Baptismal Water Is Thicker than Blood Many, perhaps most, subcultures in North America affirm the belief that “blood is thicker than water.” Even when our commitment to family is too often served through hand-wringing sentiment over the so-called decline of the family or pandered to by politicians seeking to prove their “family values” credentials, we…
The Holy Trinity Our Amazing Life through Fearsome Death Holy. Glory. These words in the first reading and psalm testify to awe at God’s transcendent sovereignty, fearsome majesty, and infinite mystery. No mortal can see God’s face or hear God’s voice and live. The fear expressed in these readings is personal—a living mortal in awe of…
The Holy Spirit’s Groaning The sermon will be a post on our Facebook page. Please click on link to view sermon. Few sounds capture a groan like birth pangs. It is the raw sound of life and birth as well as of pain. It is the guttural desire for the end of the waiting for what…
Move In Day The sermon will be a post on our Facebook page. Please click on link to view sermon. Each fall is the perennial move-in day on or near college campuses. Legions of parents descend with carloads that include tiny refrigerators, Ikea furniture, electronics, area rugs, and posters. They unload the one they have birthed,…
Count Us In The sermon will be a post on our Facebook page. Please click on link to view sermon. God keeps the promise made to David to give him an everlasting throne. The angel tells Mary that God will give David’s throne to her son Jesus. She is perplexed by Gabriel’s greeting and by the…
Connected for Life The sermon will be a post on our Facebook page. Please click on link to view sermon. A parent stands at the bus stop on the first day of school with a kindergarten student. Another parent lingers in the doorway of a first-year dorm after unloading the final box from the car. These…
Life Laid Down The sermon will be a post on our Facebook page. Please click on link to view sermon. How does faith in the risen Christ call one to live? What shape does one’s life take? The readings for this fourth Sunday of Easter are rich in their imagery, and at the center is the…
Faith-Sustaining Patterns in a World of Stockpiles The sermon will be a post on our Facebook page. Please click on link to view sermon. Faith cannot be stockpiled. It needs a pattern of replenishment. Today, the disciples are hungry. While their stomachs may not be rumbling, their hunger is shown in their lack of certainty about…
Wounded Resurrection Power Restores Community The sermon will be a post on our Facebook page. Please click on link to view sermon. Jesus’ resurrection confronts the sadness and loneliness of Thomas’s doubt. Many people in congregations left last Sunday’s celebration of the resurrection with feelings similar to those of Thomas. Somehow, Thomas was not in the…
Christ is risen! The sermon will be a post on our Facebook page. Please click on link to view sermon. Christ is risen! Jesus is alive, and God has swallowed up death forever. With Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, we may feel astonished and confused, unsure of what to make of the…