St. John’s Lutheran Church16 July 2023 + Lectionary 15a (7 Pentecost)Matthew 13.1-9, 18-23Rev. Josh Evans I am, by all accounts and evidence, a city person. I have never lived, nor do I have any desire to live, on a farm. Really, I don’t even like camping. Don’t get me wrong: That’s no diss to country …
St. John’s Lutheran Church9 July 2023 + Lectionary 14a (6 Pentecost)Matthew 11.16-19, 25-30Rev. Josh Evans Buried somewhere in a box in my storage unit (along with all my other office artwork that someday I’ll be able to hang up again) is a framed quote attributed to Martin Luther King Jr. that was given to me …
St. John’s Lutheran Church2 July 2023 + Lectionary 13a (5 Pentecost)Matthew 10.40-42Rev. Josh Evans “Welcome.” It’s a word we throw around a lot. As a part of social etiquette: “Thank you … you’re welcome!” On the airplane’s final descent: “Welcome to Albany International Airport!” Even in churches, as I began this and every service: “Welcome …
St. John’s Lutheran Church25 June 2023 + Lectionary 12a (4 Pentecost)Matthew 10.24-39Rev. Josh Evans Jesus doesn’t exactly hide the cost of following him. He puts it all out there. There’s no fine print here as he sends out his disciples “like sheep into the midst of wolves.” Picking up right where we left off last …
St. John’s Lutheran Church18 June 2023 + Lectionary 11a (3 Pentecost)Matthew 9.35–10.23Rev. Josh Evans Another Sunday, another call story. Actually, make that stories (plural). In the span of a few verses, one disciple becomes twelve – and probably more than that. They’re just the ones (the men) who get named. Their task: Proclaim the good …
St. John’s Lutheran Church11 June 2023 + Lectionary 10a (2 Pentecost)Matthew 9.9-13, 18-26Rev. Josh Evans (Video unavailable this week.) There’s admittedly a lot going on in this Sunday’s gospel reading: a call story, a resuscitation story, and a healing story. Where do we even start? It can feel a little suffocating – perhaps as claustrophobic …
St. John’s Lutheran Church4 June 2023 + The Holy TrinityMatthew 28.16-20Rev. Josh Evans People can become famous for many things. Some write best-selling novels. Others paint masterpiece artwork. And still others compose magnificent pieces of music. Me? I went viral for a TikTok video. Well, at least church-world viral. Two years ago, as I sat …
St. John’s Lutheran Church28 May 2023 + Day of PentecostActs 2.1-21Rev. Josh Evans (Video unavailable this week.) It was hands-down one of my favorite classes in seminary: Christian Mission and World Religions. Together we took field trips to an Islamic mosque in the suburbs of Chicago and a Buddhist temple in the heart of the …
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 …
Pastor Josh Evans 