You would’ve thought I had asked if Jesus was the Son of God or not. Earlier this week, I posed a simple poll on Facebook to my fellow Lutherans: This weekend, my congregation is observing: 👍 The Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost(and we’re staying green) ❤️ Reformation Sunday(and we’re going red) Please react appropriately. The reactions …
Continue reading Celebrating Reformation Sunday by Not Celebrating Reformation Sunday
Edited (6/16/21): A video of the full meeting can be seen at this link. All public comments pertaining to this issue begin at 6:32. Glenview Village Board of Trustees MeetingTuesday, June 15, 2021 Statement by the Rev. Josh EvansSt. Philip Lutheran Church Good evening, my name is Pastor Josh Evans, and I use pronouns like …
Continue reading Statement at the Glenview Village Board of Trustees Meeting – June 15, 2021
Pastoral Message on Minneapolis - May 29, 2020Rev. Josh Evans Over the past few days and weeks, we have been confronted yet again by the ugly reality of racism in this country. The deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery are only the latest in a long litany of black and brown lives …
Continue reading Pastoral Message on Minneapolis – May 29, 2020
Originally written for the April 2020 issue of the UNITY Lutheran Church newsletter Recently I had the opportunity to gather virtually with some members of my home congregation in Chicago for a Lenten mini-retreat. We centered our time on the theme of journeys - always a good retreat topic. The language of journey and journeying is fitting …
Note: An edited version of this reflection appears in the January 2020 issue of the UNITY Lutheran Church newsletter. As I write this article, I’m sitting in my apartment, in near-total darkness, except for the glow of the lights on my Christmas tree and two other strands of lights I have hanging around my front …
It's hard to believe, but it's now been two months since the day I was ordained to the Ministry of Word and Sacrament and made a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Wow. Like so many others who have entered into this sacred vocation, I continued to be astounded at this odd and …
...which started out as a Facebook post that became a wee bit too long. The first class I took in seminary was The Theology of Martin Luther King, Jr. I learned so much in that class -- from readings from King, from classmates, and of course from the brilliant Dr. Pete Pero. One of our …
The poetry of John O'Donohue has long held the serendipitous capacity to speak to me with the right words at the right time. His collection of poems in To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings (New York: Doubleday, 2008) has accompanied me most recently through the summer I spent as a hospital chaplain intern …
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love... There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear... We love because he first loved us. Those who say, …
Continue reading Lament, Holy Anger, and Pastoral Encouragement: A Statement on Election Night 2016
Originally published in The Door, the student and community newsletter of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago I often remark that I find it amusing that the first person to whom I came out was a pastor. That was in 2011 and all the more remarkable because it came on the heels of graduating …
Pastor Josh Evans 