Luke 2:1-20

Christ is brave enough, strong enough, powerful enough to stand the smell of this world, the ugly reality we know, the darkness all around us, and invite it into his eternal light.

Luke 1:26-38

Joy makes us live in new ways, with new habits, and new families, and new responsibilities, because we are called to herald the complicated, yet saving birth of Jesus Christ. We are called to herald new life—each and every time—by choosing joy.

Luke 1:5-25

The pattern of joy is not to burst out with as many words as we can, or to start telling the world about how good things are, or to launch into a flurry of do-goodery. The pattern of joy—this choice of joy—begins with quiet contemplation.

Luke 18:1-8

We come to realize that just as we petition God as that widow, so too does the Spirit petition us, asking our unjust hearts to joyfully acquiesce to hope.

LUKE 16:1-13

[Today's] parable stands out from the others, because it shows us that money can also be used to sculpt new relationships, mend the breaches of our community, and give unexpected freedom to those who are burdened.

Luke 12:32-40

Christ will not come again as a militaristic punisher. Christ will come again as a guest from a wedding banquet — Christ will come from a place of abiding joy and unmeasurable love.

Luke 9:51-62

Let the dead bury the dead, and let’s start making room for the living. Everything depends on plowing a furrow ahead, getting ready for the Spirit’s seeds of hope, and anticipating a harvest that our children and grandchildren will reap.

PALM SUNDAY · Luke 19:28-40

Every Sunday, we witness God taking the island of misfit toys and assembling coronations, holy meals, unexpected anointings, and a new creation from it all. Through Jesus Christ, everything takes on a new meaning.

Luke 18:1-8 and 2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Today, we hear a parable about a widow who was willing to die on a hill. She sought justice, constantly, persistently, even foolishly, and made her whole life into a song of protest. She made her whole life into prayer – in her words and her deeds. Sometimes, it turns out, there are hills we should die on, where God asks us to make our lives into a prayer—and song—of protest.

Luke 13:31-35

Singing itself might change us. After all, God’s people have sung for thousands of years. It’s a spiritual discipline that at face value seems superficial, but if we trust the Spirit’s work, it will shape this church and our lives.

Luke 4:1-13

Jesus is coming of age in this passage. In this wilderness—like the wildernesses every humanity walks in adolescence—Jesus is on a pilgrimage to his ministry. He was baptized; now comes time for his confirmation as the son of God.

Luke 6:27-36

In an economy that is predisposed to transactionalism, Jesus invites us to commit acts of unexpected generosity, and to find freedom in letting go of our wealth. Jesus is earnestly, fervently inviting us to do what is unintuitive to the powers of the earth: to love, to pray, to bless, to give.

Luke 2:1-11

This miraculous deed is a sign that God is not content with our mere survival; God is determined to bring about joy and celebration within our deepest souls, for the whole human race. In Christ, we envision a community of Newton that is more connected, more alive, more stable, more enfranchised in every way.

Luke 3

Baptism was the start of Jesus’ ministry among us, stirring him to a life of radical peace, hospitality, healing, and hope. We see, flowing from Jesus’ baptism a life that was marked by relationships with the poor, sick, and morally disreputable. And that same baptism is wrapped around our waists, too, leading us back to the love and grace of our Creator.

Luke 1:46-55 & Matthew 2:1-12

The magi are all the wrong people, looking in all the wrong places. And yet, these wrong people, in the wrong places, were woven into the story of redemption, the people God chose to meet at the front door of life. We see time and time again that is “who” and “where” God fashions the sacred into the world.

Luke 1:5-23

Zechariah and Elizabeth show us that it is time to let go of old stories that are hurting us, to let go of wounds from a thousand years ago if we can, to listen, and to say “yes” to deliverance.