Sermons from 2014

Blessed To See Jesus

On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me – three French hens, two turtledoves, and a partridge in a pear tree. In the church, Christmas is not a single day, but a season – complete with twelve days of feasting and celebrating. Perhaps, you are celebrating with visiting family and friends. Many are off school and some are…

God Bless Us Everyone

8:30 Christmas Eve Sermon For so many of us, Christmas movies are as much a part of the season as Advent wreaths and baking cookies. We turn on old favorites and tentatively try out new ones with family and friends, looking for ways to retell the Christmas story. This season, we have been watching some common favorites and finding God’s themes for…

Emmanuel – God Is With Us

With Christmas being only a short time away, we are in the Advent Season. It is a time to prepare our hearts, souls and spirits for the coming of Christ. So let us today turn our thoughts to the First Advent and look back and view those days from the time of Mary and Joseph. Our text for today is Matt. 1:18-25.…

Have You Known a Miracle?

This is the third week of Advent. We have been preparing ourselves and retelling among us the stories of preparation as we expect God’s presence to come among us through Jesus. We wait for the birth of the son of Mary, but also for the Christ who comes in our midst and brings God’s way to every corner of our world. I…

Not Home Alone!

I was about six years old, and it was about this time of year. My mother, my father, my baby sister and I were shopping at K-mart. Doing Christmas shopping, I presume in my memory. My parents were discussing gifts for the extended family and my little sister was in the stroller, contently playing as I recall. My parents walked through the…

Is the Grinch Coming to Your House?

Now that the turkey has been roasted and leftovers made into soups, sandwiches, and salads. Now that the family and friends have gathered and have or are preparing to disburse. Now that Thanksgiving already feels like a holiday of the past, even though it is only 3 days ago. We move from gratitude to preparation. We move from cultivating worshipful thanksgiving moments…

The Bachelorette

I like the tradition of sharing that which are thankful for around the Thanksgiving table. I like the way the tradition is adapted for children in school as they fill in turkey feathers with people and things they are thankful for. I always read these with great interest. You can expect to see thanks given for Mom and Dad, sometimes sisters and…

Fear Factor

What keeps you up late at night? What makes you squirm? I have a sense that for all of us that is some thing or some things that make us uncomfortable to the point of avoidance. That there are some things we choose not to encounter or engage with based on fear. This morning, we continue our series related to biblical reality…

Survivor

Survivor She plots behind your back. He throws you under the bus. He tells you what to do. She denies you at every turn. Have you experienced this? Is that biblical or modern day? The truth is YES: in the biblical narrative, in the modern day and all around us. As long as there have been God’s people, there have been difficult…