These are sermons preached at Wicker Park Lutheran Church in Chicago, IL. WPLC is a diverse, ELCA Christian community in Chicago focused on expansive theology. Sunday service at 10 a.m. www.wickerparklutheran.org
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WPLC Podcasts
Wicker Park Lutheran Church Rev. Jason S. Glombicki November 23, 2025 Today is the third Sunday of Advent and we gather days before Thanksgiving. Some of us are excited for the week ahead. Some are dreading difficult conversations at the table. Some are grieving someone who will not be there this year. Some are tired from the news, the world, or th…
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If you’re anything like me, hearing this passage may make you feel confused and stressed out. It may make you feel confused because the question the Sadducees ask Jesus feels like the longest, most convoluted, “what if” scenario they could have possibly come up with. And it may make you feel stressed because it seems like Jesus responds to their qu…
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Wicker Park Lutheran Church Vicar Sarah Freyermuth November 2, 2025 In his poem Ulysses, Alfred Tennyson wrote “I’m a part of all that I’ve met.” That has always been one of my favorite lines of poetry and it’s one that grabs hold of me with extra strength each year as we celebrate All Saints Sunday. This is one of the heaviest days in our church c…
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In today's gospel, Jesus told a parable about a widow and an unjust judge. The judge had power but neither feared God nor respected people. The widow, by contrast, had no standing, no wealth, and no influence—only her voice. Yet she kept coming, again and again, to demand justice until the judge finally gave in—not because he was good or compassion…
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Wicker Park Lutheran Church Rev. Jason S. Glombicki October 12, 2025 In today’s gospel, Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem when he entered a village on the border between Samaria and Galilee. That short phrase—“on the border”—is easy to miss, but it says a lot. This story didn’t happen in a temple or a city or a seat of power; it happened in-between…
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Wicker Park Lutheran Church Vicar Sarah Freyermuth October 5, 2025 Today, as I look out at all the joy and noise and happy chaos of this service, all I can think is “I wish we had animals in our service every week!” Now if you suggested to most pastors that every week should have a bring-your-pet to worship service, they’d probably laugh you out of…
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Wicker Park Lutheran Church Vicar Sarah Freyermuth September 28, 2025 If you’ve ever thought “I wonder how Vicar Sarah writes her sermon,” then today is your lucky today, because I’m giving you a peek behind the curtain! (And if you’ve never wondered that, maybe for my sake just pretend that you have for a few moments.) Because I’m training to be a…
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Wicker Park Lutheran Church Rev. Jason S. Glombicki September 21, 2025 Friends, today’s parable is one of the strangest. Scholars have called it the most difficult, the most confusing, even the most frustrating of all Jesus’ parables. And it doesn’t help that our Bibles can’t even agree on what to call it. The New International Version calls it “Th…
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Wicker Park Lutheran Church Rev. Carla Thompson Powell September 14, 2025 Listen to Rev. Carla’ sermon here! The post Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost appeared first on Wicker Park Lutheran Church.By WPLC
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Wicker Park Lutheran Church Vicar Sarah Freyermuth August 31, 2025 In our Gospel lesson today, Jesus names a lot of binaries: between sitting at the place of honor and sitting at the lowest place, between those who are honored and those who are disgraced, between those who will be exalted and those who will be humbled. But to go beyond simply namin…
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In today’s gospel, we hear one of the most revolutionary hymns in all of Scripture, it’s known as the Magnificat. But, too often Mary is domesticated —pictured as meek, mild, and obedient. However, the Mary we encounter in Luke is something far more radical. She is a teenager, unwed, dark-skinned, and living under the occupation of the Roman empire…
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