Touched by an Angel
But the angel said to him, “Fear not, Zechariah, your prayer has been heard; your wife Elizabeth will bear a son to you, and you must call his name John. It will be joy and gladness for you, and many will rejoice over his birth:
Category Archives: Sermons
Blessings in Unexpected Places
Reading for the Fourth Sunday in Lent: The LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for
What Is Required To Live?
I think the most difficult part of this process is deciding what to talk about. To stand here doesn’t just mean that I must have something to say. I can usually manage to say something (though I do prefer saying it in from another vantage
St. Francis Celebration of Animals
Holy Trinity Cathedral, Auckland, New Zealand Readings: 2 Kings 4:1-37, Acts 16:1- 15 Picture if you will, a 12 year-old girl, sitting at the dinner table on a summer’s evening. It is the night before her thirteenth birthday, and she is concentrating hard on not
What Is the Church?
Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, Raleigh, N.C. Reading for the Fourth Sunday of Easter: They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done
Trick or Treat: Why Halloween Is Our Most Complete and Realistic Holiday
Northwest Unitarian Universalist Congregation, Atlanta, Ga. What do you remember most about Halloween? For me it was getting the candy. Each year I would pester my mom to make, or buy, me a real cool costume so I wouldn’t be embarrassed at school. Most of
The Sharp Edges of Blessings
Gentle Spirit Christian Church, Atlanta, Ga. Readings: Proverbs 25:21-22; Romans 12:14-18; Matthew 5:11-12, 38-48 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. (Romans 12:14) Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you
This Is Love
A sermon delivered at the Lutherans Concerned/Twin Cities worship service Psalms and Lessons (Series C, Seventh Sunday after Pentecost): Psalm 138, Genesis 18:20-32, Colossians 2:6-15, Luke 11:1-13 Offertory: Psalm 84:3-4 Wrestling with the text “Who decided I should preach on August 17th?” That was my
Making Room in God’s Embrace
Faith United Church of Christ, Dayton, Ohio Readings for the Second Sunday after Pentecost: Galatians 3:23-29, Luke 8:26-39 In my first preaching class in seminary, our professor, a dry stoic Dutchman named Syd Greidanus, told us that the best way to start off every sermon
Let Go and Hold On
Gentle Spirit Christian Church, Atlanta, Ga. Readings: Ezekiel 36:25-28, Luke 12:1-12, 2 Corinthians 3:7-18 I wish I could stand in front of you today without my sermon written word for word on the page. I prayed about it last week. As I stood here as