The sermon will be a post on our Facebook page. Please click on link to view sermon 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…
The sermon will be a post on our Facebook page. Please click on link to view sermon. Overview In today’s gospel Jesus tells his critics, “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath.” We keep our weekly sabbath, gathering for prayer and Bible study, songs of praise and petition, and fellowship with…
The sermon will be a post on our Facebook page. Please click on link to view sermon. 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…
The sermon will be a post on our Facebook page. Please click on link to view sermon. The Holy Spirit’s Groaning 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…
The sermon will be a post on our Facebook page. Please click on link to view sermon. Invited into Friendship Ask any child who has moved to a new place and they will probably confirm that their biggest worry was if they’d make new friends. Parents worry for their teenager and young adult in each stage…
The sermon will be a post on our Facebook page. Please click on link to view sermon. Connected for Life 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…
Confirmation Sunday The sermon will be a post on our Facebook page. Please click on link to view sermon. Life Laid Down 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…
The sermon will be a post on our Facebook page. Please click on link to view sermon. Faith-Sustaining Patterns in a World of Stockpiles 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…
The sermon will be a post on our Facebook page. Please click on link to view sermon. Wounded Resurrection Power Restores Community 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…
The sermon will be a post on our Facebook page. Please click on link to view sermon. Middle of the Story Literarily and theologically, Mark’s gospel ends awkwardly at 16:8. The women are astonished and afraid, and what most scholars consider the original ending of Mark seems more like the middle of the story than its…