Wicker Park Lutheran Church Sermons

In the summer of 2020 I was a hospital chaplain. I was in my first year of seminary and I was nervous about it, and I would have been nervous anyway, but the global pandemic happening didn’t make anything easier. The chaplain supervisor at the hospital said, “I know you’re scared, but it doesn’t matter.” She said she needed all hands on deck because almost everyone else in my program had dropped out. So… I showed up. And I got to work... The post Fifth Sunday of Easter appeared first on Wicker Park Lutheran Church.

As we move through the Easter season, we’re invited into explore new life and resurrection in the texts. So too, as we continue the “A Place” sermon series that reflects our A Place for All campaign, we’re looking at these readings with a lens toward how we are called to create “a place” to best live out God’s vision. Holding all of that, three central verbs struck me in today’s reading. They are meet, teach, and send... The post Third Sunday of Easter appeared first on Wicker Park Lutheran Church.

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been rolled away. At first she didn’t know where Jesus’s body had gone – and she was desperately sad, because she wanted a proper burial... The post Second Sunday of Easter appeared first on Wicker Park Lutheran Church.

Today’s gospel reading jumped the gun in terms of the chronology leading up to Holy Week. You see, next week we’ll gather outside to process with palms as we recall Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem before his betrayal, sham trial, and execution. But today’s reading falls after Jesus’ triumphal entry and before his betrayal. Today we focus on Jesus’ final public discourse. The content of this discourse (and arguably the entire gospel of John) is summarized by a short, one sentence metaphor. Jesus said, “Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit... The post Fifth Sunday in Lent appeared first on Wicker Park Lutheran Church.

It is wonderful being here this third Sunday in Lent. To be back in this sanctuary leading worship with you is such a gift. Yet, knowing Wicker Park is an ever-changing community, there are many of you who don’t know me. My name is Pastor Paisley and I had the gift of serving as vicar here in 2019-2020. I accompanied Pastor Jason and the rest of the church staff through the abrupt transition to COVID worship four years ago during this Lenten Season... The post Fourth Sunday in Lent appeared first on Wicker Park Lutheran Church.

The passage we just read is from Mark chapter 8. This is the last time we’re going to hear from Mark until Holy Week, so I think we should take stock of where we are and where we’ve been in this gospel, so that we can locate ourselves in our story today... The post Second Sunday in lent appeared first on Wicker Park Lutheran Church.

Today we are in a new season of the church year. This is the first Sunday of Lent! And there is something really special about Lent in the year of Mark, something you might not notice unless you pay very close attention. For each of the five Sundays of Lent, every reading from the Hebrew Bible will be about one of the five covenants that God has made with us. And every one of those covenants is about God’s everlasting love for us, and for the world. Each one came to our ancestors at pivotal moments in their journey with God, separated from each other by hundreds of years and from us by thousands... The post First Sunday in Lent appeared first on Wicker Park Lutheran Church.

This is the Year of Mark. And something you gotta know about Mark is that he loves the word “immediately.” It’s a little hard to tell that sometimes in English, because translators have taken that word out in some places to make the text sound better to our modern ears, but if you were to read Mark in Greek, it’s just like a rapid-fire, go-go-go-go kinda story. Something is always happening, something is always changing, something is always moving. I think poor Mark would be rolling in his grave if he found out that we split up all of his immediatelys and read them slowly over a period of months. Poor thing... The post Fifth Sunday after Epiphany appeared first on Wicker Park Lutheran Church.

Today our first reading came from the book of Deuteronomy, which is the last book of the Torah. And Deuteronomy is a very special book, although it can be a little hard to understand sometimes. But we know this book and its stories are very important to God, because Jesus quotes Deuteronomy more than he quotes any other part of scripture, and it’s by far the book that Paul and his contemporaries reference the most often. So let’s see what treasures it has for us today... The post Reconciling in Christ Sunday appeared first on Wicker Park Lutheran Church.

Listen to Sunday's sermon here! The post Baptism of Our Lord appeared first on Wicker Park Lutheran Church.

Wicker Park Lutheran Church Rev. Jason S. Glombicki January 7, 2024 On this last Sunday of the Christmas season, I’m thinking back to Christmas Eve. On that night, we first gathered for a children’s service and told Luke’s Christmas story. Every year as we share that story, a child will want to put the shepherds and the magi together at Jesus’ birth. And I understand why. After all, many of our devotional manger scenes do show everyone there all at […] The post Epiphany Sunday appeared first on Wicker Park Lutheran Church.

For months we have been hearing Christmas music in stores. For months we have been buying presents and booking flights and scheduling holiday parties and looking forward to seeing loved ones. For months we have been thinking, planning, stressing, hoping... The post First Sunday of Christmas appeared first on Wicker Park Lutheran Church.

Please pray with me, may the Holy Spirit guide these words from my mouth and may they be received with open hearts, according to your will, Lord Jesus. Amen... The post First Sunday of Advent appeared first on Wicker Park Lutheran Church.

Today is one of the heavier liturgical days of the year. Not as heavy as Ash Wednesday or Good Friday, but it does raise varied emotions. Today, we name aloud those who have died. No longer is their memory only in our heads and hearts during worship, but we are conjuring up their image, their gifts, and their presence among us in this service... The post All Saints Sunday appeared first on Wicker Park Lutheran Church.

Today is one of my favorite services of the year. It’s wonderful to see all the pets, stuffed animals, and pictures of our pets as we acknowledge these relationships that better connect us with God and each other. After all, if you have a pet, you know how they become part of our family and the ways they help us decrease stress and manage pain. As a hospital chaplain, dogs were often the most loved and important healer for so many with terminal illness and cancer. So too, pets have been shown to have positive impacts on autism, ADHD, diabetes, and may help to protect young children against developing asthma or allergies later in life... The post Feast of St. Francis appeared first on Wicker Park Lutheran Church.

Listen to Pastor Chrisida's sermon here! The post Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost appeared first on Wicker Park Lutheran Church.

Today is a very good day, because today, instead of an ordinary reading from the Gospel of Matthew, we have a parable... The post SevenTeenth Sunday After Pentecost appeared first on Wicker Park Lutheran Church.

Today, we celebrate the Epiphany of Our Lord­­– that is, the manifestation or revelation of God’s presence. Before “January 6” became a part of our country’s vernacular, Epiphany has been celebrated on that date for almost 2,000 years. At the Epiphany, we celebrate the revelation of God in human form as honored by the magi, or wise men. While popular culture shows the magi coming to honor baby Jesus at the same time as the shepherds, in reality, Jesus was not a newborn and the shepherds had already gone back to their fields and flocks... The post Epiphany Sunday appeared first on Wicker Park Lutheran Church.

Now I could understand a knee jerk reaction to this reading being something like “really, more John the Baptist? We did that last week!” And we did, but last week we talked about him baptizing people in the Jordan River, declaring the kingdom of God to be at hand, that the one more powerful than him who will baptize them all with the Holy Spirit is coming, so get ready! And today we skip about 1/3 of the gospel of Matthew just to continue journeying with John... The post Sixth Sunday of...

We live in a world of endless voices. We are directed by the voice of our supervisor. We hear politicians speak very different things. The media, researchers, doctors, therapists, and advertisers urge us to listen to their voice. Some of the voices we hear grate. Others are shrill. Yet, today, there is one voice that rings out in the wilderness... The post Fifth Sunday of Advent appeared first on Wicker Park Lutheran Church.