Wicker Park Lutheran Church Rev. Jason S. Glombicki July 6, 2025 Today’s readings focus on God’s reign. They give us a glimpse into how God acts, and they invite us to respond to God’s action. In Isaiah, we have an image of God comforting as a mother. In Luke’s gospel, we are reminded of the importance of receiving hospitality and in turn, providing hospitality. Like the seventy-two who were sent had nothing to offer – no purse, no bag, no […]

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Wicker Park Lutheran Church Rev. Tom Gehring June 29, 2025 May these words of my mouth and this meditation of all our hearts be acceptable to you O Lord, our source of power and our compassion. Amen. Well I feel like I should just come right out and say it: this gospel text that we just heard is flat out troubling to me. And, if Jesus’ words and the actions of the disciples have you feeling a bit uneasy or […]

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Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Dear siblings in Christ,dear friends, mentors, and companions on the journey. This is a bittersweet moment. My time as your diaconal resident is coming to an end. And as I’ve been thinking and praying about what I’d like to leave with you, I couldn’t think of a better passage than today’s text from Our Epistle Reading...

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Today’s reading from Acts is odd. We heard that the disciples were gathered, and flames began dancing on their heads. Then, they begin speaking in non-native languages so that they could communicate with every devout Jewish person who was “living” in Jerusalem. And, I want direct our attention to the Greek word translated here as “living.” It has a specific meaning. It means “to have settled or been planted in a new place.” That is, these Jewish people were not born in Jerusalem, they didn’t speak the native language, and they probably looked, acted, and engaged in different ways...

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At some point, I lost heaven. I can't remember exactly when that was. Suddenly I reached into the void. The sky was gone. I continued to search for a while, a little deeper, between the folds - or on the other side? No. My sky, the little piece of the puzzle, sky blue with cloud white - had disappeared...

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Today’s gospel is part of a longer conversation between Jesus and his disciples known as Jesus’ “farewell discourse.” This final conversation began when Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, and it continued with last Sunday’s reading sharing Jesus’ new commandment to love one another. Today, Judas (and not the Judas most people know but the other one) asked Jesus for clarification...

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The most famous shepherd in Chicago, or the States or the world is LEO. However even Leaders like Presidents are shepherds. At any rate, in the spirit of antiquity and in the spirit of the Bible, they can be described as a shepherd. Because in ancient times, leaders of states were compared to shepherds, people in higher positions who had to lead others...

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Wicker Park Lutheran Church Rev. Jason S. Glombicki May 4, 2025 Change is at the center of today’s gospel reading, and … change is challenging. Change is hard because it almost always involves loss, uncertainty, and disruption – even when it’s for the better. But not all change is the same. In fact, scholars note that there are two different types of change – technical change and adaptive change. Technical changes are easy solutions that often have apparent solutions. While […]

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Wicker Park Lutheran Church Vicar Kornelius Koppel April 27, 2025 Thomas walked slowly through the streets. His eyes were fixed on the ground and his thoughts kept circling back to the events of the last few days. Thomas was sad. But he was also anxious and disappointed. This was not how he had imagined it would be. It had all started so well. They had found him, the Messiah, Jesus, the Savior. But now he was dead. Thomas was sad. […]

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Wicker Park Lutheran Church Rev. Jason S. Glombicki April 20, 2025 On a recent family trip, I visited a swamp with my partner and my cousin. At this sanctuary, we got a booklet about all the different types of plants and animals that we might see. After flipping through it, I really wanted to see the grey polypody fern. So, we set out on the 2.5-mile boardwalk above the swamp (thank God) and went to find alligators, turtles, air plants, […]

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