Holy Cross Lutheran Church

Sermon | ”To Love & To Flourish” | May 15

Love is a beautiful things: it softens hearts, heals hurts and compels even the most reticent person into action. But love is inherently risky: it can be rejected, betrayed or misused. And because that's true - far too many people are hesitant to love with abandon. Jesus is quite clear: the world will know His disciples by the radical love they have for one another. In this season of Eastertide, we reflect on the kind of radical love Jesus had for me, you and for the whole world while in epitomized not only in the cross but also in the empty tomb.

Acts Bible Study | May 8

Sermon | ”If the Shepherd Is Really Speaking...” | May 8

We have a shepherd, a good Shepherd that hasn't just talked the talk, but has walked the walk. He's done miracles that prove that He's the Son of God--chiefly die on the cross and rise again. Both the words and the works of Jesus say the same thing: He is the Son of God. He's proven He has the authority and power to make us His sheep and lead us as that Good Shepherd. In fact, that is exactly what He's doing. Are you listening? Do you know his voice? If not, how are you following the one who has done and is doing so much to care for you?

Acts Bible Study | May 1

Sermon | ”Repetition is the Mother of All Learning” | May 1

The disciples are still living in the unfathomable reality of the resurrection; namely, that Jesus Christ was crucified, died and was buried...but on the third day rose again. The truth that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead, that death no longer has the power it once did, that His promise for each believer is a resurrection like His, must have been overwhelming and almost unbelievable. There seems to be vacillation between faith and doubt. It's into the middle of the crazy back and forth that Jesus inserts Himself, gently reminding us of who He is and what He does.

Sermon | ”Where All This Leads” | April 24

Easter has come and so we bask in the benefits of what's now reality.  As we abide in Jesus, we walk with His disciples that we find locked in their homes out of fear for their lives.  They're uncomfortable with the risk of going out. Jesus meets them in that place, offers them peace and calls them out. He calls them not only for the good of the world that needs this good news, but so that they can grow in trust and increasingly live in that peace.  Jesus is making that same plea to us: step into the uncomfortable, be exposed to the risks, and there you will find the life that I lived and the life that I give you.  It's in trusting, that we get the "life in His name" that He offers.  Will you take Him up on this invitation? Are you convinced it's worth the risks?

Acts Bible Study | April 24

Easter Sunday Sermon | ”It’s Just Beginning” | April 17

"Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!" This has been the victory cry of God's people since that first Easter morning. What began as a cry of astonishment and disbelief has become a cry of confidence and protest; confidence that Jesus is who He says He is and a protest against death itself. The resurrection changes the world as we know it! It is our hope, life, and freedom! And so let us cry, with the saints who've gone before us and the saints who will follow - Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Good Friday Sermon | ”It Is FINISHED” | April 15

Of all the last words of Jesus, perhaps there are none so pointed as 'It is finished.' These words, uttered moments before His last breath (perhaps spoken with His last breath), are seemingly obvious: Jesus is at the end of His life and He has no more fight left. These are clearly words of despair. But is this what He meant? These three words - 'it is finished' - speak not only of Jesus' death but ours as well. And they are words of hope and promise, words that we must re-live everyday. They are words which bring together past, present and future.

Maundy Thursday Sermon | ”The Meal That Moves You” | April 14

Jesus welcomes us to His table just as He welcomed His disciples the first night He offered this meal. Tonight, as some come to the meal for the very first time, we all consider afresh both its gravity and blessings. We pause a little loner. We let soak in the murder that made this meal more than a remembrance. It is a meal like none other. It not only satisfies our deepest desires, but moves us toward the whole life that blesses all along our paths.