_JPG.jpg)
The Love of the Laboring God
A sermon on Luke 2:1-20 (for an audio recording of this sermon, click here). Have you ever listened to a mother tell her birthing story? The story of what happened to her body and her heart when she gave birth? The story that invites you into her unique and powerful experience of being a gateway to new life? If you have, then you know what a gift that story is. You get to hear about the way the mother’s courage met her fear; the way the trauma in her body shared space with he
Renewing Baptism - God With Us
A sermon on Matthew 1:18-25 (For an audio recording of this sermon, click here. photo credit: mrjn Photography on Unsplash) A week or two ago my oldest child was studying for a grammar test, which involved walking around the house singing a bunch of different memory-assisting songs for parts of speech. For example: (sung to the tune of jingle bells) Helping Verbs! Helping Verbs! There are 23… Am, is, are! Was and were! Being, been, and be! Have, has, had! Do, does, did! Shall
Renewing Expectations - We Have Stories to Tell
A sermon on Matthew 11:2-11 (an audio recording of this sermon is available here.) I wonder what kind of answer John was expecting, when he sent his followers to ask his simple, but heart-breaking question: “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” There is so much pain and fear bound up in that question, as well as – perhaps – a desperate, stubborn hope. I see the pain and fear in John’s implicit doubt, in his back-tracking from the confidence with whi
Renewing Repentance: the Freedom of Confession
A sermon on Matthew 3:1-12 (for an audio recording of this sermon, click here) *pounds fist on pulpit* “Repent! For the kingdom of heaven has come near.” Yeah, I know. I can’t really pull it off. I am just NOT a fire and brimstone kind of preacher. I don’t pound on the pulpit, and I can’t imagine preaching a sermon focused on condemnation, shame, and threats of the wrath to come. Not only is that not in my nature…I also don’t think it’s in my job description. Because it’s my
Renewing Peace in the In-Between
A sermon on Isaiah 2:1-5 (for an audio recording of this sermon, click here) Today we begin a new church year, a new journey through the story of Jesus and his church, which shapes our worship and our faith. But the church’s new year is not quite like the cultural New Year we will celebrate in a month. Cultural New Year’s, with its dual focus on celebration and resolutions, tends to draw a clear dividing line: last year is over; now we start fresh. In contrast, Advent is a co
