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.

When it's OK to be Unfair.

A sermon on Matthew 20: 1-16. [for an audio recording of this sermon, click here. Photo by Jonathan Pendleton on Unsplash] After hearing the Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard, I would be willing to bet that at least a few of you just asked yourselves some version of the question: “how is that fair?!” I mean, we know that we are always supposed to agree with Jesus in the gospel stories, but… come on! The people who work only an hour in the cool of the evening get the same wage as the people who work twelve hours through the heat of the day? No! That’s just NOT FAIR! Social science tells us that the instinct for “fairness” is deeply rooted in not only the human but even in primate social

A Different Part to Play

A sermon on Matthew 18: 21-35 [for an audio recording of this sermon, click here. Photo by Javier Allegue Barros on Unsplash.] Well, we are back in the same space! I get to look into these faces that I love as I preach. AND we have a parable in our gospel reading! As I have mentioned once or twice (or twenty times), I love to explore the parables by “playing all the parts.” The process of intentionally taking on the different viewpoints of the various characters is a powerful way to help us mine the layers of meaning in Christ’s teaching. This seems to be the perfect opportunity to do something out of the box and invite you all into “playing the parts.” Except… I don’t want you to play thes

Calling In

A sermon on Matthew 18:15-20. [For an audio recording of this sermon, click here. Photo by James Sutton on Unsplash] One of my favorite resources for sermon preparation is The SALT lectionary commentary, because it always focuses in on the relevance of the scripture lessons for our current context. This week, the connection was easy to make. This week’s essay begins with a comment on the relevance of teaching about conflict in our current societal context: “wisdom (regarding conflict) has perhaps never been more pressing, as we continue to live through one of the most polarized periods in American history, including a divided and divisive political campaign season, protests over racial ine