Palm Sunday | March 24, 2024 | Mark 11 | Evan McClanahan | Our faith influences the world not in the orderly, dominant fashion we hope for, but more often in a makeshift fashion. At least, makeshift from our point-of-view. I wish it didn’t. But it does. And if Palm Sunday is any indication, it…
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The Baptism of Our Lord | 01.07.24 | First Lutheran, Houston | Pastor Evan McClanahan | The Baptism of Our Lord, 2024 The Baptism of Jesus has always been a festival I have found hard to say much about. If I’m being honest. Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, and Reformation Sunday all have such clear lines of…
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Advent 1 | 03.12.2023 | Mark 13:24-37 | Evan McClanahan | Why are people afraid of the end of the world? Doesn’t sound all that bad to me. This week, I made two visits to members who are either near death or had recently died. I found out the tenant in our parsonage just left in…
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Proper 24, Pentecost 21 | 22.October 2023 | Matthew 22:15-22 | Evan McClanahan | For the past three weeks, we have heard harsh parables that enraged the enemies of Jesus. All three parables were told after Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem, spoken in the Temple itself. Matthew records these parables one right after the other, heard…
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Pentecost 14, 2023 | 09/03/23 | Matthew 16:21-28 | First Lutheran, Houston | Evan McClanahan | What percentage of “Christians” are actually Christians? That is, what percentage of people who are happy to describe themselves as Christians really, you know, live the life to the standard that Jesus describes? Well, I’m nervous just asking the…
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Pentecost 7 | 07.16.2023 | Mt 13:1-9,18-23 | Pastor Evan McClanahan | For my own peace of mind, I considered one of my newsletter articles being a simple listing of the top ten problems in the world. That’s just the way I think. Lists – whether they are to-do lists or just musings about the state of…
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Pentecost | Sunday, May 29 2023 | John 7:37-39 | Evan McClanahan | I want to tell you about your pet dog. He is a wonderful dog. He’s sweet. He loves to cuddle. When he nudges your feet in the morning to get you out of bed for his morning walk, you find it a…
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First Lutheran Church, Houston | Easter 2, 2023 | John 20:19-31 | Evan McClanahan | A few weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to have about six high school and college students visiting with me. Or a more honest way to say it would be that they were challenging me….possibly even mocking me. Two semester of…
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Lent 4, 2023, Year A | March 19, 2023 | John 9 | Evan McClanahan | Like last week, we have a relatively long and extremely rich narrative typical of John’s Gospel. While the quantity of narratives is smaller than the Matthew, Mark, or Luke, more words are offered for depth and nuance in the…
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Christmas Day Sermon | 25.12.22 | John 1:1-14 | Evan McClanahan | “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” Perhaps there is no more beautiful or hopeful single verse in all of scripture than John 1:5. The darkness is easy to see; it does indeed surround us. Systems break…
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Christ the King Sunday, 2022 | Nov 20, 2022 | Jeremiah 23:1-6, Psalm 46, Colossians 1:11-20, Luke 23:33-43 | Evan McClanahan | First Lutheran, Houston Well, have you heard of the recent election? Yes, it was quite controversial, but we can now declare a winner. By the skin of his nose, Jesus was elected “King…
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Pentecost 17 | October 2, 2022 | Luke 17:5-10 (with references to 1-4) | Pastor Evan McClanahan | Our short reading from Luke 17 this morning really contains two different teachings. A reading that also included the first four verses of chapter 17 would contain three teachings. Sometimes, the Gospel authors record a story or parable…
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Pentecost 10, 2022 Sermon| Luke 12:49-56 | Pastor Evan S. McClanahan | I have recently undergone an attempt to read the Bible in a year. It will not happen, I am sorry to say. But I am still trying. I am using a Bible that has been designed for that purpose. Each calendar day, a…
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Pentecost 10 | August 14, 2022 | Luke 12:49-56 | Evan S. McClanahan | I have recently undergone an attempt to read the Bible in a year. It will not happen, I am sorry to say. But I am still trying. I am using a Bible that has been designed for that purpose. Each calendar…
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Pentecost 4 | Proper 9 2022 | 2 Kings 5:1-14, Psalm 30, Galatians 6:(1-6), 7-16, Luke 10:1-11, 16-20 | Evan McClanahan | Things were no better for Jesus and his disciples. We think we have it unusually rough due to inflation, a rise in crime, our social glue seemingly losing its grip, etc. But Jesus…
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Easter 6 | 22.05.2022 | John 5:1-9 | Evan McClanahan | “Do you want to be made well?” It’s a serious question, and one with lasting meaning. Yes, it was intended for the man who had laid by the side of a healing pool for 38 years. But it is question for us, too. For…
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Year C, Lent 1 | March 6, 2022 | Lk 4,1-13 | Evan McClanahan | The Temptation of Jesus is perhaps one of the strangest stories in the New Testament. If it were not the assigned text for us to begin Lent every year, I’m not sure how often it would get visited. If we…
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Epiphany 3, 2022 | Psalm 19 and Luke 3:14-21 | by Evan McClanahan | Law and Gospel…If you are a lifelong Lutheran, those words should strike a familiar tone. If you are not a lifelong Lutheran…well, consider this an orientation. Knowing the importance of both – but the difference between the two – might sound easy…
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Advent 4, 2021 | Luke 1:39-45 | by Evan McClanahan | Our humanity is on the line. Thank God the Christmas season is almost here! The signs of human beings losing interest in being a human being are all around us. But I am assuming that I know what a human being is when I…
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All Saints Sunday, 2021 | Evan McClanahan | If you have ever been lost at an amusement park, then you know the value of those maps that say, “You are here”. You know the ones: they let you know not just the layout of the park in general, but where you are in relation…
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John 6:24-35 | Pastor Evan McClanahan | Pentecost 12, 2021 | How much would have to be taken away before you would stop following Christ? John 6 is a fascinating study in the psychology of commitment. As you heard last week, John 6 is the story of the feeding of the 5,000. But as incredible…
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Pentecost 3, 2021 | Mark 4:26-34 | First Lutheran, Houston | Pastor Evan McClanahan | I want to tell you the problem with predicting the future: we don’t know the future. And even more to the point, God works in unexpected ways, which is why we walk by faith and not by sight. So often we…
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May 2, Easter 5 | Acts 8:26-40, Psalm 22:25-31, 1 John 4:7-21, John 15:1-8 | Evan McClanahan | First Lutheran, Houston | Beware of pessimism! Even from among your pastors. Especially from among your pastors! Pessimism accomplishes nothing, hopes for nothing, and lives for nothing. You do not want to look back at your life…
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Maundy Thursday, 2021 | by Pastor Evan McClanahan | On Maundy Thursday, Jesus instituted a practice and a way of thinking that really would change the world. Inspired by the washing of the disciples’ feet, an ethic of love was deeply ingrained into those who called Christ their Lord and Savior. It was assumed that…
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First Lutheran, Houston | Pastor Evan McClanahan | We have a new dog in the McClanahan household. He is a sweet dog. We think he is a course haired Border Collie, but we joke that he would rather “give hugs than make herds”. Still, he is a dog, and he needs to be…
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October 18 Pentecost 20, Proper 24 | Exodus 33:12-23, Psalm 99, 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10, Matthew 22:15-22 | Pastor Evan S. McClanahan | I want to tell you a story about survival. No, it is not the story of a man in the wilderness, fighting off Grizzles and eating berries, though such men are admirable. It’s…
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Pentecost 14 (Proper 18) – September 6, 2020 | A sermon on Matthew 18:15-20 | by Pastor Evan McClanahan, First Lutheran, Houston | Exodus 12:1-14, Psalm 149, Romans 13:8-14 Perhaps the hardest thing to do in the Church is tell someone else that they are wrong. Even harder is saying that someone has sinned against…
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July 19, 2020, Pentecost 7 (Proper 11) | First Lutheran, Houston | Genesis 28:10-19a, Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24, Romans 8:12-25, Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 | Pastor Evan McClanahan | Have you been canceled yet? You know, written off, memory holed, removed from existence? Treated like the invisible man or woman? If not, it’s coming. Canceling is all…
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May 17, 2020 | Easter 6 | Acts 17:22-31, Psalm 66:8-20, 1 Peter 3:13-22, John 14:15-21 | Evan McClanahan | In Christian theology, in Christian history, and in the pages of scripture itself, there is a constant tension. It is never fully resolved, or, let’s just say people still debate the point. It has led…
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Sermon for Good Friday, April 10, 2020 | Pastor Evan McClanahan | Who is the man on the cross? What kind of person is he? What role does he fulfill? On Good Friday, we can speak in the abstract, the theological, or the personal. Let me speak in the first two ways now,…
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