Author: Aaron Decker

The Resurrection of Our Lord (B) — Stories from the Easter Vigil

Fifth Sunday of Lent (B) — Jeremiah 31:31–34 We’re trying to live more like Jesus this Lent, imperfectly but joyfully. God was lovingly powerful with Noah. God was radically generous with Sarah and Abraham. God was relational with Moses. God was imaginative in the desert. And today, we hear my favorite passage from the entire […]

Fourth Sunday of Lent (B) — Numbers 21:4–9 This Lent, we’ve been talking about living more like Jesus. We don’t need to try to be holy, because Jesus’ death and resurrection makes us holy. But we can try to show that in our lives. Through Noah and the flood, God promised to use his power […]

The Third Sunday in Lent (B) — Exodus 20:1–17Bethany and Faith Lutheran Churches, Reading, PA This Lent, I’m preaching about living more like Jesus. We can learn what God is like, and while we’ll never be perfect, we can try to come closer to that ideal. We saw with Noah’s family at the flood, God […]

The Second Sunday in Lent (B) — Genesis 17:1–7, 15–16Bethany and Faith Lutheran Churches, Reading, PA This season of Lent, my plans are to talk about how we can imitate–or at least, live more like–Jesus. We can take a good look at what God is like, what his various characteristics are, and start to get […]

The First Sunday in Lent (B) — Genesis 9:8–17Bethany and Faith Lutheran Churches, Reading, PA The fifteenth century “Imitation of Christ” is one of the great classics of Christian spirituality, but I’ve never read it. It seems ridiculous to me. Become more like Jesus. We fail before we begin. It’s one thing to follow his […]

Transfiguration of Our Lord (B) — 2 Kings 2:1–12; Mark 9:2–9Bethany and Faith Lutheran Churches, Reading, PA In my sermon two weeks ago, I talked about knowing God versus truly loving God. I mentioned that the only ones in the Gospel of Mark who actually recognize Jesus are the demons and unclean spirits. Everyone else, […]

Fifth Sunday After the Epiphany (B) — Isaiah 40:21–31Bethany and Faith Lutheran Churches, Reading, PA In its way, this has been a scary week, though at least I have been spared from the snow. For those of you who don’t know, last Sunday [at Faith], someone became very ill and had to be taken to […]

First Sunday of Advent (B): Isaiah 64:1–9 and Mark 13:24–37Bethany and Faith Lutheran Churches, Reading, PA You can feel the yearning of Isaiah’s words: “O, that you would tear open the heavens and come down!” Despite the fact that this prophet knows that the “day of the lord shall come as destruction from the Almighty […]