Sermons on Lent and Easter

I have long said that I believe that Palm Sunday may be the most misunderstood Sunday in the Christian Calendar (with Pentecost right on its tail!). Too often the story stops with the crowds waving palm branches and shouting “Hosanna” (neither of which exist in Luke’s Gospel, by the way!), and don’t get to the part of Jesus weeping over Jerusalem, and then shifting from grief to anger and driving the money changers out of the temple. It’s a wild…

Hello, Beloved of PPUMC! I write today with great excitement. Do you know what yesterday was? It was the Twins Home Opener! One of my favorite days of the year! And this Sunday we get one of my all time favorite passages. We will be looking Zacchaeus, who was a wee little man. This story is a mere 10 verses, but it packs a huge punch, and in it will be dealing with the dreaded “E-Word”… “evangelism”. I’m looking forward…

This Sunday we get a lesser known and troubling parable. I’m looking forward to digging into it with you all. -Pastor Paul SCRIPTURE: Luke 16:19-31 19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. 22 The poor man…

SCRIPTURE: Luke 15:1-2,11-32 (NRSVUE) 15 Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” 11 Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the wealth that will belong to me.’ So he divided his assets between them. 13 A few days later the younger son gathered all…

This Sunday we get kind of an odd collection of scripture passages, where in, as one person said in our Wednesday Bible study, Jesus seems “exasperated”. We’ll see how and if I pull this thing together! -Pastor Paul SCRIPTURE: Luke 13:1-9, 31-35 13 At that very time there were some present who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners…

This week we are looking at a very familiar, though I think misunderstood, story: It’s the Parable of the Good Samaritan. There’s a lot going on in it, and I’m excited to unpack it with you all. -Pastor Paul SCRIPTURE: Luke 10:25-37 25 An expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” 27 He answered, “You shall love…

This is a BIG Sunday in our Journey through Luke. It is Transfiguration Sunday, which is the last Sunday before Lent starts! Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, but as already communicated we will not hold an Ash Wednesday service this year. With that in mind, we are going to use the Ash Wednesday text this Sunday, and have a sort of “Ash Sunday”. Fear not, there will not be ash on your foreheads, but we will incorporate ashes into Communion.…