Sermons, reflections, and conversations from Lord of Grace Lutheran Church.
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Note: Forgive the rough voice, I was still getting over a cold.... We can get caught in a vicious cycle when fear keeps us from loving, and yet we can't love if we fear. the only way is to turn to doing love, taking the risk, and watch love push fear away. Third in the sermon series, “Jesus in the Eyes of John”. Based on 1 John 4:7-21. By Pastor Lars Hammar
The intricate graphic images I used in the sermon….
We come burdened with guilt and shame over things we've done, and often avoid approaching God for fear of condemnation instead of compassion. But God's love is greater than anything we do. By Pastor Lars Hammar
No matter what people in the world call you, or how much you have been shut out, you are adopted as a Child of God, loved and accepted in his eyes. By Pastor Lars Hammar
The big problem of discerning the truth in the face of overwhelming powers, and the temptation to believe in conspiracies and mystery cults, is nothing new. In fact, combating the lure of the gnostic cults with their promises of secret knowledge to the initiated is an underlying theme in the writings of John. This first in the series on "Jesus in the Eyes of John" looks at Gnosticism and how it affects language of light and dark, truth and falsehood, and finding God's love. By Pastor Lars Hammar.
Here’s my highly sophisticated drawing of the Gnostic universe.
When Jesus is being arrested, Simon Peter takes out his sword and cuts off the ear of the high priest's slave. But why? He did nothing wrong. He has not choice in being there. But He's also the least able to fight back. In an unfair world we dump on those who don't fight, and we punish the innocent, and Jesus, instead of being above it, suffers as well. The first in the Lent sermon series on the Passion Story of Jesus in the Gospel of John, by Pastor Lars Hammar.
John 18:1-12
We can all think of lots of decisions we have made that have had unintended consequences, and we later regret. Jesus had a big one when he decided not to turn around and heal Lazarus, but instead kept on preaching where he was. Lazarus dies while Jesus is away, and when he finally meets Lazarus’ sister, she says the simple, but convicting words, “if only you had been here”.
When there is suffering we look for causes, things that can explain why it happened, and often someone to blame. But if we believe in a loving God, how can we explain when suffering happens for no apparent reason, or when it happens to people who clearly could not have brought it on themselves, like children. Jesus is confronted with this question more than once, people assuming that suffering must be a punishment from God, either the person or someone in their family. But what if God does not work that way, and is not in the business of punishing children for their parents’ sins? Jesus turns the question, and insists that God is not work that way.
When Jesus is talking to Nicodemus in John 3, he tells Nicodemus that in order for him to understand what the Spirit is doing, he needs to be born from above. Jesus means many things by this, but especially he means that when we are reborn we take on a new identity in him, a new place in the world.
