Preaching into new creation

Pastor Catrina (a grad of our place) shares her first sermon back in the pulpit of a small, middle Pennsylvania church after the ELCA general assembly. She makes me proud to teach at Luther! An excerpt:

I don’t know if you realize it, friends, but this is probably the most earth-shattering decision that was made in Minneapolis – in the midst of a culture that constantly tries to polarize us, whether the camps we are being broken down into are black or white, male or female, gay or straight, Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal, Protestant or Catholic, mainline or evangelical, city or country, East or West, North or South, Pepsi drinkers or Coke drinkers, Steelers fans or Eagles fans – in a culture that is constantly trying to divvy us up and tells us repeatedly that we should only associate with like-minded people, for this church to stand up and say “No – we are committed to loving and respecting and bearing both the joy and the pain of one another, even in the midst of our disagreement” – that is a profound witness to what God has done and is doing even now in Christ.