Sermon Archives

July 20, 2014

The Wheat and Weeds

Since I have been living in Illinois, I’ve been hanging out with a group of Catholic young adults in an attempt to finds friends in a new city. The local parish held an event on Wednesdays in June called Theology on tap. Young adults get together for supper and listen to a speaker present on […]

July 13, 2014

Wild Hope

It is perhaps fitting that our 2 scripture texts use images of nature, planting, sowing and growth, after the events of the last couple weeks. On the one hand, we experienced the damaging effects of the wind and the many hours of cleaning up after it! And on the other hand, we have a wonderful […]

July 6, 2014

The Divine Referee and the Ultimate Goal

Growing up in Indiana back in the 50’s and ‘60’s, it was almost assumed that boys learned to play basketball.  So my Dad taught my brother and me how to play basketball–not only how to shoot the basketball but how to play defense as well.  I was told that when defending against your opponent, you […]

June 22, 2014

What The Preacher Said

“In consolation, remember desolation. In desolation, remember consolation.” A great paradox; and this too sounds as though it is from Eccl., although it’s not. Ecclesiastes is full of paradox, contradictions, ambiguities that have long left readers puzzled. The writer seeks wisdom, knowing it is better to be wise than foolish, yet the wise and the […]

June 1, 2014

Promises, Promises

For my husband, Brian, and myself, 2014 has felt a bit like being repeatedly kicked in the shins. On January seventh, after ten years at his job, Brian was rather unceremoniously “let go.” Watching a husband who had invested, and sacrificed so much of himself for a company who so easily dismissed him was painful […]

May 25, 2014

Children of God, Members of One Body

I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to be the church lately. Perhaps it’s because there are denomination-wide discussions on what it means to be the church together, even when we disagree; perhaps it’s related to the fact that I’m currently enrolled in an AMBS online course on Anabaptist polity–the structures we have […]

May 11, 2014

That Some Would be Pastors

I thought I would start by introducing myself for those who may not know me. I’m from Iowa, went to a private college in Iowa before coming to Associated Mennonite (now Anabaptist Mennonite) Biblical Seminary in Elkhart where I met and married my wife, Missy Kauffman Schrock – who, now works for AMBS. Since seminary […]

April 23, 2014

Easter

The challenge of Easter is that we have heard this story so many times, we stop listening to it because we know what happens. We know how it ends. Jesus died, and rose again. End of story. Now what’s for dinner? That’s the challenge for all of us, preacher and listener alike. We know this […]

April 13, 2014

The Arrest

Most of us have kissed—or been kissed—at one time or another. When our sons were small, I probably I kissed each of them at least a thousand times, plus however many times Jenny kissed them. We don’t kiss our sons anymore—a fact for which they are profoundly grateful—although Jenny and I still kiss each other […]

April 6, 2014

Words

Sometimes words seem so cheap. Have you noticed this? Once I attended a conference where we were treated to a guest preacher who had been flown in from several states away. He was fairly well-known with wide name recognition. Early in the worship service we in the audience sat expectantly, waiting until the moment when […]

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