St. John’s Lutheran Church21 May 2023 + Easter 7aJohn 17.1-11; Acts 1.6-14Rev. Josh Evans It’s been said that our Lutheran faith is one of paradox: sinner and saint, law and gospel, death and resurrection. True to such paradoxical roots, appropriately enough, our Easter season has been drawing to an end where it began – or …
St. John’s Lutheran Church14 May 2023 + Easter 6aJohn 14.15-21; Acts 17.22-31Rev. Josh Evans “Our great father, God almighty, who is Being, knew and loved us from before the beginning of time. And from his knowledge, in his marvelously deep love and through the eternal foreseeing counsel of the whole blessed Trinity, he wanted the …
St. John’s Lutheran Church7 May 2023 + Easter 5aJohn 14.1-14Rev. Josh Evans “Moving is so much fun!” … said no one, ever. It is, however, much, much easier when you have professionals doing the moving (thank you, St. John’s!). Moving with cats, on the other hand, is an exercise in patience. As we bounced between …
Continue reading An Exercise in Patience (and God’s Abiding Love)
St. John’s Lutheran Church16 April 2023 + Easter 2aJohn 20.19-31Rev. Josh Evans Unbelievable. A word which, by definition, implies something too improbable to be believed, something extraordinary, outside the bounds of what we expect to be true. It can be exclaimed in complete and utter amazement after witnessing something truly spectacular … Unbelievable! Or in …
St. John’s Lutheran Church6 April 2023 + Maundy ThursdayJohn 13.1-17, 31b-35Rev. Josh Evans This sermon begins with a story. It’s a story about saying goodbye. Tonight, we remember the story of the last meal that Jesus shared with his friends. They were probably sad, and maybe a little afraid. They didn’t know when, or even …
St. John’s Lutheran Church26 March 2023 + Lent 5aJohn 11.1-45; Ezekiel 37.1-14Rev. Josh Evans It’s probably the most famous prophecy in the book of Ezekiel: the valley of “dem dry bones.” Truthfully, it’s a bit of a terrifying vision: for these dry bones to suddenly shake and rattle and come together, with sinews and flesh …
St. Philip Lutheran Church15 January 2023 + Lectionary 2a (Epiphany 2)John 1.29-42Rev. Josh Evans Who is Jesus? That was the question recently posed to me by a colleague. I admit, for someone in my line of work who should have a ready-made answer to that question, it took me by surprise … and I began …
St. Philip Lutheran Church22 May 2022 + Sixth Sunday of EasterRevelation 21.10, 22–22.5; John 14.23-29Rev. Josh Evans Jesus’s words feel like a hopeful and welcome promise … and, at the same time, such a far off dream and unattainable vision for our time: As our country (yet again) grapples with the grief and terror of …
St. Philip Lutheran Church8 May 2022 + Fourth Sunday of Easter /Julian of Norwich, renewer of the churchJohn 10.22-30; Psalm 23Rev. Josh Evans In case you still need a Mother’s Day card, might I suggest Cards by Julian? On the front: “The mother’s service is the closest, the most helpful and the most sure, for …
St. Philip Lutheran Church14 April 2022 + Maundy ThursdayJohn 13.1-17, 31b-35Rev. Josh Evans “Jesus went out with his disciples to a place where there was a garden… Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place… So he brought a detachment of soldiers together with police from the chief priests and the Pharisees, and they …
Pastor Josh Evans 