X Sermon Posts

Plants and flowers in our Community Garden

Humiliation and Exaltation — 21 May 2023

Humiliation is used to expose people as outside of the norms of society—norms that benefit power and maintain oppressive systems—and, at its worse, humiliation works to render people who are outside invisible. Humiliation removes their stories from the canon, their images from picture books and school library shelves. Humiliation takes away necessary medical care. Humiliation…Continue Reading

29 May 202329 May 2023

The Harrowing of Hell — 14 May 2023

At our best, I hope, our weekly proclamation in this place and at this time in the midst of our messy lives is a ride out of a hell on a millenia-long parade with Jesus at its head. That the water poured over the baptized is a key that opens locks. That the music we…Continue Reading

29 May 202329 May 2023

Watch This — 7 May 2023

“If only” in all these situations hides the blame that says the hungry are responsible for their hunger. The farmers are responsible for greater cost required for more sustainable agricultural practices and for the government policies that disincentivize them. People of color are responsible for being driven out of farming by centuries of racist practices…Continue Reading

29 May 202329 May 2023

Ready for Change — 30 April 2023

We often point to the gift of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost as the beginning of the church, the wild and unpredictable gift that led them to preach and be understood in every language, but rapidly systems were built and things were put in order. With a few big exceptions, much of the history of…Continue Reading

2 May 20237 May 2023

Christ Calls Us to Rise — 23 April 2023

Pastor Lecia Beck 23 April 2023 — Third Sunday of Easter Acts 1:6-8; Psalm 34:1-14; Hebrews 5:7-14; John 5:25-29 Saint Thomas Evangelical Lutheran Church, Bloomington, Indiana Christ Calls Us to Rise Please click here for a printable version of this sermon. Hebrews 5:7-14 In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and…Continue Reading

26 Apr 202326 Apr 2023

We See the Wounds — 16 April 2023

Yet we know that our own wounds are not the only ones that matter to the one who created us, the one who redeemed us. God desires to draw all people to God’s self that they may know healing and wholeness, life abundant. Seeing and touching the wounds of Christ allow us to see and…Continue Reading

17 Apr 202325 Apr 2023

The Way We Roll — 9 April 2023, Easter Sunday

We know that grief may spend the night, but joy will come with the morning. We know that Easter is hope beyond death – that those who died will rise, and we will join them in praise around God’s throne. We do not fear grief, but embrace this expression of love, known fully in the light of Christ’s Resurrection—…Continue Reading

11 Apr 202326 Apr 2023

Drawn Together — 6 April 2023

I give you a new commandment, Jesus says, that you love one another, that you traverse the great chasms that form among you, and you do so in humility, in service. It is no small thing that Jesus showed this ritual. Because you can’t wash your own feet—not like this. You cannot tenderly hold your…Continue Reading

11 Apr 202311 Apr 2023

The Challenge — 2 April 2023, Passion Sunday and the Liturgy of the Palms

Unsurprisingly, Rome doesn’t take kindly to this challenge. As this week goes on, Jesus will talk with the people—plainly and in parables—about the corrupting consequences of power. He expose the Empire’s spectacle, its insistence that it brings peace through violence, love through hate, abundance through scarcity, when it only brings violence, hatred, and economic exploitation.…Continue Reading

11 Apr 202311 Apr 2023

Empire, the Poor, and the Compassion of Christ — 26 March 2023

Will we believe Empire when it says there isn’t enough power to go around, and that violence is the only way to maintain peace, and that without Empire, chaos will reign? Or, will we pursue another way? Because there is another way. Jesus assures us that there is another way. And his reception of the…Continue Reading

11 Apr 202311 Apr 2023

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Starting on the 13th of September 2020, we welcomed Pastor Adrianne Meier as preacher and pastor. During our interim, Pastor Darby Lawrence was our preacher. You can find some of his sermons here – click on the name of the sermon to open it. Other sermons are in his facebook feed and on the St. Thomas youtube page.

Pastor Darby Lawrence’s sermon for the Tenth Sunday after Pentecost, 8 August 2020

Pastor Darby’s sermon for the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost, 2 August 2020

Pastor Darby’s sermon for the Eighth Sunday of Pentecost, 26 July 2020

Pastor Darby’s sermon for the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, 19 July 2020

Pastor Darby’s sermon for the Sixth Sunday of Pentecost, 12 July 2020

Pastor Darby’s sermon for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost, 5 July 2020

Pastor Darby’s sermon for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, 28 June 2020

Pastor Darby’s sermon for the Third Sunday after Pentecost, 21 June 2020

Pastor Darby’s sermon for the Second Sunday after Pentecost, 14 June 2020

Pastor Darby’s sermon for Pentecost, 31 May 2020

Pastor Darby’s sermon for Ascension Sunday, 24 May 2020

Pastor Darby Lawrence’s sermon for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, 18 May 2020