St. John’s Lutheran Church12 November 2023 + Lect. 32a (24 Pentecost)Third Sunday before AdventMatthew 25:1-13Rev. Josh Evans There are two types of people this time of year: those who already have Christmas music resounding from their radios – and those who hate joy. Okay, maybe that’s a little extreme, but what’s life without a little …
St. John’s Lutheran Church5 November 2023 + All Saints SundayMatthew 5:1-12Rev. Josh Evans I don’t know about you, but it doesn’t feel very ‘blessed’ to mourn. When your whole world is ripped out from under you, when an unfathomable loss leaves a gaping hole in your heart, when all you can do is sob and …
St. John’s Lutheran Church29 October 2023 + Reformation SundayJeremiah 29:10-14; 31:31-34; Psalm 46Rev. Josh Evans It’s a beautiful passage – a new covenant, a God who lovingly takes God’s people by the hand, total and complete forgiveness. It also doesn’t come out of nowhere – but at a time of total devastation and ruin, uncertainty …
St. John’s Lutheran Church22 October 2023 + Lect. 29a (21 Pentecost)Matthew 22.15-22Rev. Josh Evans You could have asked me literally anything: about God, about the Bible, about ministry. Instead, when it came time for the congregation meeting to call me as your pastor, only one question was raised: Are you a Bills fan? You might …
St. John’s Lutheran Church15 October 2023 + Lect. 28a (20 Pentecost)Matthew 22.1-14Rev. Josh Evans It’s been a difficult week. Because of an act of terror by an extremist group. Because of the resulting humanitarian crisis. And because of the way the present conflict has given rise to a renewed hostility and divisiveness, feeding into an …
Continue reading A Limitless Love and a Persistent Invitation
St. John’s Lutheran Church8 October 2023 + Lect. 27a (19 Pentecost)Matthew 21.33-46Rev. Josh Evans Living in an apartment has its downsides, to be sure: the smaller space, the lack of a backyard, the occasional loud party down the hall – or, even worse, upstairs. But it also has its advantages, especially if you’re anything like …
St. John’s Lutheran Church17 September 2023 + Holy Cross (observed)1 Corinthians 1.18-24Rev. Josh Evans Everyone loves a good underdog story. When Rachel Phelps, who by all appearances couldn’t care less about baseball, inherits the team (now) formerly known as the Cleveland Indians from her late husband, she contrives a plan: The Indians are already terrible, …
St. John’s Lutheran Church10 September 2023 + Lect. 23a (15 Pentecost)Matthew 18.15-20; Romans 13.8-14Rev. Josh Evans Every time this gospel reading comes around, I cringe. Not because I don’t think it has value, but because of the way it has been misunderstood and misused. In one interpretation, conflict management escalates from a one-on-one conversation, to …
St. John’s Lutheran Church3 September 2023 + Lectionary 22a (14 Pentecost)Matthew 16.21-28Rev. Josh Evans Everyone remembers Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Many of us could probably quote whole parts of it. We remember the most defining moments in King’s early ministry through the civil rights movement — the Montgomery bus boycott, the …
St. John’s Lutheran Church27 August 2023 + Lectionary 21a (13 Pentecost)Matthew 16.13-20Rev. Josh Evans I had only been attending my new church for a matter of months. Every week, the pattern of the liturgy was the same: alongside the scripture reading and the pastor’s sermon was testimony. Someone from the congregation would be invited, in …
Pastor Josh Evans 