Sermons from St. Petri (ELCA)

Jesus didn't teach in parables to give advice on animal husbandry, financial management, or parenting. Jesus taught in parables to show the unimaginable lengths to which God will go to find what God desires to find. If you like this podcast, please subscribe and give us a rating on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you access this podcast. Thanks! For more information about our ministry in the Story City community, please visit http://stpetrilutheran.weebly.com For more information about Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ministries in your area, please visit http://www.elca.org

You can find a copy of this week's preaching text at this link: http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=358408355 What does it mean for Jesus to offer himself to Jerusalem as a haven from the fox? More than we think, for himself and for us. If you like this podcast, please subscribe and give us a rating on iTunes, Stitcher, or the podcast app you use to access it. Thanks! For information about our ministry in the Story City community, please visit http://stpetrilutheran.weebly.com For information about Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ministries near you, please visit http://www.elca.org

In the Roman Empire, tax collectors submitted bids and paid in advance for the tax districts they would control. You may not have considered this, but Jesus has done the same thing for the sinners he loves - like you. If you like this podcast, please subscribe and give us a rating on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you access this podcast. Thanks! For more information about our ministry in the Story City community, please visit http://stpetrilutheran.weebly.com For more information about Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ministries in your area, please visit http://www.elca.org

The first of our five Lenten Midweek Prayer services on the five major sections of Martin Luther's Small Catechism.This week, Interim Lay Pastor John Sheahan of Bergen Lutheran Church in Roland, IA, reflects on the Ten Commandments. If you like this podcast, please subscribe and give us a rating! This helps us spread the word about our ministry in Story City. For more information about our ministry in Story City, please visit http://www.stpetrilutheran.weebly.com For more information about ELCA ministries in your area, please visit http://www.elca.org

"The moral of the story is this: our neighbors are more than just stories, and our morals are meant to serve the gospel, not the other way around." If you like this podcast, please subscribe and give us a rating! For more information about our ministry in Story City, Iowa, please visit http://www.stpetrilutheran.weebly.com. For more information about ELCA ministries in your area, please visit http://www.elca.org Thanks for listening!

"The call to be extraordinary is the great inevitable danger of discipleship. The extraordinary is not supposed to happen in order to be seen; it should not be done for the sake of its being extraordinary." Dietrich Bonhoeffer If you like this podcast, please subscribe and give us a rating! For more information about our ministry in Story City, Iowa, please visit http://www.stpetrilutheran.weebly.com. For more information about ELCA ministries in your area, please visit http://www.elca.org Thanks for listening!

"When will we begin to live with unveiled faces and who will give us the courage to do so?" "We are called to trust in the unveiled face of God through Jesus Christ." If you like this podcast, please subscribe and give us a rating! For more information about our ministry in Story City, Iowa, please visit http://www.stpetrilutheran.weebly.com. For more information about ELCA ministries in your area, please visit http://www.elca.org Thanks for listening!

A world-renowned violinist plays unannounced in a Washington, D.C. subway station and makes $32. The prophet who announces the coming of the Messiah wonders, "Are you the one?" Unexpected encounters often reveal more about ourselves than the ones we encounter. If you like this podcast, please subscribe and give us a rating! For more information about our ministry in Story City, Iowa, please visit http://www.stpetrilutheran.weebly.com. For more information about ELCA ministries in your area, please visit http://www.elca.org Thanks for listening!

"You who live in heaven, hear the prayers of those of us who live on earth - who are afraid of being left by those we love, and who get hardened in the hurt." Rich Mullins - "Hard to Get" - 1997 If you liked this podcast, please subscribe and give it a rating! For more information about our ministry in the Story City area, please visit http://www.stpetrilutheran.weebly.com For more information about ELCA ministries in your area, please visit http://www.elca.org

"If we have traded benefit for burden, and made keeping the Sabbath an idol which takes the place of God, then we have lost our way." If you liked this podcast, please subscribe and give us a rating! For more information on our ministry in Story City, or an ELCA ministry near you, please visit www.elca.org

The gospel of Luke tells us that the calling of disciples is not a tantalizing lure dangling with promise before a trophy set to be mounted, but it's a net that sweeps everybody along in a story that is far bigger than any one of us. Like this podcast? Please leave a rating and a review where you listen to it!

You can find this week's readings at this link: http://www.workingpreacher.org/?lect_date=01/08/2017&lectionary=nl Did anyone expect a Messiah who would go to his hometown and pick a fight? Not really - but that's exactly what Jesus did. Why, and to what purpose? Well, that's a somewhat longer story. If you like this podcast, please subscribe and give us a rating! For more information about our ministry at St. Petri Evangelical Lutheran Church, please visit http://www.stpetrilutheran.weebly.com For more information about the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, please visit http://www.elca.org

You can find this week's readings at this link: http://www.workingpreacher.org/?lect_date=01/08/2017&lectionary=nl In a time of great and powerful people, the word of God came to unknown prophets and a Galilean carpenter's son. The lowly like John were a word against the powerful like Caesar. The painful word John brought was a word against the false hope of bloodline and ritual. The good word of Jesus brings the hope of genuine connection with a God who saves. If you like this podcast, please subscribe and give us a rating! For more information about our ministry at St. Petri Evangelical Lutheran Church, please visit http://www.stpetrilutheran.weebly.com For more information about the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, please visit http://www.elca.org

You can find this week's readings at this link: http://www.workingpreacher.org/?lect_date=12/11/2016&lectionary=nl The prophecy recorded in Isaiah 61 was uttered in the ruins of Jerusalem around 539 B.C. Hearing it, one wonders what God's people must have thought 500 years later when a carpenter's son from unremarkable Nazareth claimed to be the fulfillment of Isaiah's plea. 530 years? How does a people wait all that time, and will they believe what they see when the waiting is over? If you like this podcast, please subscribe and give us a rating! For more information about our ministry at St. Petri Evangelical Lutheran Church, please visit http://www.stpetrilutheran.weebly.com For more information about the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, please visit http://www.elca.org

You can find this week's readings at this link: http://www.workingpreacher.org/?lect_date=12/04/2016&lectionary=nl Three words form the main emphasis of our readings from the Old Testament book of Joel today: shuv (return), chesed (steadfast love), and ruach (Spirit). The prophet implores his people: return to the steadfast love of God, for the Spirit of the Lord will be poured out upon all people. If you like this podcast, please subscribe and give us a rating! For more information about our ministry at St. Petri Evangelical Lutheran Church, please visit http://www.stpetrilutheran.weebly.com For more information about the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, please visit http://www.elca.org