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Faith Lutheran Erie
(opens in a new tab)Service Times: Saturday 6:00 pm (outside June-Aug) ~ Sunday 8:00 am and 10:15 am ~ Sunday School 9:00
Here is the sermon for the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, on Isaiah 51:1-6, for August 23, 2026: The prophet Isaiah was speaking to people who had been forcibly displaced. They had been taken from their homes and the land that they loved to a place where they were strangers in a strange land. The things that were most sacred to them had been defaced and destroyed. The Babylonian exile was a long time ago, but whole populations are still displaced because of war or greed or political conflict or religious strife. Others are displaced by wildfire or drought or rising sea levels. People often have to give up the things and places that have given purpose and meaning to their lives. If this has not been your personal experience, I bet it’s part of your family history. We are a nation of immigrants, after all. Migration and exile are a common human story. Isaiah’s original audience had endured profound disorientation and disappointment. They weren’t sure who they were anymore, or if they still had a future. They wondered if God had abandoned them, or if God still cared. You don’t have to be dragged into exile to feel abandonment and anxiety and confusion. You don’t have to be dragged into exile to have a crisis of faith. Ordinary grief can stir up all those feelings, whether it’s grief at the death of a loved one or the ending of a marriage or the loss of a job or a scary diagnosis. I’m thinking that Isaiah might also have a good word for us. We too are used to disappointment. Before the Israelites could imagine their future, they had to remember where they came from. The prophet exhorts them to think back, beyond their recent trauma. Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and the quarry from which you were dug. In other words, go way back. Dig deep. Remember your origins. Remember the stories that still shape who you are. In secular terms, that might mean going back to the founding documents that define who we are as Americans, going back to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, to all that stuff about unalienable rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Happiness, by the way, does not mean doing whatever floats your boat and makes you feel good; for the founders, it meant character, virtue, the pursuit of moral excellence. In spiritual terms, looking to the rock from which you were hewn means going back to Genesis, specifically, back to Abraham and Sarah, our ancestors in the faith. God told them to get up and go and leave everything they knew behind, remember? God promised to lead them to a new home and a future full of blessing. They didn’t know where or when or how. They just trusted and followed. God promised them descendants as numerous as the stars, even though they were well beyond childbearing years and they weren’t getting any younger. It seemed impossible, but God did what God said. Abraham and Sarah answered God’s call and trusted God’s promise. This is God’s message for the discouraged exiles and for us: Listen for God’s call and trust God’s promise. Who you are and who you will be doesn’t depend on your accomplishments—thank goodness. It depends on who God is, and God is faithful. You are not defined by your suffering and disappointments. You are defined by God’s future. You may not be able to see it yet, but God can. Even when our lives feel like a wasteland, God is already beginning to do a new thing in our midst. The barren places of your lives will become like a fruitful garden, God says to us. The wilderness of your broken hearts will become like a new Eden. Your songs of lament will be turned into songs of joy and gladness. We put our trust in so many things that are not God. Families, homes, careers, relationships, market forces, governments, religious and cultural institutions. Even when these things are good and life-giving, they don’t last forever. Isaiah puts it rather bluntly: the earth will wear out like a garment, and those who live on it will die like gnats. But God’s salvation will be forever, and God’s deliverance will never end. I think it is clear where we should put our ultimate trust. The prophet reminds us to place our hope in God alone. We do that by remembering our best and deepest roots, and by looking forward in faith to a future that God has already begun. God promises that our story does not end in disappointment, but in comfort and flourishing and joy. That is good news. Amen. Rev. Jean N. Kuebler, August 20, 2026
We offer our prayers and condolences to the family and friends of John Berry, who died on Aug. 18. His funeral service will be Wednesday, August 26 at 12 noon at Faith, with visitation one hour prior.
John William Berry Obituary - Erie Times-News
www.goerie.com
John William Berry, age 93, of Harborcreek, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, August 18, 2026, surrounded by his loving family. He was born in...
Check out the spiffy new paint job on our sheds. Thank you, Paul Anderson!
Marty Johnson's Celebration of Life service will be this Saturday, August 22, 11:00 a.m. at Faith, with a fellowship meal immediately following. We give thanks for her faithfulness and offer heartfelt condolences to her family and friends. Well done, good and faithful servant!
Marnita (Marty) Rose Matson Johnson Obituary - Erie Times-News
www.goerie.com
Marty Johnson passed away on December 28, 2025 in Jacksonville, Florida. Born May 23 1942 in Buffalo, NY. Daughter of the late John T Matson Jr....
Here is the sermon for the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost, on Mt. 15:21-28, for August 16, 2026: A couple of weeks ago I saw an Israeli film about a young Palestinian boy from the West Bank who longs to see the Mediterranean. He had missed out on his class field trip to the seaside because his identity papers were not found to be in order, and he was kicked off the school bus. Later, he runs away to try and reach the sea on his own. This is a foolish and dangerous thing to do. He travels through territory where most of the people look on him with suspicion and do not speak his language. Not only that; without the right papers and permissions, his journey is illegal. Along the way, he keeps meeting kind strangers in unexpected places. A pair of construction workers gives him directions to the bus station and a snack. An older woman pays his bus fare when he only has cash instead of the required smart card. One woman teaches him how to say “excuse me, where is the sea?” in Hebrew. A burly, punked-out, scary-looking teenager at a bus stop protects him from a group of bullies. The boy almost succeeds in his quest. Maybe you have also been surprised by the kindness of strangers when you were an outsider. Or maybe some person who often offends you because of their politics or identity or appearance surprises you with a word of wisdom. Sometimes, we are able to see beyond our stereotypes and discern the humanity and dignity of the person we thought was beneath our notice. This is what happens to Jesus in today’s gospel. For whatever reason, Jesus decides to go to the seaside, into the foreign territory of Tyre and Sidon. He is the stranger here, the one who doesn’t speak the native language or worship the local gods. He and his friends are the ones who would need help with the local currency and who would need to ask for directions to the beach. This Jewish rabbi and his Jewish followers are on enemy turf, in the homeland of the Philistines, their ancient geopolitical rivals. It is astonishing that the Canaanite woman knows who Jesus is, and even more astonishing that she approaches him for help. This woman has chutzpah; she is bold and assertive. Because she is so desperate to save her demon-tormented daughter, she is willing to take a risk and defy social conventions. Since when does a woman approach a strange man, much less a foreigner? Somehow, she sees through the stereotypes and sees Jesus for who he is. She calls him Lord and Son of David. She knows he has the power to help her. It is troubling that Jesus seems to ignore her. I know, maybe he’s testing her faith. Or maybe he’s got a lot on his mind. Maybe he’s hangry. Maybe he’s just not interested in seeing beyond the stereotypes right now; maybe he truly believes that she is just not his problem, because she is not one of the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The disciples certainly don’t see the humanity of this woman nor care about her need; they think she is nothing but a nuisance and want Jesus to order her away. But she refuses to be dismissed. She throws herself at his feet and begs for help. The phrase translated here as “she knelt before him” could equally well be translated as “she worshipped him”. She has just heard him tell the disciples that she falls outside the parameters of his mission, that she is not his problem. Yet she insists on being seen. What Jesus says to her next sounds pretty insulting: It’s not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs. He implies that there is not enough food and healing and life to go around, that good things are only for some and not for all. And yes, he implies that she is no better than some starving mongrel on the street. He basically calls her a dog. This is not Jesus at his divine best; this is Jesus letting his messy humanity show, and that can be a little uncomfortable. We prefer Jesus meek and mild to cranky Jesus. The woman does not slink away in shame; she pushes back and owns the insult: “Yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s tables.” Here, the last and best verse inexplicably vanished from our printed bulletins. So let me read it for you again: “Jesus answered her: ‘Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish’. And her daughter was healed from that moment.” Jesus finally acknowledges her humanity and her need. He finally sees her with compassion. He even praises her persistence; her great faith stands in ironic contrast to the chronic “little faith” of his own disciples. It is all too human to judge and exclude others, to depend on stereotypes and to see the world in black and white, us and them, good and bad. It has been said that whenever we try to draw a circle to separate us from them, Jesus is always going to be on the other side of the line. As long as someone is still outside the circle, Jesus is going to stand with the outsider and challenge us to draw a bigger circle. I find it comforting in today’s gospel that Jesus is human enough to struggle with the boundaries and that he is divine enough to make the circle larger. I think it is good news that Jesus revises his mission plan to include foreigners and ancient enemies. It takes courage for him to show mercy to this persistent woman. It is a leap of faith for him to recognize her great faith. Imagine a world in which we all could see the humanity of every single other person. Imagine a world in which we all responded with mercy. May it be so. Amen. Rev. Jean N. Kuebler, August 13, 2026
Thank you all for your generous support for the Faith organ fund, and all the other nonprofits that were part of Erie Gives 2026. God is good!
We have had 35 donors with a total of $3,485, with a little over 3 hours to go. Thank you, everyone!
As of 3:00, we’ve raised $2935 towards a new organ. Nine hours to go. Thank you all for your support!
10 am check in is wonderful! THANK YOU to everyone who has donated so far. Erie gives runs until midnight, so plenty of time!