Pastor Serena Rice

A sermon on Matthew 3:13-17 for an audio recording of this sermon, click here. Photo by Mohammad Metri on Unsplash We have a lot of exciting things happening in worship today, including the baptism of one of our incoming members, so rather than giving the kind of full exposition on today’s texts that I would normally try to offer in a sermon, today I just want to offer a quick reflection on the meaning of baptism. Because there is one detail from Matthew’s story of Jesus’s baptism that I...

A sermon on Matthew 2:1-12 for an audio recording of this sermon, click here. Photo by James on Unsplash One of the core concepts in Lutheran teaching is the Theology of the Cross. When I ask what people think this refers to in the New Member’s class, I usually get some version of connecting the cross to the means of salvation, but this theological concept is not about salvation; it’s about revelation. It teaches us that on the cross God offers us the most complete expression of who God is...

A sermon on Luke 2:1-20 For an audio recording of this sermon, click here. Photo: The Nativity by Gari Melchers Throughout the season of Advent, our community here at Abiding Peace has been exploring of theme of how God’s revelation in the stories of Jesus and those who prepared the way for him can shape our holy expectations. Jesus’s teaching about the unknowable-ness of what will happen on the final Day of the Lord, reminds us to expect to   not be in control. Whether it is anxiety...