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…
A Different Kind of Bloodline The sermon will be a post on our Facebook page. Please click on link to view sermon. Combining into one liturgy the “Hosanna!” of the triumphal palm procession and the “Crucify him!” of the passion drama—especially as filtered through Paul’s image of the “exalted” slave—invites a meditation on the mystery of…
The Attraction of the Repellant Cross The sermon will be a post on our Facebook page. Please click on link to view sermon. Two themes vie for attention in the readings: divine forgiveness (with attention paid to the human sinfulness that makes it necessary!) and the cross’s mysterious power. Jeremiah prophesies of God’s desire and ability…
The Cosmic Love of God The sermon will be a post on our Facebook page. Please click on link to view sermon. The prologue of John’s gospel begins with the story of creation, connecting the Word that became flesh in Jesus with the bringing forth of life and all things. Then, as the gospel continues, the…
Clearing a Path to Worship The sermon will be a post on our Facebook page. Please click on link to view sermon. In the gospel for today, Jesus discovers that the temple has been turned from a place of worship into a marketplace. The predominance of the selling of animals and the exchanging of money for…
Promises, Promises The sermon will be a post on our Facebook page. Please click on link to view sermon. The story of God’s relationship with God’s people is a story of promises fulfilled. We hear about God’s covenant with Sarah and Abraham in today’s Genesis reading and about its fulfillment in the New Testament texts. As…
The Power of Water The sermon will be a post on our Facebook page. Please click on link to view sermon. Water is an integral part of the created order. Water sustains and fosters life; too little or too much water can end it. A glance at the news headlines points out the destructive power of…