The Lutheran Podcast
I'm Rev. Eric Wolf, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church in Sudbury, MA (https://www.stjohnsudburyma.org). This podcast mostly contains the sermons I preach there, though I may add more at some point. I believe strongly that the task of preaching is to engage Scripture as a mirror held up to our lives so that we can confront what we see with integrity. This image we engage helps us to understand what it means to be Children of God; gain perspective of what it means that our primary citizenship and allegiance belongs to God’s Kingdom; and discover how the love of God transforms what we see when we look at ourselves, the people in our lives, and the world that God so loves.
The Lutheran Podcast
Hope Comes After (All Saints 2022, Luke 6:20-31)
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ericthelutheran
We often think hope to be a function of love. It is. Yet hope in the midst of loss isn't something that always heals. Sometimes it has a dampening effect on our healing because it feels like a gloss over our woundedness for the easing of the present's awkwardness rather than a soothing balm for our wounded heart.
Love sits in pain, cleanses the wound, and walks forward with us. Jesus' pronouncements of blessedness in times of trouble aren't meant to offer easy fixes, but invite us into a deeper consideration of what reality is in the reign of God.