goes into the chrysalis and it turns into goo. It melts, almost completely, and out of that soupy, yucky, gooey, mess, grows a new creation that is more complex and beautiful than anything that came before.

To get to trees full of butterflies, first, you gotta go through a lot of goo.

Gospel - John 13:1-17, John 13:31b-35

Jesus gives us a new commandment to love one another through his example of washing feet. It's not just about washing feet though, it's about the decision to love. And by our love, the world will know we are his disciples.

Gospel (not recorded) - Luke 19:28-40

If God can use a donkey, God can use you.

Gospel - John 12:1-8

We know enough to be scared, because life is crazy and hard! But we've also seen enough to know that hope is real...to know that, because Jesus is with us, anything is possible...to know that we can survive pain...to know that even death cannot keep us down.

We've heard this story in our weekly Wednesday evening testimonies this Lent. We've heard stories of new life after job loss, rejection by the church, illness and addiction, depression and grief. These stories - our life stories - are full of resurrection.

We've walked with Jesus for a while now, and so, on our better days, in our more centered, hopeful moments, we, like Mary, trust that, whatever life brings, we have each other. We have love and friendship and community. And that, with Jesus in the mix, nothing is impossible.