Sermons from St. Paul Lutheran Church, Westerville, Ohio

In this Sunday's Gospel reading, Jesus tells his followers that "Those who love their life must lose it." What does this mean? Do we have to die in order to follow Jesus? Seminarian Russ Crouthamel explains and unpacks some of the meaning in this Gospel story, and comes up with an answer to the question of losing our lives - through baptism, we have already died, and through Christ, we are not just alive, but full of life.

In this week's drama takes place at an unknown location where many of the apostles and other followers of Jesus are in hiding. Fear has replaced faith, now that Jesus has been taken away. Listen to the Apostles James the Greater and Thomas along with Mary Magdalene discuss, argue and rationalize Peter’s recent behavior. Envision yourself amongst them. What are you thinking?

In the Gospel lesson for this day, Jesus is overturning the tables in the temple for turning it from a place of worship into a marketplace.If God was to come into the temple of your heart, what things would Jesus get angry or fired up about? The good news is that Jesus does come, meet us where we are, and with Jesus' presence comes something more than simple change, but transformation!

Written by Rob LaDuke, this series builds and layers upon itself every week. Using Scripture as the backbone of the script and inspiration, we join in on the conversations of Biblical characters that help us to realize the gravity of God's plan of salvation...for both them and us.

Lent is a time of change. The change that I believe would benefit us best during Lent is to focus less on self and more on God. The lessons for this first Sunday in Lent give us wonderful gifts of God on which we can focus. God gives us a SIGN, a SACRAMENT, and a SAVIOR. What else do we need? Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.

The 40 days of Lent that lead to Easter are some of the most sacred and spiritually powerful in the Christian calendar. Some people look on this season as something to be endured, a marathon of self-inflected torture that saps the fun out of all life, until we get to Easter when we can return to...well...normal. Right?But returning to normal isn’t the point of Lent — the point of Lent is change. Lent is the time when we examine ourselves and our habits in the hopes of turning from our sinful way of doing things, to instead adopting YAHWEH’s way of doing things.

Mountain top experiences are coveted by many and can come few and far between. The more space between those great expereinces, the more we fill the gap with and we begin to settle for less than what God wants to give. What if...we allow for moments with God, mountain top times, in our everyday lives? Imagine what life would look like if we started paying attention to God's mountain top times every day.

In the Gospel lesson for today, Jesus heals a man with the contagious disease of leprosy. Jesus touches. Jesus heals. Just as the man with leprosy is healed and is restored to community, we also receive the touch of God that restores us to communion with God and others, as God created us to be.

Peter's mother-in-law sets for us a great example. She was sick. Jesus came when called upon. Jesus healed her. She then got up and served. Her example shows us that when God touches our lives, we then have a testimony to share.

Who has authority in your life? WHAT has authority in your life? Twice in the Gospel for Sunday we hear the people speak of Jesus as one who teaches and acts with authority. With the cacophony of words we hear every day, what words speak to us with authority? In Jesus Christ, the WORD mad FLESH, we find hope and direction for our lives.