Solid Food - Ascension Sermon Podcast

We all know that some things in life are more important than others. Our relationships, our faith, the people we love, and the opportunities we have to make a difference in the world. And yet, how easily the urgent things in life crowd out the important things!

This weekend, we'll explore Jesus' fascinating parable of the ten bridesmaids who are waiting for a wedding celebration. All ten know the wedding is important. All ten want to be part of it. But when the bridegroom finally arrives, only five are prepared.

I wonder how often that happens to us. We know what matters most, but sometimes the way we spend our time, energy, and attention tells a different story.

Jesus' parable isn't simply a warning about being unprepared. It's an invitation to examine our priorities and rediscover what really matters. And it's a reminder that, as people claimed by God's grace, we've been given a wonderful calling: to let our light shine in a world that desperately needs it.

I look forward to exploring this with you in worship this weekend!

Blessings,

Whose life would you want? Someone famous, wealthy, successful, or perhaps someone known for extraordinary goodness and generosity? We often think of a blessed life as one filled with good fortune, happiness, and success. But Jesus offers a very different understanding. In the Beatitudes, he declares, "Blessed are the poor in spirit… Blessed are those who mourn."

This All Saints weekend, we'll explore what it really means to be blessed. In 1 John, we're reminded that we are already God's beloved children, and that "what we will be has not yet been revealed." What an extraordinary promise! Our lives—and the lives of those we love—are held in God's grace, and God's transforming work is not yet finished.

I invite you to bring a photograph of a loved one who has died. During Communion, we'll have an opportunity to display these photographs as we remember and give thanks for the saints who have gone before us.

Join us this weekend as we celebrate the blessing of belonging to God, both now and for eternity.

Blessings,

There are two little words we hear every weekend when we come forward for Holy Communion: "For you." The body of Christ, given for you. Those words contain one of the most beautiful promises of our Christian faith. But how often do we stop to consider what they really mean?

This Reformation Weekend, we'll explore how Martin Luther's rediscovery of God's grace helps us understand the wonderful gift of Holy Communion. Drawing from Jeremiah 31, Psalm 46, and John 8, we'll reflect on what it means to believe that Christ is truly present in the bread and wine, offering us forgiveness, freedom, and strength for our lives. Whether we come to the Lord's Table filled with gratitude or weighed down by life's struggles, the promise remains the same: Christ comes to us, not because we are worthy, but because God is gracious.

I look forward to worshiping with you this Reformation Weekend!

Blessings,

Whose Image Do You See?

In this weekend's Gospel (Matthew 22:15–22), Jesus is asked a tricky question about paying taxes to Caesar. His response begins with a simple question: "Whose image is on the coin?"

But what if Jesus is inviting us to consider a much bigger question: Whose image do we see in the people around us? Scripture reminds us that every human being is created in the image of God. What might that mean for the way we live, love, and treat our neighbors?

This weekend, we will also celebrate 25 years of Ascension's Fair Trade Ministry! Together, we'll explore how our faith shapes the way we see others and how something as ordinary as a cup of coffee or a piece of chocolate can become an expression of love for our neighbors. Fair Trade Lane is open after all worship services.

This is the season of homecomings, including CLU's homecoming this weekend. I pray every weekend feels like a homecoming of sorts as you come to worship and together we are welcomed with the greatest warmth by the God who says "I am so happy you are here."

Grace & Peace,

Where are you dwelling these days?

We aren't talking about your home. We are talking about your heart and mind. Where do your thoughts dwell? What occupies your attention? What do you find yourself returning to again and again?

It's hard to stay focused, isn't it? So much competes for our attention. And sometimes, when our minds do settle on something, we find ourselves dwelling on a hurt, a worry, or something we simply cannot change.

This weekend, we will reflect on Philippians 4:1–9, where the Apostle Paul encourages followers of Jesus to dwell on what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and worthy of praise. This doesn't mean denying the pain, ignoring the hard things, or pretending the darkness isn't real. After all, the Good Shepherd promises to walk with us even through the darkest valleys. But where we choose to dwell matters. What fills our hearts and minds shapes how we live, how we love, and how we see the world around us.

Grace & Peace,

This weekend we will hear the Ten Commandments from Exodus 20. We often think of commandments as restrictions—things God tells us not to do. But the story begins somewhere else: "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery." God gives the commandments to a people who have already been set free.

The commandments are not a ladder we climb to earn God's love. They are a gift that teaches us how to live as people who are already loved and liberated. They show us what a good life can look like—a life rooted in trust, faithfulness, truth, rest, and love for our neighbor. Join us this weekend as we reflect on "The Gift of a Good Life."

Blessings,

This weekend's Gospel lesson includes one of Jesus' wonderfully simple parables: a father asks his two sons to go work in the vineyard. One says no, but later changes his mind and goes. The other says yes, but never follows through. It is a small story, but it raises an important question for all of us: are we still willing to be changed?

There is something deeply hopeful about knowing that we do not have to get everything right the first time. God continues to teach us, shape us, and invite us to grow. Sometimes humility is simply being willing to listen, to reconsider, and to say, "Maybe God is showing me something new." I am excited to see you in worship this weekend as we reflect together on what it means to practice humility and to remain open to the work God is still doing in us.

Blessings,

Grace has a way of setting some people free—and making others angry. In Jesus' parable of the workers in the vineyard, those who work for only one hour receive the same pay as those who labor all day. It doesn't seem fair. Yet the story invites us to see that God's generosity is not something we earn but a gift that gives us life, dignity, and a place to belong.

Join us this weekend as we explore Matthew 20:1–16 and Psalm 145:1–8. We will consider how God's "crazy grace" came looking for us—and how the church is called to share that grace by seeing the overlooked, welcoming the stranger, and becoming a place where all people can find belonging. Looking forward to worshiping with you!

Blessings,

The weekend after Labor Day has traditionally been a time when churches across the country kick off a new year of ministry, often calling it "Rally Sunday." This year at Ascension, we celebrated "Back-to-School Sunday" a few weeks ago, but perhaps this weekend can be a quieter kind of kickoff, a chance to recommit ourselves (or commit for the first time) to making the weekly rhythm of worship a regular part of our lives.

To help us do that, this weekend we will experience a "narrative worship" of sorts, with brief explanations woven throughout the service about why we do what we do when we gather for worship.

We will also join Lutherans across the country for God's Work, Our Hands where thousands of people put their faith into action through service. At Ascension, we will assemble 400 personal care kits for Lutheran World Relief, and we invite you to stop by Founders Hall after any of our worship services to lend a hand. Fair Trade Lane will also be open in Founders Hall.

On my heart this week is the 25th anniversary of September 11, 2001. Churches were full in the days following the terror of 9/11. Twenty-five years later, I can think of no better place to be than gathered again as the church, especially as we hear the story of Joseph forgiving his brothers and Peter asking Jesus, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?"

How do we forgive in the face of terrible violence as well as in the ordinary wounds and slights of daily life? How do we become people who live in grace?

Perhaps that is one of the reasons we keep coming back to worship: to remember who we are, whose we are, and the way of Jesus, the One who gave everything for us and continues to show us how to live.

I look forward to worshiping with you this weekend.

Grace & Peace,

Several months ago, Pastor Ivan Larsen came to us and shared that, as he celebrates the 60th anniversary of his ordination, he would love the opportunity to preach God's Word. What a gift!

We feel so very grateful and blessed by the retired pastors in our community and by their faithful witness and years of service to Christ's church. Sixty years of ordained ministry is a remarkable milestone, and so we are delighted to welcome Pastor Ivan to the pulpit this weekend. (His subject: Not Only Pastors are Called by God.) We look forward to worshiping and leading worship alongside him as we celebrate this wonderful anniversary.

Pastor Tim and Pastor Chamie