Sermons By Alan Bentrup

A sermon for VBS Sunday

When we feel alone or scared or like we’re standing at the edge of a gap, God is trusting that we will learn that God is always with us.

God’s table is big enough for diΛerent people. God’s table is big enough for disagreement. God’s table is even big enough for me, and for you.

Each one of us is called to go out into the world bearing witness to the Good News that Jesus Christ is raised from the dead, and that grace and mercy and forgiveness and life and love always have the final word.

Each one of us is called to go out into the world bearing witness to the Good News that Jesus Christ is raised from the dead, and that grace and mercy and forgiveness and life and love always have the final word.

Everything changed. So what are we going to do about it?

Every cross flowers with new life. Every tomb holds the hope of new birth. Every darkness is overcome by light. It’s true. It is absolutely true. Alleluia! Christ is risen. The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!

A funeral preached at the burial eucharist of Jordan DeClerk.

That’s the truth of this story. That’s the Good News of this day. Death is hell, but Jesus Christ meets us here.

Jesus Christ calls us to wait with him. In the intimacy, the vulnerability, and the silence. In the fear and the grief and the despair. We’re called to wait.

What are the stories we don't want to tell?

God loves everyone you hate.

Who told you that you were the worst thing you had ever done?

We’re going to let God speak to us in the midst of the changes of this life. I don’t know what changes you are dealing with. Maybe it's a change in your health or well-being. Maybe it’s a change in your family. Maybe it’s a change in your work. Maybe it’s a dream that didn’t work out, or even a dream that is working out better than you imagined. In the midst of all of these changes, we’re going to listen for God’s voice.

There are profound implications to being named salt and light. Salt and light transform things. Salt and light reveal things. And we are called to transform human activity in such a way that it reveals God in this world.

Jesus' strategy for facing the road ahead can be found right here in today’s Gospel, in the beatitudes: Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the pure in heart. Blessed are the peacemakers. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. This is how we face the challenges, the uncertainties, and the opportunities of life. This is how we face the road ahead.

He only really says two things today: “Repent,” and “Follow me.” At some level they are two sides of the same coin. Repentance is more than just a moral change. It is a life change, a turning point. We look in a diΛerent direction. We travel a new road.

Jesus oΛers more than his address. He oΛers an invitation. “Come and see,” he says.

Luke tells us what happened, John tells us it means. Luke tells the Christmas story with facts, John tells it with poetry.

Regardless of who we are, regardless of what we’ve done, and regardless of what we’ve been through or going through, God is with us. The Good News of the Incarnation, the great joy of Christmas, is that God is with us