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The Blessing of Dust
A sermon on Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21, and Isaiah 58:1-12 [for an audio recording of this sermon, click here.] Ash Wednesday is one of my absolute favorite moments in the church year. I’m not kidding. There is something deeply cleansing for me about standing at the front of a church sanctuary while a minister of God smudges ashes on my forehead and reminds me of my mortality. Those ashes are a gift of profound grace. The words that name me as dust and remind me that to dust I will
You Are Part of the Great Story
A sermon on Matthew 17:1-9 [for an audio recording of this sermon, click here.] In the last month or so, my son, Maddox, has discovered the books and movies of J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy. It has been delightful to watch him discover a world of characters and stories that I have loved since I was about his age…. Although, I have to admit that it’s not always the same elements of this magical world that most draw our respective interest. So far, Maddox has bee
The Wholeness of Life
A sermon on Mathew 5:21-37; Deut. 30:15-20; 1 Cor. 3:1-9 [for an audio recording of this sermon, click here] So, let’s just name the elephant in the room: These are not the texts that I would have chosen for a baptism Sunday. Dire warnings of judgement, death, and curses, not to mention the colorful instructions about what to do with our eyes or our hands if they cause us to sin… they don’t really go that well with an adorable baby and lots of visitors in worship. Nevertheles
Relatable Jesus
A sermon on Hebrews 2:14-18 and Luke 2:22-40 (for an audio recording of this sermon, click here). A couple of years ago, Ellen DeGeneres came out with a new stand-up special (her first in 15 years). The special was titled “Relatable.”[1] As she explains at the beginning of the show, this title came from a conversation with a friend who had expressed some doubt about her proposal to come back to stand-up after so many years. Apparently, his response, when she told him her plan
Finding God Under the Broom Tree
A sermon on 1 Kings 19:1-8 for a service of Healing for Mental Illness (For an audio recording of this sermon, click here) Given the focus of this gathering, I’m going to hazard a guess that many of us here have had the experience of everything being just a little too much to handle. Of getting overwhelmed by the pain in our lives or in our own heads, and of withdrawing from activities and relationships because that feels like the only survivable option. And, I’m going to gu
