Author: Chris Kelly
Chris Kelly
– February 16, 2014
Text: Matthew Matthew 5:21-37
This sermon preached by Abbie Engelstad, Vicar at Faith.
I have a confession to make, and it is now a public confession. The way we do liturgy in this church the person who reads the gospel ends the selection for that day by saying “this is the gospel of the Lord”—my confession is that the first time I read this gospel out loud, that part came out as a question. “This is the gospel of the Lord?”
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Chris Kelly
– February 9, 2014
Text: Isaiah 58:1-12
Central to Christianity as Lutherans know it is the tenet that God’s love and favor is given to us unconditionally. God is a God of grace, demonstrated in various ways that include, not the least, the presence of God among us in the person of Jesus Christ. We do not hold that we deserve God’s good favor. If we had to perform some special deeds to be in God’s good graces, then we would all be out of luck.
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Chris Kelly
– February 2, 2014
Text: Micah 6:1-8, Matthew 5:1-12
[Often the readings of the lectionary—the list of readings for each Sunday—seem like a bunch of beads in a bag. Maybe related, but mostly not. But today is seems to me that each reading is like a bead on a string, held together loosely, but in order, with a beginning and an end. We start with God’s disappointment in the people of Israel. We end with God’s blessing. We’re going to follow that string like a rosary.]
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Chris Kelly
– January 19, 2014
Text: John 1:29-42
John’s is a strong-flavored Gospel.
And it is therefore not always to everyone’s liking. It mixes powerful themes that seem sometimes to oppose one another: theological sugar and salt—light and darkness, life and death, people who are favored and those who are cursed. It is not like Matthew, Mark, and Luke, which share with each other a common heritage and though very nourishing are perhaps less savory than John. And for some, easier to swallow.
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Chris Kelly
– January 5, 2014
Text: Ephesians 1:3-14
The consensus among scholars is that the letter to the Ephesians was not written by the apostle Paul, even though it claims to be. It was likely written by a disciple of Paul, or some of his entourage, and signed with his name, a common practice of the day. It does adopt the ideas of Paul, and you might think of the letter as something like “A Treasury of Pauline Themes.” Not quite a summary, and not quite Paul’s Greatest Hits, but a way to convey the core and flavor to others of Paul’s preaching.
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Chris Kelly
– December 29, 2013
Text: Hebrews 2:10-18
The Bible puts us humans in our place. But you might ask: which place is that?
In Genesis, the order of creation is from large and vague to small and specific. From light and dark, sky and earth, to plants and seeds, creatures that swim, and creatures that creep along the ground. And it was all good. And finally, on the sixth day, God created humans. Is it last but not least—or least and therefore last—in the scheme of things?
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Chris Kelly
– December 23, 2013
Text: Matthew 1:18–25
Other texts: Isaiah 7:10–16
It was an extraordinary event in ordinary but difficult times. Joseph was engaged to Mary, something which then meant nearly-married. Finding her to be pregnant—the details of the discovery remain untold; how did that conversation go?—finding her to be with child was, from Joseph’s point of view, unfortunate but not without precedent.
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Chris Kelly
– December 8, 2013
Text: Matthew 3:10-12
Other texts: Isaiah 11:1-10, Romans 15:4-13
The Bible is our story.
It is the story of the people who wrote it, preserved it, transmitted it from one generation to another. Those people still exist. We are some of them. For that reason, the Bible perseveres. It is a version of history that we cherish.
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Chris Kelly
– November 24, 2013
Text: Psalm 46
If this were some decades ago, we would be celebrating not Christ the King Sunday but rather Judgment Sunday. Or, as this church’s Swedish ancestors would have called it, Doom Sunday. In 1925, this jolly label was replaced pretty much everywhere by Christ the King Sunday. That, in turn, has sometimes been modified to the Realm of Christ Sunday, presumably for the sake of people who have problems with monarchs.
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Chris Kelly
– November 17, 2013
Text: Luke 21:5-19
The dominant story of Christianity is “suffering relieved.” Suffering, relieved. What was lost is found. What is broken is restored.
In the beginning, our spiritual ancestors the Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt. Jesus healed the incurably, chronically, ill. He recovered children and friends from the dead. He died on the cross and rose once again to talk and eat with his companions.
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