March 21, 2021 While working for the national church in 2005, I went to Gulf Port, Mississippi immediately following Hurricane Katrina –I will never forget the scope of devastation and the loss of life so many experienced; I will also never forget the outpouring of Christian love and service to help neighbors in need –there was such desperate need!
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Read the sermon here.
February 14, 2021 It is unusual for Mark to make specific references to time in his gospel, so we might wonder why Mark mentions that the events of this story happen six days after the first verse. Well, you can walk from Caesarea Philippi to Mt. Tabor, the traditional location of the transfiguration, in about six days, so maybe Mark simply wants us to know that Jesus is on the move again. On the move after feeding four thousand people, arguing with religious leaders, and having a pretty intense discussion with his disciples about Jesus’ own identity and mission.
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Read the sermon here.
November 8, 2020 John is a gifted storyteller and the story he places right before the story we hear today is the story about Nicodemus. Do you remember that story? Nicodemus struggles with wanting to see Jesus, so he seeks Jesus out during the middle of the night, so he is not noticed by anyone. In today’s story, we meet a woman, who after meeting Jesus, shares her story with all those who have ears to hear and she does it in the fullness of the day!
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October 11, 2020 The Book of Job is a curious thing. It starts with two chapters of exposition – God makes a bet that Job will stay faithful if God takes everything away, and so, God takes everything away. Job’s estate disappears; Job’s children die; Job’s body fails; Job is left with nothing – and then we have thirty-nine chapters before we arrive at the climax of the story, thirty-nine chapters of poetry, thirty-nine chapters of lament, thirty-nine chapters of argument, thirty-nine chapters of Job and Job’s friends and God going round after round after round over who gets to be angry, who gets to be in charge, who gets to complain, who does God think God is to make us suffer in this way, who does Job think he is to question or wonder or struggle, why do bad things happen to good people and why does the world have this crack running through it?
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Read the sermon here.
September 20, 2020 Unraveling happens in many ways. Sometimes, we are unraveled by external forces…take the COVID-19 virus for example or natural disasters. Sometimes we are unraveled by violence and injustice, sometimes we are unraveled by shame and greed. Sometimes, we unravel ourselves. Sometimes we allow ourselves to come unraveled by what we have done or by what we have left undone. And, sometimes, God is the great “unraveler” – coming into the status quo of our lives and shaking things up in ways that seem mysterious, unsettling, and maybe just plain bizarre.
Watch the worship service here.
Read the sermon here.