St. Philip Lutheran Church15 November 2020 + Lectionary 33AMatthew 25.14-30Rev. Josh Evans, preaching #2020. It’s become a bit of a trope for the past year. Something bad happens? Pin it on 2020. The year that always makes us wonder, “What will happen next?” 2020 has certainly kept us on our toes, hasn’t it? Maybe 2020 …
St. Philip Lutheran Church1 November 2020 + All Saints DayMatthew 5.1-12Rev. Josh Evans, preaching Eric Garner.Mike Brown.Tamir Rice.Freddie Gray.George Floyd. Most of us have probably heard those names before. You might even be able to link them to a particular city. These are the names of just a few of the black men who have …
Continue reading Saying Their Names – A Sermon for All Saints
St. Philip Lutheran Church18 October 2020 + Lectionary 29AMatthew 22.15-22Rev. Josh Evans, preaching Maybe you’ve had an experience like this recently… I set out on a walk through my neighborhood to go get a coffee at Starbucks - with my mask on, of course. I get to Starbucks, place my order, pull out my phone …
St. Philip Lutheran Church11 October 2020 + Lectionary 28AMatthew 22.1-14Rev. Josh Evans, preaching During sophomore year at Lutheran High School North, part of our curriculum included a New Testament class. When it came to parables, we would be taught how to “interpret” them - which meant, more or less, assigning real-life roles to the various …
Continue reading A Sermon about Being Cast Out (and Where God Is)
St. Philip Lutheran Church4 October 2020 + Lectionary 27AMatthew 21.33-46Rev. Josh Evans, preaching Living in an apartment has its downsides: loud neighbors, no backyard, smaller space. But it also has its advantages: Plumbing issue? Call the landlord! Heat doesn’t work? Call the landlord! Dishwasher broken? Call the landlord! At the end of the day, the …
St. Philip Lutheran Church27 September 2020 + Lectionary 26AMatthew 21.23-32; Ezekiel 18.1-4, 25-32Rev. Josh Evans, preaching So you think you’ve got it all figured out? Think again. The proverb that stands at the beginning of our reading from Ezekiel was a common understanding of justice: The children will pay for the sins of their parents, …
St. Philip Lutheran Church13 September 2020 + Lectionary 24AMatthew 18.21-35Rev. Josh Evans, preaching A life of restless political ambition pushes Alexander Hamilton to the point of self-absorption. An affair drives a deep political scandal among the public and a wedge between him and his wife. And now his son, Philip, has died tragically and unexpectedly …
St. Philip Lutheran Church6 September 2020 + Lectionary 23AMatthew 18.15-20; Ezekiel 33.7-11; Romans 13.8-14Rev. Josh Evans, preaching We need to talk. Anyone who has ever been in any kind of relationship with any other human being knows what that means. Something uncomfortable - but necessary - is coming. Therein lies the problem, though: It feels …
St. Philip Lutheran Church30 August 2020 + Lectionary 22AMatthew 16.21-28Rev. Josh Evans, preaching You’ve heard it said: “One person’s trash is another person’s treasure.” It’s the rallying cry of thrift store connoisseurs and garage sale aficionados. I’ve been to enough of them myself to know. If that’s true, then the opposite must also be true: …
Continue reading A Sermon about Rocks, Stumbling Blocks, and Rejecting Racism
St. Philip Lutheran Church23 August 2020 + Lectionary 21AMatthew 16.13-20; Isaiah 51.1-6; Romans 12.1-8Rev. Josh Evans, preaching I was terrified … and desperately trying to figure out any excuse to say no. I had only been attending this new church for a matter of months. Every week, the pattern of the liturgy was the same: …
