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: …
St. Philip Lutheran Church16 August 2020 + Lectionary 20AMatthew 15.21-28Rev. Josh Evans, preaching Maybe you’ve seen the popular meme online: A man casually sits behind a table, a cup of coffee in his hand, and a sign on the table that reads: [fill in the blank - some provocative statement] … Change my mind. I’ve …
Unity Lutheran Church2 August 2020 + Lectionary 18AMatthew 14.13-21; Isaiah 55.1-5Rev. Josh Evans, preaching It’s amazing what you can find on the internet. Or, more accurately, it’s amazing what you can find when you’re mindlessly scrolling through Facebook videos late at night - in the semi-paralyzed state between “I should go to bed now” and …
Unity Lutheran Church19 July 2020 + Lectionary 16AMatthew 13.24-30, 36-43Rev. Josh Evans, preaching Another Sunday, another gospel text about gardening … which means it’s time for everyone’s new favorite game … “Flower or Weed?”! [slides of weeds that look like flowers …and flowers that look like weeds] It just goes to show you: Things are …
Unity Lutheran Church + Christ the King Campus5 July 2020 + Lectionary 14AMatthew 11.16-19, 25-30Rev. Josh Evans, preaching There are no parades, no fireworks, no marching bands this year. It doesn’t feel quite like the Fourth of July, does it? It doesn’t feel quite like a day to celebrate independence in the midst of a …
Unity Lutheran Church + Christ the King Campus28 June 2020 + Lectionary 13AMatthew 10.40-42Rev. Josh Evans, preaching There’s always a catch. Or at least that’s the message I had come to expect growing up in the church as someone who happens to be gay. I didn’t come out until my senior year of college, but …
Continue reading A Sermon about What It Means to Be Welcoming
Unity Lutheran Church + Facebook Live Stream4 April 2020 + Palm / Passion SundayMatthew 21.1-11, 26.14-27.66Rev. Josh Evans, preaching Look for the helpers. That was the advice Fred Rogers - aka “Mr. Rogers” - recalled from his mother when he was growing up. Whenever catastrophe or disaster would strike, she would always try to divert …
