Good Shepherd Lutheran Church

With spring arriving this week our lectionary gives us the story of a gardener. A gardener whose belief in a hapless and hopeless fig tree defies common sense. How often do we feel like a fruitless fig tree that has had more than enough chances to bloom? Or been made to feel that way by others? Or been tempted to make others feel that way? And then we meet this gardener, whose ways are not our ways. Can that kind of grace make a difference to sorry saplings like us?

Today’s worship service will be live-streamed on our YouTube channel at 10:30 am. Join us live, or watch the video here at a later time.

The bulletin for the service can be downloaded here.

We often think of motherly love as warm, comforting, and gentle. But motherly love can be fierce too, as Jesus demonstrates in our gospel today. Especially in the way it refuses to let any obstacle hinder it from loving its children to the end; whether that be the threat of a menacing predator, or the stubborn disobedience of its own offspring. A mother’s love will not be denied, and neither will God’s.

Today’s worship service will be live-streamed on our YouTube channel at 10:30 am. Join us live, or watch the video here at a later time.

The bulletin for the service can be downloaded here.

Lent is a season that conjures up many images and themes. Maybe the battle with temptation being one of the most prominent. In our gospel today Jesus faces three temptations from the devil. But perhaps the most powerful is one that isn’t even explicitly named but which lurks in the background for Jesus and for us all. Let’s head into the wilderness and face the struggle that engulfs us all.

Today’s worship service will be live-streamed on our YouTube channel at 10:30 am. Join us live, or watch the video here at a later time.

The bulletin for the service can be downloaded here.

Who of us doesn’t remember and cherish those mountaintop moments along our faith journey. The disciples Peter, James, and John, that’s who! Their mountaintop experience was less than comforting. But they did learn something. So did Jesus. They all learned about seeing themselves and others differently. And if that isn’t a lesson we all need right now, I don’t know what is. Come listen in to a story of true enlightenment for us all.

Today’s worship service will be live-streamed on our YouTube channel at 10:30 am. Join us live, or watch the video here at a later time.

The bulletin for the service can be downloaded here.

“Do not fret because of the wicked.” “Love your enemies.” Give to everyone who begs from you.” Does Jesus need a wellness check? Or maybe it’s us who need the check. I mean, why should advice like that be the exception to the rule in this world? Maybe it’s no more complicated today than acknowledging the deep wisdom in words that we so easily discount as anything but wise.

Today’s worship service will be live-streamed on our YouTube channel at 10:30 am. Join us live, or watch the video here at a later time.

The bulletin for the service can be downloaded here.

“Trees don’t grow from their branches, they grow from their roots.” So says our guest video preacher this week. And keeping our lives rooted in good soil can help us produce some “interesting” fruit as Jesus proclaims today. How deep are your roots?

Today’s worship service will be live-streamed on our YouTube channel at 10:30 am. Join us live, or watch the video here at a later time.

The bulletin for the service can be downloaded here.

Today we get another story of how God’s ways are not our ways. We expect scarcity, God provides abundance. And on this Sunday that we celebrate Canadian Lutheran World Relief that’s an important learning. So many people in this world live in scarcity. But God, and CLWR, need us to recognize our abundance, and then share it abundantly. It’s how we follow Jesus today in our world so easily turned inward. Let all with ears hear!

Today’s worship service will be live-streamed on our YouTube channel at 10:30 am. Join us live, or watch the video here at a later time.

The bulletin for the service can be downloaded here.

What’s your favourite part of a wedding service? Maybe for some of us it’s hearing that familiar love passage from 1 Corinthians that’s such a popular choice for a reading. It’s touching, poetic, and as comforting as a mug of your favourite hot beverage on a snowy day. That is until we think a little more deeply about what Paul is actually saying in those words. And then it might just make you feel like throwing the reader off a cliff! Or at least listening with a different set of ears.

Today’s worship service will be live-streamed on our YouTube channel at 10:30 am. Join us live, or watch the video here at a later time.

The bulletin for the service can be downloaded here.

What draws you in most about a speech or a sermon? Inspiring words? A great delivery? Emotional impact? All those might have been a part of Jesus’s very first sermon that we hear about today. But what really grabbed his audience, and not in the best way, was the way he lived out the words he preached. Just as we are called to live them out too. So listen in and listen up!

Today’s worship service will be live-streamed on our YouTube channel at 10:30 am. Join us live, or watch the video here at a later time.

The bulletin for the service can be downloaded here.

Who doesn’t love a wedding party. Even Jesus does, as our gospel tells us today. So much that he keeps it going when it’s in danger of dying out. But some parties are about more than just having a good time. And a Jesus party has good news that keeps flowing even after the last guest has left. And we’re all invited today!

Today’s worship service will be live-streamed on our YouTube channel at 10:30 am. Join us live, or watch the video here at a later time.

The bulletin for the service can be downloaded here.