St. John’s Lutheran ChurchAlbany, New York18 May 2025 + Easter 5cRevelation 21:1-6The Rev. Josh Evans So, last week, I lied.Well, sort of. It is true that Revelation is a message of hope.Incredible hope, in fact. And…it is also true that maybe Revelation is a little scary…or maybe a lot scary. There are some undeniably terrifying …
St. John’s Lutheran ChurchAlbany, New York11 May 2025 + Easter 4cRevelation 7:9-17The Rev. Josh Evans Old news.Same difference.Seriously funny.Historical fiction. Each of them – and many more examples –an oxymoron,which is itself an oxymoron,derived from two Greek words meaning “sharp” and “dull.” Far from an exercise in contradictions,oxymorons often exist to reveal a paradox and …
St. John’s Lutheran ChurchAlbany, New York20 April 2025 + Resurrection of Our LordLuke 24:1-12The Rev. Josh Evans Maybe you remember my Christmas Eve sermon,which I began by quoting Madeleine L’Engle’s well-known poem,“The Risk of Birth.” “This is no time for a child to be born…” she begins. Four months and three liturgical seasons later,I’m stuck …
St. John’s Lutheran ChurchAlbany, New York6 April 2025 + Lent 5cJohn 12:1-8The Rev. Josh Evans Pop quiz! The woman who anoints Jesus is…A) Mary MagdaleneB) Mary of Bethany, the sister of Lazarus and MarthaC) Mary, the mother of JamesD) an unknown womanE) all of the above There’s technically no wrong answerbecause the answer is indeed…E) …
St. John’s Lutheran ChurchAlbany, New York30 March 2025 + Lent 4cLuke 15:1-3, 11b-32The Rev. Josh Evans “Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to [Jesus]. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ So he told them this parable…” Actually, …
St. John’s Lutheran ChurchAlbany, New York23 March 2025 + Lent 3cIsaiah 55:1-9The Rev. Josh Evans “Water! Water! We praise you, O God, for water –the rain that nourishes animals and plants,the water for drinking and bathing.We praise you, O God, for water. “We praise you, O God, for our water stories –a flood that cleansed …
St. John’s Lutheran ChurchAlbany, New York16 March 2025 + Lent 2cLuke 13:31-35The Rev. Josh Evans It’s an ancient image,rooted in the writings of the early churchand in scripture itself. Anselm of Canterbury, writing in the 11th century,speaks of Jesus as a mother who gathers us. The medieval mystic Julian of Norwich writesof Christ, our true …
St. John’s Lutheran ChurchAlbany, New York9 March 2025 + Lent 1cLuke 4:1-13The Rev. Josh Evans “The passion of Christ begins not in the week of suffering but already with the first day of his preaching,” as Dietrich Bonhoeffer observes, in a brief homily on this very gospel, preached to the students of the Berlin Technical …
St. John’s Lutheran ChurchAlbany, New York5 March 2025 + Ash WednesdayRev. Josh Evans Nothing gets a bunch of clergy and seminarians so riled up, it seems, as a singular Facebook post advertising an upcoming Ash Wednesday service with “Glitter Ash.” You heard that right:Glitter. Ash. Popularized in 2017, the Glitter Ash “movement” was organized as …
Lutheran Church of the Holy SpiritAlbany, New York2 March 2025 + Transfiguration of Our LordLuke 9:28-43aRev. Josh Evans Now about eight days after these sayings… What sayings? “Who do you say that I am?” Jesus asked Peter, just eight days ago. “The Messiah of God,” Peter responds, only to be met with Jesus’ stern warning …
Pastor Josh Evans 