Sermons

November 6, 2016

Good morning.  Thank you, Wendy, and thank all of you who create this worship space for us every Sunday.

I stand here in the footsteps and shadows of spiritual giants, whose intellectual and spiritual depth I could never hope to equal.  If we look back just in the recent past: three weeks ago, John Cook gave a teaching in just a few minutes that was more impactful than most of the sermons I have ever heard that were twice or three times as long.  The idea of “unrelenting love” is still resonating with me. 

And two weeks ago, Emily, whose spiritual wisdom and depth is beyond both her years and mine, wove together ALL FOUR of the lectionary scriptures into a cohesive and meaningful teaching, earning not only our continued respect but special “use-of-lectionary bonus points” stars in her crown.  I struggled with today’s Psalm since David wrote it from the perspective of a righteous man unjustly persecuted and I just couldn’t in good conscience read it so I gave up any thought of competing with her for that award.

November 4, 2018

Texts:      

October 23, 2016

Texts:
Psalm 84:1-7
Jeremiah 14:7-10, 19-22
Luke 15:9-14
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18

Good morning.  It is good to be back here since our wedding and honeymoon.  Both Matthias and I want to thank all of you for your love and support of our wedding and marriage.  We feel very loved and cared for by this community.

For the teaching today I’d like to look at the lectionary scriptures individually and as a group relating to four different stages of life - that of a child, teenager, adult, and elder. 

Apparently due to modesty, John has not sent us a text of his teaching or a picture of himself.  The audio of his teaching or the download is available below.

A text of Joseph's teaching is not yet available but will be posted here when it comes in.  Listening to Joseph, howevwe, is always worth the time  Listen here or download and listen on whatever d

September 25, 2016

I come to you fairly terrified but have been trying to calm myself by calling upon my experience of surviving speaking with you about four years ago as well as speaking with Seekers Church last month.  With good reason, people often think I am a teacher because I lead a little school.  Alas, I am trained as a social worker so I am more naturally inclined to sit with you individually and listen deeply, rather than expound on my own thoughts.  I often speak to groups about Jubilee JumpStart and find that quite easy, joyful actually, since it is all about our beautiful children and inspiring parents.  So today, along with that, it is my intent here to dive a bit into vulnerability and share some about myself and how I found myself in God’s kingdom in a basement on Ontario Road.

The light shines on in the darkness and the darkness has never put it out.  John 1:5

I have been living a lot with this Scripture as this election proceeds.  I've unfortunately spent a good bit of time being scared by the anger and seeming ruthlessness of the people who are following Donald Trump.  It seems more and more possible that he could win this election, no matter how many scandals are attributed to him.

I've also been drawn to read again in the book of Jeremiah because we too are confronted with a stark choice between addressing our problems reasonably and descending into hatred and delusion.  As you know, I'm not a biblical scholar so this teaching may not jibe with what some of you learned in seminary.  And I am mostly quoting from the early parts of the book of Jeremiah.  His prophecies and oracles go on and on for 52 chapters.

September 4, 2016
Text: Luke 14:25-33

The heading for this lectionary reading in my bible is "The Cost of Being a Disciple," which is described pretty clearly: the cost of following Jesus is everything.  It's clear that the point of this passage is that we must place relationship with God through Christ above everything else.  We must be willing to give up everything else to be a follower of Jesus.  I felt uncomfortable when I first read this passage, when I began preparing for today.  It makes me wonder what else I would I need to give up, to leave behind, to really follow Jesus.

I read several online commentaries preparing for today, and one pointed out a seeming contradiction.  While salvation is a gift freely given to us, the relationship that we are invited into, of discipleship, asks us to be willing to give up everything.  At the same time, it is clear from today's lectionary scripture that God's desire is that we offer discipleship as a free will offering, given consciously with our eyes wide open.

August 28, 2016
Text: Luke 14:1, 7-24

It is my prayer today that I bring you the Gospel.  That I essentially preach the “good news” as Jesus mandated.  It is easy to to say what is wrong (for instance, Donald Trump, but God calls us to hear our own vulnerabilities in the scriptures and allow this same spoken, living word to empower us with compassion as we move forward in our shared weaknesses to something altogether new and unknown. 

Today’s gospel from Luke is right in the middle of chapter 14 and is the second of three somewhat conflictual, reframing discussions Jesus is having with the Pharisees.  It is so easy to see how the Bible is God’s sword.  Jesus spends a lot of time slicing and deconstructing the practices and understandings of the Sabbath and the common table.  The passage before this one, from last week’s lectionary, is about the Sabbath and is the third exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees about the illegality of healing on the Sabbath.  Jesus really wants them to understand that God’s Sabbath law, calling for us to stop, pause, and ponder on the Sabbath, is in the service of restoring a right relationship with each other and God’s creation.