Sermons
Our lives are made up of this tension between grief and hope, loss and new life, sorrow and resurrection. This is Lent and Easter. This is humanity and divinity. This is the Paschal mystery, the awful death and the glorious resurrection of our redeemer and sustainer, Jesus the Christ.
Listen to or read Ryan’s entire sermon by clicking “Read More.”
It’s hard for me to imagine how this woman must have felt at finding a strange man sitting by the well, a man who upon speaking to her turned out to be a Jew. Her surprise at the situation notwithstanding, the woman did converse with Jesus, though initially that didn’t go terribly well. As in conversations Jesus had with Nicodemus, a well-educated Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin, to those he had with his disciples who traveled with him and on some levels knew him well, what Jesus said to the woman and what she heard were definitely not the same thing.
Listen to or read Sharon’s entire sermon by clicking “Read More.”
In our Gospel today we have the beginning of a different portrait about a different kind of disciple. It is about Nicodemus. Nicodemus is a man full of faith, he is a well respected community and religious leader, he is wealthy. He has been hearing about Jesus and is intrigued. He knows there is something about God going on in this, but doesn’t quite know what to make of it.
Listen to or read Bingham’s full sermon by clicking “Read More.”
“And now that it appears we’re approaching the edge of the desert, we’re beginning to see signs of green, what do we see on the horizon but Jerusalem, and the emotional rollercoaster of Holy Week. Do we even have the energy to enter the city? And what if the green we think we see is only a mirage, and this desert we’re in is simply going to go on forever? We are so tired, and even those of us comfortable with solitude are by now simply feeling lonely. Like the Greeks in today’s Gospel, we would so love to be able to turn to Philip and say, Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”
Click “Read More” to read or listen to Sharon’s entire sermon for the 5th Sunday in Lent.
“Today we again hear Jesus talk about the cross, although the reference may be a little bit opaque. Jesus says just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up. This is a reference to the cross. Lifting up here is referring to him being lifted up high on the cross so that all can see him and be saved. As we talked a little last week, the cross was not just about the death of an individual, but it was a message to the wider community. Crucifixion was done very publicly, and part of that was lifting you up rather high in order to make it easier for everyone to see you.”
Click “Read More” to read or listen to the Rev. Bingham Powell’s entire sermon for the 4th Sunday in Lent.
"The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart. Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age?"
This is a rhetorical question Paul is asking today. If it had been a serious question, the answer could have been something like, look in the mirror, Paul. You are an excellent debater yourself. Many of Paul's arguments have withstood the test of time, afterall. Another serious answer to the question could have been
Click “Read More” to read or listen to Bingham’s entire sermon for the 3rd Sunday of Lent.
Today is the second Sunday in Lent, 2021. Last year on this Sunday, I preached a sermon that talked about pilgrimage as a traditional Lenten practice. That was March first, and it was almost the last Sunday before we were all constrained to a level of solitude for which we were little prepared. I remember thinking, in the weeks after that sermon, that it would’ve been better to have preached on the way of the hermit as a Lenten practice. But we do our best, don’t we, given nobody can know the future. Anyway, I don’t know about you, but I feel as if the entire last year has been Lent. Maybe that’s not such a bad thing.
Click “Read More” to read or listen to Dr. Loren Crow’s entire sermon for the 2nd Sunday of Lent.
