Sermons
Sermons are part of a conversation between the preacher and the congregation.
You can read most of the sermons preached at Faith in the past few years here. This archive is a blog, which is duplicated on Blogger. You may add comments here or in the blog if you wish.
If you would like to see the readings planned for the next few weeks, click here.
Serious and not Serious
December 18, 2011
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Text: Luke 1:26–38, 47–55These are serious times. We are dealing with serious issues. There are many dark places in the life of this world. Things are not working out as we thought they would. Our confidence is shaky, and enemies of spirit seem to surround us.But we are not the first to find our present circumstances worrisome and our future uncertain. It was so when the angel Gabriel visited young
To Be Found at Peace
December 4, 2011
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Text: Mark 1:1-8
Other texts: 2 Peter 3:8-15aThe beginning. The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, writes Mark. First verse, first chapter, in the first of the four Gospels to be written.Except that it is not the beginning. It is not the beginning at all. The good news starts long before. We know that Mark knows that, because by his reckoning in the next verse, it begins at
You Don't Miss the Water Until the Well Runs Dry
November 27, 2011
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Text: Isaiah 64:1-9
Advent, as you’ve heard, is a time for reflection. It begins as we ponder where we are in our lives and in the scheme of things. It is in that way like Lent. It starts that way, in any case. But though the church knows that all of Advent is supposed to be time of preparation, it cannot resist getting excited toward the end, as we approach Christmas. It is not surprising. As we
In Our Time
November 20, 2011
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Text: Matthew 25:31-46
There are four names for this Sunday. It perhaps is a sign of confusion in the church about the nature of Jesus. Or perhaps more true to say that it is a sign of the many natures of Jesus.First, today is the last day of Pentecost, the last day of the church year, and the end of the days of ordinary time in the church calendar. It is the day we turn our churchly thoughts to special
Re-forming the church
October 30, 2011
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Text: Jeremiah 31:31-34, Romans 3:19-28
Reformation SundayIt is fitting that we welcome new members to Faith on this day, Reformation Sunday. For Reformation Day—which is tomorrow, always on Halloween—is a celebration of a particular event of history, theology, and community. We who sit here today inherit the legacy of that event, when the church asked itself: What is the church, anyway, and what
Possible Kingdom
October 23, 2011
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Text: Leviticus 19:1-2, 15-18
Other texts: Matthew 22:32-46If there were a mission statement of this church, which there is not, we could do worse than borrow the answer Jesus gives to the Pharisees when they ask about the law. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. And love your neighbor as yourself. After all, this is the trunk on which hang all
Talking to Caeasar
October 16, 2011
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Text: Matthew 22:15-22
One of Martin Luther’s contributions to the discussion of the church and its role in our lives was the insistence that our faith be grounded in the Bible. Sola scriptura, as he put it in Latin. Scripture alone. Meaning that other guides to our faith were secondary, even if useful. When in doubt, turn to the book. He came to this rule of thumb through his own experiences, trying
Song for Living
October 9, 2011
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Text: Psalm 23
Other texts: Isaiah 25:6-9A man walks down the street. He is pushing a shopping cart. In the cart are bags and empty bottles. The wheels of the cart go clink-clinks when they cross the seams of the sidewalk. The man’s feet hurt. He rests on the steps in someone’s doorway. People look down when they pass, wishing not to see him. Sometimes he sleeps behind a church. In the winter,
Freedom of Little
October 2, 2011
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Text: Philippians 3:4b–14
There is a view of the world that elevates the spirit and despises the body. In this view, the spirit or soul or psyche is perfect and pure. The body is imperfect and corrupted. The spirit is good in essence, and the body is bad in essence. There is nothing good about physical creation. In this view, salvation is a process of leaving the dirty body behind and letting the
Social Instructions
September 25, 2011
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Text: Philippians 2:1–13
Other texts: Ezekiel 18:1–4, 25–2; Matthew 21:23–32There are two brothers on the cover of today’s bulletin. You know from the Gospel reading that one is the good brother and one is the bad brother. You can tell who is the good brother. He is the industrious one carrying the shovel. The bad brother is sneaking out to the left of the page to escape. Or maybe I have
Angry Men
September 18, 2011
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Text: Jonah 3:10–4:11 and Matthew 20:1–16
It is not hard to think that the dark force of anger has taken over the heart of the world, driving out compassion as thoroughly as it did from the heart of Jonah.As often, the first reading and the Gospel reading are related. Today they are stories of angry people. Angry for different reasons. Angry at God, at other people, at God’s mercy for those other
Speaking in Concert
September 4, 2011
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Text: Matthew 18:15–20
How does it make you feel to know that if you and someone else agree about anything you ask, God will do it? How does it make you feel to know that if two other people agree, they get the same deal?Does it console you, knowing that God responds to the prayers of people? Or are you dubious, wondering how well this actually works in practice? Are you amused, thinking that the
The Man Who Would Not Be King
August 28, 2011
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Text:, Matthew 16:21-28
Other texts: Exodus 3:1-5
Last week we heard Peter name Jesus as the Messiah. “Bless you,” Jesus said to Peter after Peter proclaimed this. Jesus told him that his insight was God-sent. Jesus names him Rocky (from Simon) and tells him that the church of Christ will be built on his stoney shoulders.What a difference a week makes. Or in the timeline of the story, what a difference
The Way of Blessing
August 14, 2011
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Text: Psalm 67
We have been reading Genesis after coffee hour. This is the fifth or sixth book of the Bible that we are reading straight through, guided only by our curiosity and the Holy Spirit. We started with Job, and have since read a mix of Old and New Testament books.But we have come to Genesis to start at the beginning of things, thinking that not only would we get the foundation stories of
Little Steps for Little Feet
August 7, 2011
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Text: Matthew 14:22-33There are three versions of this story in the Bible, the other two are in John and Mark. But what makes this one special is that most of the action is centered around Peter, who does not even appear in the others. Peter, a man who in all the Gospels is a stand-in for us as we try to figure out how to live a life of faith.Many people see this passage as a story of a man who starts
The Prayers the Spirit Prays for Us
July 24, 2011
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Text: Romans 8:26-39The Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.This verse is the scriptural basis for the closing of the prayers of the people, when we rely on the Spirit to pray the secret prayers that are deep in our hearts. We assume with these words that there are longings of our hearts that we cannot
Saints and Sinners Both
July 17, 2011
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Text: Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
We are going to start today with a little Bible study.There is a school of thought that says that the closer things are to us, the more influence they have over us, and the more they affect who we will be in the future. Things that are far away in time and space are less important to us day to day than things that are near. One purpose of the Bible, or one thing it has
Depending
July 3, 2011
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Text: Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30It may seem odd on this weekend celebration of Independence Day to speak about yokes and burdens. After all, did our forebears not free themselves from the yoke of tyranny and the burden of injustice? Aren’t we the home of the free, not the home of the beasts of burden that work hard for someone else’s benefit? Not home of the servant, the reins of our lives in someone
The Spirit in Between Times
June 12, 2011
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Text: Acts 2:1-21
The day of Pentecost in the church calendar seeks to tame the story of Pentecost in the Bible. We make predictable an event which is totally surprising. People sometimes call the reading in Acts the story of the birthday of the church. This makes it seem simple, pleasant, and definitive when it was none of these things at all. Instead, it was complicated, scary, and fragile. We imagine
Fear or Faith
June 5, 2011
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Text: Acts 1:6-14
The sudden and unexpected execution of Jesus. His amazing resurrection from the dead. His appearance to the disciples, talking with them and sharing meals with them. Now his being lifted up. Taken from them, the men in white say, up toward heaven. It is a fearful time for the followers of Jesus. Nothing has been what it seemed, nothing has gone the way they had thought or hoped. Still
God's Restless Heart
May 29, 2011
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Text: Acts 17:22-31
Standing on Mars Hill, called in Greek Areopagus—meaning the rock of the war god Ares—Paul is impatient. He has been driven out of Philippi and Thessalonica and the city of Berorea, and has been spirited away by his friends to cool his heels in Athens. But Paul, who cannot sit still for long, starts to chatter away in the market square about one thing and another, where one
Handyman
May 22, 2011
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Text: Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16
Other texts: John 14:1-14Into your hands, O Lord, we commend all for whom we pray, trusting in your mercy, through Jesus Christ. In these words we conclude our own prayers each Sunday. Prayers of the people, this part of worship is called. Which strikes me as odd, since who else would be praying, and what are the other prayers if not ours? But of course, the title means prayers
But we had hoped
May 8, 2011
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Text: Luke 24:13-35Grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.But we had hoped. Four heart-rending words. This is a sentence people speak to each other each in grief. In mutual consolation. Supporting one another. A resignation that things did not work out—not that we thought they necessarily would; probably they wouldn’t. But they might have. This one time they might
Leave this room
May 1, 2011
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Text: John 20:19-31
It might seem like this passage in John’s Gospel is two stories, nearly identical versions, paternal twins. One without Thomas and one with Thomas. In each one, Jesus appears to the disciples who are locked in or shut in a room together. In each one, Jesus greets them saying “Peace be to you.” In each one, Jesus shows them his wounds to verify his identity. And in each one,
Here is what we do not know: almost everything
April 24, 2011
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Text: Matthew 28:1-10We are creatures of a moment. Our lives are small bits of encapsulated time. Seemingly bounded on both ends, mortals with beginnings and endings. Here is what we know for sure: we go from ashes to ashes, dust to dust. We say on Ash Wednesday: Remember that you are dust. And to dust you shall return. As if we needed reminding. We are assembled in the beginning from the ashes of
Great Expectations
April 17, 2011
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Text: Matthew 21:1-11Other texts: Passion according to MatthewThe sermon traditionally follows a reading from one of the four Gospels. That is because the preacher is supposed to take that his or her starting place. Even when the sermon talks about another of the readings, it is supposed to be influenced by the themes of the Gospel reading. But what are we to make of a day, like today, when there are
Is God With Us or Not?
March 27, 2011
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Text: Exodus 17:1-7, John 4:5-42
Their fear obliterated their memory and it erased their gratitude. Without water in the desert, they forgot that God had freed them from slavery, had defeated their foes, and had fed them as they searched for the land to which God had sent them. Now, thirsty, impatient, and terrified, they complained to Moses: where is God? Is God among us—or not?Fear drives out the
Tempted to be Perfect
March 13, 2011
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Text: Genesis 3:1-7
It is tempting to read this passage in Matthew as a call to us to be perfect.We are all tempted by one thing or another, we think, and in this Gospel story Jesus is tempted by the same things. One view is that we all need food, we all need safety, and we all need to have some control over our lives. So those are the things with which the tempter tests Jesus. A darker view of the
Ups and Downs
March 6, 2011
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Text: Matthew 17:1-9 (Transfiguration)
Life has its ups and downs.On the upside is upbeat. Things are looking up. It’s uplifting because we’re flying high. Up is where the penthouses are and the desks of the big-shots. Upgraded.And up is where the heavens are. Up is where Jesus went when he ascended, and Elijah went up, too. Jesus rose from the dead and now Jesus is up there, sitting at the right
Pulled This Way and That Way
February 27, 2011
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Text: Matthew 6:24-34
Other texts: Psalm 131The season of Lent is nearly upon us. Ash Wednesday is ten days away. On that day we are reminded of our humble origins in the dust of the earth, given life breathed into us by God. It is a day of humility that begins a season of humility.Lent, like Advent, is a time reserved in the church year for soul-searching contemplation. It is a time to look hard at
Open Hands
February 20, 2011
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Text: Matthew 5:38-48Preacher: Katie Wilson, vicar at Faith.
Thank you all for having me here. Thank you All for being here.Today I would like to speak about equality, and inclusivity, and what those words mean to me in light of our gospel reading: to “give to everyone” and to “Love your enemies.” I have preached before about the work we do in Faith Kitchen, providing hot meals and a shared
Getting in the Way of Life
February 13, 2011
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Text: Deuteronomy 30:15-20
I set before you life and death, says Moses, blessings and curses. Choose life.I should carry those words of Moses on a card in my wallet. I should have them as my screen saver. I should tattoo them on my arm. At some of the most important decisions of my life, these words have been a guide, a prod, a test of motivation and validity. They are like the room with two doors.
A Practical Guide to Happiness
February 6, 2011
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Text: Psalm 112
Other texts: Isaiah 58:1-12A couple of weeks ago social observer David Brooks wrote about happiness. Happiness has been in the news a lot these days. It is trendy to talk about happiness. This is new. Though happiness may have been a goal for people, it was not considered polite to talk about it. Maybe people thought that happiness was not a worthy pursuit. Too self-centered sounding,
Call to Us
January 23, 2011
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Text: Matthew 4:12-23
Off the coast of Scotland is the small island of Iona. It has been known for centuries as a holy place. The monastery which dominates the landscape of Iona was founded in the year 563 by Saint Columba, who was responsible for the spread of Christianity throughout Scotland. On the grounds of Iona Abbey are buried the remains of Duncan, the king of Scotland made famous by Shakespeare’s
As I Live and See
January 17, 2011
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Text: John 1:29-42
The Gospel of John is like a cloth, woven in complex patterns from a few simple threads. Light and darkness, love and truth, belief, revelation. These threads cross over and under each other, creating for John a convincing image of the Word of God incarnate, dwelling here with us. The divinity of Jesus, and the notion that he has existed for all time and will for all time to come,
Numbered Blessings
January 3, 2011
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Text: Numbers 6:22-27
Near the end of the story of the foundation of Israel, in the book of Deuteronomy, Moses speaks to the Israelites. They have escaped from slavery in Egypt and are about to enter the land promised to them by God. Moses has given them the gift of the law. He is about to die. He says to the Israelites: I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that