Sermons
In the Incarnation, God is saying I want to be there right where you are. I have these dreams for you, but if we don’t make them, I will still love you. I’m still going to be with you. I will still care for you, and we’re going to work together on this. I hope I can lift you up, I hope we can get there, but if not I will come right where you are.
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Today, Jesus continues with more of his countercultural pronouncements of how to live in kinship with God, one another, and creation. Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who abuse you. What? These are the exact opposites of what we’ve been taught to do, right? Or at least what society tells us, what society values. Turn the other check?
Listen to or read Ryan’s entire sermon by clicking “Read More.”
At this point in Jesus’ ministry, word has really begun to spread, and people are coming from all over, Luke tells us it was a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. Everybody, Jews and Gentiles from all around were coming to see and hear and, if they were lucky, touch or be touched by this amazing new teacher.
Listen to or read Ryan’s entire sermon by clicking “Read More.”
In today’s readings we hear about Peter and from Paul, two of the giants of early Christianity. Contemporaries, they became followers of Jesus very differently, though they reportedly met the same end, martyred by Nero in Rome.
At the time Jesus began his ministry Peter was a fisherman who apparently fished with his brother Andrew and their partners James and John. Based on the fact he was sometimes called Simon, or Simon Peter, he was likely not simply an Aramaic-speaking Jew but rather one who knew at least some Greek as well as Aramaic and perhaps Hebrew. Peter is believed to have lived in Capernaum on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee where he and his brother and their friends fished.
Listen to or read Sharon’s entire sermon by clicking “Read More.”
These three seasons are all about the Incarnation. In Advent we are preparing for the coming of Christ, at Christmas we are celebrating the birth of Christ, and in Epiphany, people are having their epiphanies. They are realizing that in the person of Jesus, there is something happening. He is more than just a regular person. The thing that they are experiencing is the fullness of God dwelling within this human. So we have Advent, a season of preparation, Christmas, a season of celebration, and Epiphany, a season of realization.
Listen to or read Bingham’s entire sermon by clicking “Read More.”
The third thing that Paul argues, and I think this is the most important one because it will lead us to that message of love. Paul says that every single gift we have has been given to us for the common good. These gifts we have been given are not just for us to enjoy for ourselves. You may take pleasure in the gift, but they are given to us for the other, for the community, for something bigger than ourselves, for something outside of ourselves.
Listen to or read Bingham’s entire sermon by clicking “Read More.”
