Anna Tew
Anna Tew is a Lutheran (ELCA) pastor serving Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in South Hadley, Massachusetts, where she has served for a full decade. Originally from Alabama, she went to seminary at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta. Anna enjoys being outdoors: hiking, running, snowboarding, and many other pursuits. She is also a Level 2 CrossFit coach and enjoys training herself and people with all types of bodies to be strong, resilient, and ready for a challenge.
Sermons and Bible Studies
Danger, Laughter, Easter 3 (A) – April 19, 2026
[RCL] Acts 2:14a, 36-41; Psalm 116:1-3,10-17; 1 Peter 1:17-23; Luke 24:13-35 There is a very short story Alan Dugan wrote for Poetry magazine called “April.” It unequivocally describes spring in a cold climate. April. The old man in shining black, with the immense black umbrella, walked down the street like the younger brother of the shadow of […]
Training Ground, Good Friday – 2025
[RCL] Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Psalm 22; Hebrews 10:16-25 or Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9; John 18:1-19:42 A blessed Good Friday to you, as we remember the death of Jesus, the one who loved us to the end. Good Friday brings us face to face with something we spend our lives trying to avoid: Death. On either end of […]
Redeemed Dust, Ash Wednesday – 2025
[RCL] Joel 2:1-2,12-17 or Isaiah 58:1-12; Psalm 103 or 103:8-14; 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10;Matthew 6:1-6,16-21 Ash Wednesday has its choice hymnody, for sure. There are songs that congregations expect to sing every year. There are also popular songs, however, that fit the theme. One such tune flows down the decades to us from the year 1973. […]
Temptation, Wild Beasts, and Angels, Lent 1 (B) – 2024
[RCL] Genesis 9:8-17; Psalm 25:1-9; 1 Peter 3:18-22; Mark 1:9-15 As a church, we find ourselves in the Lenten wilderness for another year. We understand the concept of wilderness. Literally speaking, even those of us who are non-hikers can imagine life on something like the Appalachian Trail or some other long trail. Many of us […]
Believing in Hope, All Saints’ Day (A), tr. – 2023
[RCL] Revelation 7:9-17; Psalm 34:1-10, 22; 1 John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12 Remember what happened in 2016? No, not that. The Cubs won the World Series. Dr. Thomas G. Long, preaching professor at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University, loves to describe the complexities of Biblical studies and church life through baseball. He puts […]
Life Is a Team Sport, Day of Pentecost (A) – 2023
[RCL] Acts 2:1-21 or Numbers 11:24-30; Psalm 104:25-35, 37; 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13 or Acts 2:1-21; John 20:19-23 or John 7:37-39 It’s Pentecost. It’s also graduation season. It’s a time when valedictorians are crowned. We imagine valedictorians to be on their way to a lot of success. That is largely true, but maybe not in the […]
Sound the Alarm, Ash Wednesday – March 2, 2022
[RCL] Joel 2:1-2,12-17 or Isaiah 58:1-12; Psalm 103 or 103:8-14; 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10; Matthew 6:1-6,16-21 “Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain.” There are moments for all of us when our lives change forever: When someone is born or when someone dies, or when you get injured or have a […]
The Season, 1 Christmas – 2021
[RCL] Isaiah 61:10-62:3; Psalm 147 or 147:13-21; Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7; John 1:1-18 “’Tis the season to be jolly!” we sing at parties and at church events. Then, on Christmas, we read: “What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, […]
After This, Ascension Day – 2021
RCL: Acts 1:1-11; Psalm 47 or Psalm 93; Ephesians 1:15-23; Luke 24:44-53 “Who are we going to be after this?” Let us imagine the disciples, gazing up into heaven, witnessing yet another miracle, and wondering that exact thing — the same thing that we now wonder about the end of the pandemic. They, like we, […]
Totality, Proper 16 (A) – 2020
[RCL]: Exodus 1:8-2:10; Psalm 124; Romans 12:1-8; Matthew 16:13-20 Fun fact: before there was coronavirus, the last time “corona” was in the news was during the solar eclipse of 2017. Back then, it didn’t refer to a virus, but to the dazzling light of the sun’s plasma or “atmosphere” that is usually invisible to us, […]
Split Screen, Easter 7 (A) – May 24, 2020
[RCL]: Acts 1:6-14; Psalm 68:1-10, 33-36; 1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11; John 17:1-11 “And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.” […]
The Word Became Flesh, Christmas Day (III) – 2019
“Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on… Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss, Though winning near the goal yet, do not grieve; She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss, For […]
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