Simply the Sermon for June 8, 2025: Pentecost Sunday

On Pentecost we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit, our second advocate,  to people of varied languages, communities, and customs, people outside of the previous scope of the gospel story. This particular reading comes to us from Acts 2:1-21. We also heard Genesis 11:1-9 and our gospel reading was John 14:8-27.  This advocate, whom Jesus had promised, now comes to us in wind and fire, water, wine, and bread, the Holy Spirit abiding in and among us. We give thanks that God speaks to each of us, no matter our origins, language, or life path. Filled with the Spirit of truth, we go out from worship to proclaim the saving power of Christ’s love and the freedom of God’s grace with all the world.

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Simply the Sermon for June 1, 2025: Seventh Sunday of Easter

Our readings for Sunday, June 1 are: Acts 16:16-34; Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21; John 17:20-26. Today is not a normal day. Five of us are just returned from our Synod Assembly where we gathered with hundreds of Lutherans from across the Southwestern California Synod to sing, pray, discern, vote, listen, and worship. It was a thrilling time! Please ask Julie H., Grace S., Autumn B., Cherie D., or myself about our experience. I'll also try to type up something for the Friday Collective.

That being said, our Bishop, Brenda Bos, provided a sermon for use this Sunday, since most of us preacher types were preparing for and then at the Assembly during our normal sermon prep hours. What a gift! So what you will hear preached on this Simply the Sermon is me, preaching the sermon written and prepared by Bishop Bos.

It is possible to hear in Jesus’ high priestly prayer, a prayer he offered shortly before his death, the petitions of the ascended Christ for his own throughout history—to our day—and beyond. Bishop Bos uses Jesus' words here to remind us of who Jesus is and how we are called to follow his lead in giving and receiving love.

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Simply the Sermon for May 25, 2025: Sixth Sunday of Easter

Visions abound in the readings (Acts 16:6-15, Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5, and John 14:23-29) for the sixth Sunday of Easter. Paul has a vision about what to do but keeps hitting roadblocks until finally the way is made clear. John has a vision of what will be. Lydia sees a vision of a future filled with hope and love. Jesus provides visions of peace that surpass all human understanding and power beyond human imagination.

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Simply the Sermon for May 18, 2025: Fifth Sunday of Easter

Our readings for Sunday, May 18 are: Acts 11:1-18, Revelation 21:1-6, and John 13:31-35.  

The resurrection of Christ at Easter initiates a new day. It anticipates a new heaven and a new earth. The risen Christ is making all things new. In the mystery of holy baptism God has even made new people of us. Today Jesus invites us to see everyone in a new light—through the lens of love, leading us outside of our doors and into the community. Who are we that we could hinder God? Might as well follow him into the world.

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Simply the Sermon for May 11, 2025: Fourth Sunday of Easter

Our readings for Sunday May 11, 2025 are Acts 9:36-43, Revelation 7:9-17 and John 10:22-30

The gift of new life, of eternal life, is the gift of the risen Christ. It is the promise of Jesus. It was true for Dorcas/Tabitha in Joppa. It was true for those “who have come out of the great ordeal” in the Revelation vision. It is true for us and for all the baptized: Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Believe, belong, become.

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Simply the Sermon for May 4, 2025: Third Sunday of Easter

Our readings for Sunday, May 4, 2025 are Acts 9:1-20, Revelations 5:11-14 and John 21:1-19

What Would Jesus Do/ Let's see what he did on the beach, and let's remember how the followers in Damascus behaved. There are lessons for all of us

Pastor Ellen Ayres

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Simply the Sermon for April 27, 2025: Second Sunday of Easter

Our readings for Sunday, April 27, 2025 are Acts 5:27-32, Revelations 1:4-8 and John 20:19-30

I admire Thomas for his courage in demanding answers in terrifying times.  His willingness to ask is an inspiration to me. See if you agree.

Pastor Ellen Ayres

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Simply the Sermon for April 20, 2025: Easter Sunday

Our readings for Sunday, April 20, 2025 are Acts 10:34-43, Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 and John 20:1-18
“The last enemy to be destroyed is death,” Paul writes. Today Christ is risen, and we gather together with astonishment and joy. Christ is risen, and we have been set free from the bonds of death. Christ is risen, and we are forgiven. Christ is risen, and with Mary at the tomb as she meets her Lord, we are honored and overjoyed! Let us rejoice: Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Blessings on this Holy Week,
Pastor Diana

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Simply the Sermon for April 13, 2025: Palm Sunday

Today we follow Christ from triumphal entry to the cross, each waypoint of the journey marked by Jesus’ compassion for those who would betray, mock, accuse, or do violence to him. Though persecuted and beaten, Jesus the Son of God is not disgraced; instead, he asks forgiveness for those who put him to death. We have walked the Lenten pathway these forty days, each of us invited through baptism to “let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” We enter this holy week accompanying Jesus to the cross with both grief and thanksgiving in our hearts, trusting in God’s redeeming love.

Our Bible readings for today are Isaiah 50:4-9a, Philippians 2:5-11, and Luke 22:14-23:56. During worship we read short segments of the Gospel and then sang a verse of Were You There before reading the next installment. The verses are:

1. Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
2. Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
3. Were you there when they pierced him in the side?
4. Were you there when the sun refused to shine?
5. Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?

Take a moment to reflect on these readings before listening to the sermon. The season of Lent ends on Maundy Thursday. Join us for worship at Bethel Thursday night and at Hope Lutheran, Atascadero on Friday night and then join us for Easter Sunday service this coming Sunday.

Blessings on this Holy Week,
Pastor Diana

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Simply the Sermon for April 6, 2025: Fifth Sunday in Lent

Our readings for Sunday, April 6, 2025 are Psalm 126, Philippians 3:4b-14, and John 12:1-8. 

Our God makes all things new. In the Psalm, God's people celebrate it. In the gospel Mary anticipates it, intimately anointing Jesus’ feet with costly perfume in preparation for the day of his burial. In the second reading Paul recalls his transformation from the persecutor Saul into an apostle. In baptism, God’s new person (you!) rises daily from the deadly mire of trespasses and sins. Likewise we celebrate, we prepare our hearts, and we rise daily to the joy of experiencing the gifts of a loving God.

Live in love, my siblings in Christ,
Pastor Diana

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Simply the Sermon for March 30, 2025: Fourth Sunday in Lent

Our texts for Sunday, March 30, 2025 are Joshua 5:9-12, 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, and Luke 15:1-3,11b-32. 

As the old hymn says, Our Father, we have wandered and hidden from your face, in foolishness have squandered your legacy of grace. We read today of a prodigal parent, so in love with their child that no matter the situation they wait with baited breath to welcome their child home. This grace seems foolish and extravagant but we so welcome it when we recognize the gifts of God, freely offered.

Live in love, my siblings in Christ,
Pastor Diana

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Simply the Sermon for March 23, 2025: Third Sunday in Lent

Our Bible texts for Sunday, March 23, 2025 are: Isaiah 55:1-9, 1 Corinthians 10:1-13, and Luke 13:1-9.  

The warnings are plentiful and blunt on the third Sunday in Lent. Cut it out or get cut down! The warnings are accompanied by God’s invitation to attentiveness: “Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live.” The landowner’s ultimatum is forestalled by the gardener’s readiness to till the ground one more year. That is good news for all of us. Thanks be to God!

Live in love, my siblings in Christ,
Pastor Diana

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Simply the Sermon for March 16, 2025: Second Sunday in Lent

Our texts for Sunday, March 16 are Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18, Psalm 27, and Luke 13:31-35.

Though we sometimes doubt and often resist God’s desire to protect and save us, our God persists. In holy baptism, God’s people have been called and gathered into a God-initiated relationship that will endure. Lent provides the church with a time and a tradition in which to seek God’s face again. Lent provides another occasion to behold the God of our salvation in the face of the Blessed One who “comes in the name of the Lord.”

Live in love, my siblings in Christ,

Pastor Diana

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Simply the Sermon for March 9, 2025: First Sunday in Lent

Our readings for Sunday, March 9 are from Deuteronomy 26:1-11, Romans 10:8b-13, and Luke 4:1-13. Sundays and Seasons introduces worship with these words:

These forty days called Lent are like no other. It is our opportune time to return to the God who rescues, to receive the gifts of God’s grace, to believe with the heart and confess with the mouth the wonder of God’s love in Jesus, and to resist temptation at every turn. This is no small pilgrimage on which we have just embarked. It is a struggle Jesus knew. It is a struggle Jesus shares. The nearness of the Lord, in bread and wine, water and word, will uphold and sustain us.

Live in love, my siblings in Christ,

Pastor Diana

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Simply the Sermon for March 5, 2025: Ash Wednesday

Our readings for Ash Wednesday are Joel 2:1-2, 12-17, 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10 and Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Live in love, my siblings in Christ,

Pastor Diana

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Simply the Sermon for March 2, 2025: Transfiguration Sunday

Our readings for Transfiguration Sunday, March 2, are Exodus 34:29-35, 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2, and Luke 9:28-43a. 

On this Sunday, we remember and experience the liberating power of our Lord and Savior as his kinship with both God's promises of the Hebrew Scriptures and with God's self are revealed. As we revel in this liberation, who will we invite into this incredible relationship?

Live in love, my siblings in Christ,

Pastor Diana

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Simply the Sermon for February 23, 2025: Epiphany 7C

Our Bible texts for this Sunday are Genesis 45:3-15, Psalm 37:1-11, 39-40, and Luke 6:27-38. 

Mercy. Mercy. Mercy. Joseph eventually lives it out in Egypt. Jesus preaches it in the gospel. The Spirit guides us into merciful lives with the power of forgiveness to reconcile what is fractured and divided. Such merciful living is the baptismal blessing of having put on Christ. It is the gift of the life-giving Spirit. It is a reflection of God’s glory revealed in Christ.

Live in love, my siblings in Christ,
Pastor Diana

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Simply the Sermon for February 16, 2025: Epiphany 6C

Our readings for worship today, Feb. 16, 2025 are Jeremiah 17:5-10, Psalm 1, and Luke 6:17-31. We hear today about the sermon on the plain, where Jesus comes to the regular people, both Jewish and non-Jewish. To heal and to strengthen, to teach and to love. And he goes on to teach the disciples how to live among God's beloved people, blessing them and calling them to an awareness of God's plan to upend cultural power dynamics so that everyone is on this level plain. 

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Simply the Sermon for February 9, 2025: "Called Despite Our Imperfections"

The fifth Sunday after Epiphany continues to highlight unlikely people being used and odd circumstances surrounding how God's glory will be revealed. Our texts are Isaiah 6:1-13, 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, and Luke 5:1-11.

“Who will go for us?” God asks. The ones who answer God's call are a person of unclean lips, a person who used to threaten and abuse the members of the church of God, and three fishermen who couldn’t catch a thing. More surprising still, perhaps, is that we are also called.

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Simply the Sermon for February 2, 2025: "Embracing God's Call"

Our readings today are from Jeremiah 1:4-10, 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, and our gospel is from Luke 4:21-30. But actually we pick up the Lukan story that began last week at 4:14. We talk about the challenges of living up to God’s call to be helpers as God turns the world upside down, granting gifts and favors in unexpected places. 

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