Sermons

January 17, 2021

The Second Sunday after the Epiphany

Thanks again for the opportunity to preach.  A couple of things to note before I begin:

1. If you end up checking out or distracted during this sermon, Cynthia Burungi’s children’s message last week pretty much sums up what I’ll say here, so you’re good.
2. If I come across as a little overly animated or impassioned in my presentation today, that is both because that’s how I talk, and because I’m preaching to myself as much as anyone.  I know this sermon is going to land with at least *one* person, and that person is me.

One of the really great things about the Bible is all the little details about people in the stories that aren’t absolutely necessary to what the story is trying to convey. They lend the Bible stories an air of authenticity and make them more relatable.

January 10, 2021

The First Sunday after the Epiphany

As the terrible events of this week unfolded, I could not imagine how the baptism of Jesus was relevant, but I think the temptation to make the attack on the capitol the center of our attention is exactly what was intended – and we will be better served by focusing on the questions raised by our lectionary text – so here we go.

January 03, 2021

Epiphany (observed)

The wise ones were looking for a new king, a child.  From their home, many many miles away, maybe somewhere deep in the Persian empire, they had seen his star rising. Astrology was a specialty of these magi, and there was no mistaking what this star meant: regime change. A great king was coming.

So these magi set out to find him.  Why, exactly, is unclear: after all, who says a new king is a good king? Generations before, Plutarch described the magi who ascertained the birth of Alexander the Great – they were in great distress as they “ran about beating their faces and crying aloud that woe and great calamity for Asia had that day been born.” So what was it about this king that caused the magi to want to seek him out?

December 27, 2020

Christmastide

Good Morning Seekers family. I hope that you all had a blessed Christmas. Here I am 2 days after Christmas to tell you, in the words of Angelus Silesius, that “What does it matter that Christ was born long ago in Bethlehem, if he is not born today in me? And what does it matter that Christ is coming tomorrow, if my heart is not opened to receive him today?[1] These questions bear repeating: What does it matter that Christ was born long ago in Bethlehem, if he is not born today in me? And what does it matter that Christ is coming tomorrow, if my heart is not opened to receive him today

December 20, 2020

The Fourth Sunday of Advent

For the last Sunday in Advent, David and Julie organized a cast of children and adults to create this socially-distanced and perfectly safe Christmas Pageant. Here are a few scenes…..