Sermon Archives

Relationships
January 16, 2022

Sabbath Ceasing

Sabbath Ceasing

Did God command Sabbath keeping because it’s good? Or is it good because God commanded it? That’s an age-old issue that can be asked of any divine command.

October 24, 2021

Did Job Get a Passing Grade?

Did Job Get a Passing Grade?

“Have you considered my servant Job?” That’s a question God asks twice in the book of Job. Yes, for the last 3 Sundays, and yet again this morning we are considering God’s servant, Job. I remind you what this Job story is about. Job is put to the test: Satan—not the devil but one of […]

May 9, 2021

A Boundary-Breaking God

“What is patriotism but the love of the food you ate as a child?” so asked a 20th-century Chinese philosopher named Lin Yutang. If patriotism is love of the foods I ate as a child, then I’m very patriotic: shoo-fly pie, chocolate shakes, meatloaf, graham cracker pudding, egg and olive salad, chocolate chip cookies, potato […]

February 21, 2021

Chosen

When it comes to our pets, let’s be honest: we chose them — they didn’t choose us. No, we chose them, and when we did so, we didn’t know whether they’d be affectionate or hostile, loyal or rebellious, intelligent or . . .  thick-headed. We didn’t know whether they’d respect our property or be a […]

August 16, 2020

Reconciling Christ

Before we feast on the scripture before us this morning, let me set the table for you. After his brothers sold him into slavery Joseph – in an incredible turn of events – winds up in Egypt and becomes Pharaoh’s right hand man, the second in command, the overseer of the land. Now, there’s a […]

March 22, 2020

We’re Blind

These days, we are blind. We really, really wish it were not so. But in truth, right now we are all blind people. Up until 2 or 3 weeks ago, most of us had established, predictable, and comfortable lives. We got out of bed, dressed, and went off to work or school or whatever else […]

February 16, 2020

Good Body

Well, it’s time to address the elephant in the room: Shakira, J.Lo and the Super Bowl halftime show. Now, I know what you’re going to say. You’re going to say, “I haven’t thought about that for two weeks,” or, “I never thought about it at all,” or, “I don’t want to think about it again.” […]

May 7, 2017

The Fountain of Hospitality

Four weeks ago today, on April 9, United Airlines in Chicago removed a doctor, David Dao, from a plane by forcibly dragging him out of his seat. Other passengers filmed the incident on their smart phones and uploaded the video to social media. On the video you can hear the doctor screaming that he doesn’t […]

February 1, 2015

Questions about Membership

Today Marilyn and I begin a series of three sermons on the topic of church membership and belonging. We’re doing this series with the encouragement of Berkey’s Spiritual Leadership Team, which is a group of five elders who work with our congregation’s mission, vision, and pastoral staff. Last fall the Spiritual Leadership Team, or SLT […]

September 14, 2014

Blessed and Sent

With this sermon, we begin our narrative lectionary. The narrative lectionary follows the overarching Biblical story of God and God’s people. Preaching from this lectionary will hopefully give all of us a sense of how God has been at work throughout history and of how the story of God and God’s people continues today. Our […]

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