St. John’s Lutheran ChurchAlbany, New York8 November 2026 + The First Sunday of AdventProper 27 / Lectionary 32aMatthew 25:1-13The Rev. Josh Evans https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVgMxYSXVs0 Advent comes with a wake-up call,a door slammed shut,and selfish hoarding of oil. Or at least that’s how this parable appearsat first glance. Even before anything happens,already the young women are divided …
St. John’s Lutheran ChurchAlbany, New York16 November 2025 + The Second Sunday of Advent(Proper 28c / Lectionary 33c)Luke 21:5-19The Rev. Josh Evans In biblical studies,when approaching any passage of scripture,we can speak of the three “worlds” of the text. There is the world of the text –the story on the page,what is happening,who is involved,what …
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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 York1 December 2024 + Advent 4 (Advent 1c)Luke 21:25-36Rev. Josh Evans Hope. We throw that word around a lot, don’t we?“I hope it snows!” (“I hope it doesn’t!”)“I hope we have pizza for dinner!”“I hope the Bills win!” That kind of hope, while indeed expressing a real desire for something, …
St. Philip Lutheran Church24 December 2022 + Nativity of Our LordLuke 2.1-20Rev. Josh Evans This is now my third Christmas at St. Philip. In 2020, our sanctuary had been transformed into a film studio, as we recorded our Christmas Eve service, piece-by-piece, on December 22, with only the liturgical “actors” and our production team for …
St. Philip Lutheran Church13 March 2022 + Lent 2cLuke 13.31-35; Genesis 15.1-12, 17-18Rev. Josh Evans The images are staggering and heartbreaking. Amid the blaring of air raid sirens and the persistent sound of gunfire and missile strikes, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has found residents of Kyiv and neighboring cities taking cover… … in bomb …
St. Philip Lutheran Church28 November 2021 + Advent 1cLuke 21.25-36Rev. Josh Evans The nativity scene is out, the Christmas tree is up, the first candle on the Advent wreath is lit… it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas… Thursday night, after having Thanksgiving dinner with a friend and her family, I drove home with …
Continue reading A Sermon for When It Feels Like the World Is Ending
St. Philip Lutheran Church14 November 2021 + Lect 33b (Pent 25)Mark 13.1-8Rev. Josh Evans Beginning the night of November 9, 1938, violent anti-Jewish protests broke out across Germany and its surrounding territories. Kristallnacht, as it would later come to be known, “the night of broken glass.” Over the next 48 hours, violent mobs, spurred on …
St. Philip Lutheran Church7 November 2021 + All SaintsJohn 11.32-44Rev. Josh Evans I’m not sure what it says about me that two of my favorite days on the church calendar have to do with death. First, there’s Ash Wednesday, where we are honest about our human condition, our sin, our brokenness, our frailty … marking …
Unity Lutheran Church + Cross of Life Campus26 April 2020 + Easter 3ALuke 24.13-35Rev. Josh Evans, preaching https://vimeo.com/411859638 Video of the entire liturgy. The gospel reading and sermon begin at 15:17. https://soundcloud.com/cross-of-life/04-26-2020-we-had-hoped Audio of gospel reading and sermon only. Can you feel the disappointment, the despair, the grief? As they walk along, thinking out loud, …
