This Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week. Per our tradition, our children will process with palms early in the service. Please find Kelsey, Director of Grace Kids when you arrive. You are welcome to walk with your little one if that is the encouragement they need! On Palm Sunday we celebrate Jesus’s entry to Jerusalem at the beginning of Passover. The crowds give him a royal welcome and they are right to do so. He has come to Jerusalem as the rightful heir to David’s throne and he will soon ...
Mar 25, 2024
It is often noted that Transfiguration Sunday, which we celebrated two weeks ago, marks the transition from the Season of Epiphany to the Season of Lent. Culminating with the transfiguration, the Season of Epiphany has revealed the glory and power of Jesus. Lent, culminating with events that lead us to Good Friday, reveals that with Jesus, power and glory are there for our sake and for our salvation. In Jesus, power and glory are not like they are in the world; they come in the shape of the cros...
Mar 17, 2024
The Third Sunday in Lent. This Sunday our Scripture readings prompt us to remember that human wisdom does not enable us to grasp how God is at work in the world. For that, we need God’s wisdom revealed in the person of Jesus. We will explore what that means for us in the nitty gritty of daily life. It is often noted that Transfiguration Sunday, which we celebrated two weeks ago, marks the transition from the Season of Epiphany to the Season of Lent. Culminating with the transfiguration, the Seas...
Mar 04, 2024
The First Sunday of Epiphany January 6th, marks the Feast of the Epiphany on the Christian calendar. We will celebrate Epiphany this Sunday during the worship service. Year after year, for centuries, the church has celebrated on Epiphany the revelation that Jesus’ redemptive love is for all people, the whole world. This marvelous truth is manifested in the visit of the mysterious Gentile pilgrims, the Magi, who travel from a distant country so that they may pay Jesus homage.
Jan 08, 2024
Homily Preview: This Sunday we join churches all over the world in celebrating the Reign of Christ, sometimes referred to as Christ the King Sunday. Click here for a brief overview of how this Sunday fits into the church year. One theme that is common to this special Sunday is the sovereignty of Christ and its implications. We will take that theme up on Sunday and highlight the way in which God's judgment is always ordered towards redemption. We hope to see you on Sunday!
Nov 26, 2023
The homily this Sunday, is based on a reading from the Gospel of Mark. The context is the same context we have been working with the last few Sundays. Jesus is in Jerusalem during Passover. He will soon be delivered up to Pilate in a collusion between the corrupt religious leadership and the Roman authorities. Jesus is taking these last few days before the crucifixion to teach the disciples in a very focused way about the Kingdom of God - what it is and what it isn't. One thing that seems to be ...
Nov 21, 2023
Matthew 25:14-30 This Sunday we will be back in the Gospel Matthew. We will hear a parable that Jesus taught about the urgency of paying attention to what God is doing in the world. We will think about its message in its original context and then ponder how to apply it to our setting in our place in time. Jesus’ words about the importance of paying attention to God’s work in the world is a good reminder for us for any time, but especially in our world today. I look forward to what God has to tea...
Nov 13, 2023
Matthew 23:1-12 We return to the Gospel of Matthew this Sunday and continue where we left off last week, contemplating the implications of what it means to wholeheartedly love God and our neighbors.
Nov 06, 2023
We are back in Matthew this week for our homily. Last Sunday Leigh Pylman preached a great sermon on the passage where Jesus says: "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's". If you didn't hear it, I encourage you to listen to it online. This Sunday I I come along a few verses later in the same general context of Matthew where the religious leaders, the elite who hold power in Jerusalem, are continuing to bait Jesus with insincere questions designed to be traps. But just like...
Nov 06, 2023
Matthew 22:15-22 This week, Jesus has another peppery encounter with the religious elite in Jerusalem. He is asked about paying taxes to the Roman occupiers. In Jesus fashion, he reframes our questions, categories, and suppositions. He invites us to consider how to give God, what belongs to God - everything! If we live as Jesus followers with this understanding, we can (on our knees!) strive to see the world the way God sees it, and discern the Spirit's guiding as we engage with society today....
Oct 23, 2023
This Sunday we will reflect on all three scripture readings from our liturgy. Our Call to Worship is from Psalm 133, a song of unity. Our First Lesson takes up the theme of unity again, as Paul urges two of his co-workers to have the same mind in the Lord. Finally, our Gospel Lesson is from Matthew. It is another parable of Jesus that illustrates God’s broad and scandalous welcome.
Oct 16, 2023
This Sunday we look forward to hearing another parable that Jesus taught. Like many of Jesus’ parables, the language and images are meant to jolt us. In the instance of the Parable of the Two Sons (Matthew 21:28-32) we will think together about what a life marked by wholehearted devotion to God looks like. Does it mean being perfect? No, that is not possible. But then what DOES it look like? Looking forward to prayerfully pondering with you Sunday morning!
Oct 02, 2023
Last week we heard a parable about mercy. This week we hear a parable about grace. Like last week’s parable, this story is meant to shock us. God’s grace, like his mercy, is unfathomably generous. So generous, that we will always struggle to understand it. As we consider the Parable of the Vineyard Workers (Matthew 20:1-16), we will ponder the depths of God’s grace and the relationship between grace, mercy and justice in God’s economy.
Sep 25, 2023
This week we will pick up where we left off last week in the Gospel of Matthew. Peter asks Jesus a question about how many times we should forgive. Jesus' answer is drawn from the very heart of God and its meaning is at the center of how God will redeem the whole world." Please let me know if you need anything else!
Sep 19, 2023
F ifteenth Sunday after Pentecost Romans 13:8-14 A community where love is the reason for everything. This is one way of talking about the new community that the Spirit of Christ has called into existence through the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. What does it mean for love to be the reason for everything? We don't love perfectly in this world where we still struggle with selfishness, pride, and the like - so what happens when we hurt those around us because of our sins...
Sep 11, 2023
Matthew 16:13-20 Our Seminarian in Residence, Leigh Pylman is preaching. This week, Jesus asks us the piercing question, "Who do you say that I am?" So simple, and yet, our response to this question will inform our whole worldview. Who do you say that Jesus is? We'll ponder Peter's response to Jesus, and consider how Jesus, as the Messiah and builder of the Church, incorporates you and me into the rich legacy of the Church. At its core, the Church's message doesn't boil down to a catechism or a ...
Aug 29, 2023
“ A desperate Mother reveals the depth and scope of God's love for all people" Talking about a passage like this in a short homily is challenging. But in all the commentary and speculation, the takeaways are clear. We can trust in God’s promises, even when God seems silent. Even when what we hope for can’t be seen. We can argue with God. God invites our hurt or questions, our calling to account. This argument might even increase our faith. This story shows the power and possibility inherent in b...
Aug 22, 2023
This Sunday we welcome Tony Pizarro to the Grace pulpit. Tony is a friend of Grace who attends when his schedule permits and often supports out volunteer efforts with Breakthrough Urban Ministries. Tony works at North Park University as Assistant Director of the Writing Center and Lecturer. He also serves as a steering committee member for the Illinois Coalition for Higher Education in Prison. Tony is a person with great humility who loves to serve others.
Aug 14, 2023
This Sunday’s homily will be a reflection on Jesus’ parable which is often referred to as the Wheat and the Tares. It is a story that encourages us to live faithfully, patiently, hopefully and lovingly in a world where evil things continue to happen. In her homily, Laura Winn, will ponder several important questions, among them this one as framed by New Testament scholar, Klyne Snodgrass: “how can we stop evil without being evil in the process”?
Jul 24, 2023
This week our text for our homily is Jesus’ Parable of the Sower from Matthew 13. It is a parable about hearing Jesus’ words in such a way that, as one New Testament scholar puts it: “the whole person is captured”. This parable is a very timely one for 21st Century Christians who, when we are honest, must admit that it is hard to hear Jesus for all the other noise in our culture. How can we help each other hear Jesus loud and clear?
Jul 22, 2023
Homily Preview: We are back in the Gospel of Matthew this Sunday where Jesus assures his disciples that "whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple" will be rewarded. The words come at the end of a discourse about mission and hospitality, a discourse full of dire warnings and triumphant hope. This Sunday we will think about the little ones are in the verse cited above and what it means to demonstrate hospitality in the name of Jesus in our place ...
Jul 06, 2023
Homily Preview: In our homily this Sunday we will talk a bit about compassion. Matthew uses this word to talk about Jesus’ reflexive response to the vast human need he witnesses (Matthew 9:36). We will explore the context in which Matthew makes his remarks and we will use that exploration as the jumping off point to think together about what it looks like to respond in compassion to the great human need we witness every day.
Jun 19, 2023
Earlier this week on Trinity Sunday we pondered the mystery that God reveals God's self in three co-equal persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We tapped into the wisdom of the early church and thought together about God's love as the energy and motivation for all God does in creation, redemption, and even in judgment. We will continue to ponder God's triune nature this week in part two of that homily, as we think about the way in which God's unique nature enables him to join with us in our suff...
Jun 13, 2023
I took quite a few Spanish classes in high school and college. At one time I could read a Spanish language newspaper with reasonable comprehension. Sadly, I have lost - for now - much of what I knew. I still make a feeble, yet sincere effort, to say something that might be comprehensible to those I know or meet who speak Spanish as their native tongue. I especially try very hard when I can tell the person doesn’t speak English at all. What always amazes me is how gracious folks are when I say so...
May 30, 2023
Homily Preview: Last week we spent some time talking God making his home with us and inviting us to make our home in God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This week we talk about what that looks like on a daily basis as we think about the promise of the Holy Spirit, God's empowering presence in human beings, the church and the world.
May 14, 2023
In the Christian calendar we are coming up on the end of Eastertide. We will celebrate The Feast of the Ascension on Sunday, May 21st, followed by Pentecost Sunday on the 28th. So, it is fitting that the next two Sundays have us thinking about Jesus' promises to the disciples about what life will be like after the cross, resurrection, ascension and pentecost. This next Sunday and the following Sunday we will be in John 14 as we consider the promises associated with the powerful presence of God's...
May 07, 2023
The homily is from John 10. This is the passage where Jesus identifies himself as the good shepherd. The scripture reading before communion is from Acts 2, where the the early church community is described as being one where people organize their lives so that each may be a blessing to the other. We are going to put these two passages together as we think about what sort of community is formed by the good shepherd. We will also ask ourselves what our responsibility looks like as stewards of the ...
May 01, 2023
Homily - Pat Hecker
Apr 23, 2023
Homily Preview: First Sunday after Easter and our gospel reading takes up where last Easter Sunday's reading left off. This week we have more in the way of amazing encounters between the risen Lord Jesus and his followers. This Sunday we meet Thomas, sometimes called doubting Thomas. Jesus accommodates Thomas' doubts, even as he accommodates ours.
Apr 17, 2023
Homily Preview: This Easter Sunday, like every Easter Sunday, we will be celebrating the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God. Our focus will be on the way in which the early church understood Jesus's resurrection. His followers, who will found the church of which we are a part two millennia later, had expected to relate to Jesus as a martyr and ponder all of what that might mean for continuing his work. Instead, they are confronted with a resurrected human being who will continue h...
Apr 10, 2023
