death Archives - St. Peter's Lutheran Church

Hope in the Face of Death

I know we often lose, and that the death or destruction of another is infinitely more real and unbearable than one’s own. I think I know how many times one has to start again, and how often one feels that one cannot start again. And yet, on pain of death, one can never remain where…

Crown of Thorns

And they clothed him in a purple cloak; and after twistingsome thorns into a crown, they put it on him. Mark 15:17 (NRSV) It is just a few metal rods … an unadorned base … and what looks to me like a piston ring housing for a small motor, that has been cut into pieces. …

Worth Dying For

Traditional Service Good Friday I used to think that I was something worth dying for, but recently I’ve been a little less certain. During the last few years I’ve taken on new adjectives–wife, pastor, mom. And whenever we take on a new label or identifier it makes us evaluate our lives. It causes us to…

Healing Waters

(Please be aware that during the season of Lent, these weekly devotions will be arriving in your inbox on Tuesdays.) I see him twice within a twenty-four hour period of time. Each time, healing waters flow. You might call me a crybaby. Mea culpa. But he has been a strong presence in my life. I’ve…

A Different Kind of Witnessing

We meet in the slightly chill air of an overcast morning … twenty or twenty-five of us. Most of us have come right from church service. We stand on a brick walkway or in the mulch or atop a few cement steps. Trees surround our gathering area, though not entirely. Those who pass by on…

Where’s the Good News?

New Day Sermon Pentecost 8 When the Gospel is read out loud in church and the reader says, “Enjoy the sermon…” you may figure it’s Bible story that is a little tricky! Today’s reading is from Mark 6, the beheading of John the Baptist. And yes, there is good news…

Death is Not the Final Word

Some of you know I am a bit of a poetry junkie. I subscribe to a couple of poetry blogs … The Writer’s Almanac … Panhala … Poem of the Week. They are all different. The Writer’s Almanac is my favorite, as it has the widest breadth of poems from classic to modern, from rhythmic…

Licorice, Death, and Life

New Day Sermon Lent 5 There’s a rhythm to our reality where death leads to life. Jesus reminds us that to really know life, something needs to die. How is Jesus inviting you to die?

What is forgiveness?

New Day Sermon Pentecost 15 As Christians, we speak about it all the time, and we know we should do it, but what really is forgiveness?

Good Friday

Traditional Sermon We don’t want to be here. We avoid death. We’re alive. And as living beings we avoid everything about death. Our eyes shift toward tragedy until we encounter the source of death and quickly our eyes turn away to things of life. Our noses find the smell of decay and long for clean,…