Brent Ness

Friends, How do you get ready for Christmas? Some, like my family, decorate the day after Thanksgiving. The tree and the wreaths and the nativities all go up, even before the official start of Advent.

It seems strange to me that in some understandings of Christianity, what matters is what you believe and not what you do.

As you may remember, “talent” (τάλαντον in Greek) originally referred to a unit of money. A very big unit of money!

Even before October 7th, I had picked the Joshua passage to preach on for my first sermon at St. Paul St. Andrew.

Whenever we gather in worship, we join with other followers of Jesus we cannot see. Communion is always a ‘communion of saints’, past, present and future – a community beyond time and space.

So much of our time on this earth is planning for the future. What’s for dinner? What will I wear on Sunday? What do I want to be when I grow up?

What does God expect of us, anyway? John Wesley came up with three ‘general rules’: Do no harm; Do good; Pay attention to God.

What does God expect of us, anyway? John Wesley came up with three ‘general rules’: Do no harm; Do good; Pay attention to God.

Have you ever been hurt, even to the point of feeling betrayed? (And don’t we all know what it’s like to be hurt?) If so, this Sunday’s sermon is for you.