Sermons at Abiding Peace

The ministry of Word and Sacrament is the center of our weekly gathering, and it is a work of the whole community. Together we proclaim the good news of how Christ has transformed and is transforming our lives through collective prayer, confession and absolution, reading of scripture, songs of worship, gathering at the Lord's table, and sending out for our work and ministry in the world. The proclamation of the Word through preaching is also a vital part of our worship and ministry. On this page, you can find links to past sermons in written form.

We encourage you to be with us in person, but we also know that sometimes that is not possible. We hope that these sermons can be a resource to you in your spiritual growth.

Expecting Vulnerability

A sermon on Matthew 1:18-25. [for an audio recording on this sermon, click here. Photo by M.T ElGassier on Unsplash.] As some of you probably know, because I talk about it a fair amount, I am fascinated by the Enneagram. The Enneagram is a personality typing system that actually dates all the way back to the 4 th and 5 th Century desert fathers and mothers in the mystical-ascetic branch of Christianity. Unlike more modern typing systems, it focuses not so much on a person’

Expecting a Healing Repentance

A sermon on Matthew 3:1-12 [for an audio recording of this sermon, click here. Photo by SOULSANA on Unsplash.] I had a conversation earlier this week with a member of our congregation in which we shared that we had similar feelings about one of the words from today’s gospel. This made me wonder if this is a more widely shared phenomenon in our particular community. If you’re willing, please raise your hand if you generally have a bit of flinch or cringe or otherwise negative

Expecting to Not Be In Control

A sermon on Matthew 24:36-44 and Romans 13:11-14. [for an audio recording of this sermon, click here . Photo by Joan Tran on Unsplash .] It’s a pretty common idea that the college years are, at least in part, a time for self-discovery: a time to figure out who you are and what you want your life to look like. But I’m wondering… has anyone ever heard that same idea of self-discovery is part of the parental journey when we send our kids off? I’m curious because I did not expec

On Scary Stuff and Superpowers

A sermon on Luke 21:5-19 [for an audio recording of this sermon, click here. Photo by Aron Visuals on Unsplash.] I have a question for you all. Most of you have probably been asked some version of this before, so hopefully you already know your answers. The question is: If you could have any superpower, what would it be? (See what people say…) So, my answer is usually , that I would want to be a polyglot (able to automatically speak and understand every language in existence

Freedom in the Truth About Ourselves

A sermon on John 8:31-36 and Romans 3:19-28. [For an audio recording of this sermon, click here. Photo by Basil James on Unsplash.] I recently ran across a thought-provoking quote from Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s non-fiction series The Gulag Archipelago. The Russian writer draws on his own personal experience as a Gulag prisoner, as well as interviews and research from various sources for an examination of the awful ways that human beings can treat one another, and from that ex

Sometimes Faith is a Bit of a Brawl

"Tangled Blessing" by Lauren Wright Pittman. Non-commercial use permitted. A sermon on luke 18:1-8 and Genesis 32:22-31. [for an audio recording of this sermon, click here .] This Fall I am participating in a continuing education course for clergy that engages the church’s role in addressing the dynamics of “whiteness” as a powerful social construct in American society. In one of this past week’s readings, Pastor Benjamin Boswell shared a story from his time as a pastor in Ch

What Healing Looks Like

A sermon on Luke 17:11-19 [for an audio recording of this sermon, click here. Photo by Kyler Trautner on Unsplash.com ] I want to try something a little bit different today. If you key into the details, the gospel scene that we just heard includes a surprising number of references to location or relative proximity. And I think these references are indicating something important about what is happening, but they are easy to slide over as background information when we just re

Lessons on Faith from Dogs

A sermon on Luke 17:5-10 [for an audio recording of this sermon, click here. Photo by Kara Eads on Unsplash.] It is a common refrain in my family that if we could have chosen the life we were born into, we would have wanted to be our dog, Hamilton. Can anyone here relate? He has no responsibilities other than keeping his toileting to approved locations. He divides his time between napping in comfy locations, exploring the outdoors with enthusiasm, and receiving the adoration