Worship & Sermon Archive

Dear Friends, I hope you’ll join us for worship this Sunday as we celebrate the Baptism of Our Lord, a day centered on water, grace, and belovedness.

A new year gives us a chance to think through the road we've been traveling and consider whether we might change direction. That's true for my life, and it's true of our communal life as well. The magi are the stars (!) of the Epiphany story. But the real gift they bring to the Holy Family is to reconsider the road they were planning to take, choosing resistance rather than capitulation. Choosing Jesus over Herod. A life-saving decision for Jesus! And a life-changing decision for those of us who call ourselves Christians.

On this first Sunday of Christmas, we pause to remember that the light shines in the darkness—and the darkness does not overcome it. Whether you are feeling full of joy, carrying quiet grief, or simply catching your breath in the midst of a busy season, we offer this word of hope and peace to you. May the love made known in Christ meet you exactly where you are today. Love and blessings!

On this Christmas, we pause to remember that the light shines in the darkness—and the darkness does not overcome it. Whether you are feeling full of joy, carrying quiet grief, or simply catching your breath in the midst of a busy season, we offer this word of hope and peace to you. May the love made known in Christ meet you exactly where you are today.

We've waited all year - it's almost here! The cherished St Paul & St Andrew Service of Lessons & Carols, that is! This Sunday at 11am, Dr. Frank Glass, the Choir, and wonderful instrumentalists will join together to bring Christmas closer.

Come this Sunday at 11am for the fabulous St. Paul & St. Andrew Christmas Pageant! This year's pageant is "Night Watch Club". Written by Pastor Lea, produced by Pastor Andrea, directed by Julie Haggerty, costumed by Yuling Wang Tan, Nancy Meyers, Camber Carpenter, Connie Chiang and Elizabeth Stilwell, technical directed by Brent Ness, and music directed by Brooke Berry-Wolf and accompanist Danton Bankay, this year's pageant is sure to be another smash hit!

"In those days, John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness..." Matthew 3:1 The central character of the Advent season isn't Santa, or even Jesus. It's John the Baptist. Everyone's favorite weirdo. The image we have of John (if we have one at all) is a bit cartoonish. He's the guy who lives out in the desert, eats bugs, smells like a camel, and screams at the Pharisees.

Dear Friends, This Sunday marks the beginning of Advent, a season that starts not in bright lights and carols, but in the dark. It begins with tremors and shadows, with stars falling and the ground beneath us shifting.

‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food or thirsty and gave you something to drink?' Matthew 25:44 It occurs to me that some of the most caring and generous people I know don't understand how unusual they are. They go through life with a natural sensitivity to what is going on around them. And not responding to an opportunity to give, seems unthinkable to them.

"When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones ...Jesus said, 'As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another.'" Luke 21:5-6 That's not a great lectionary text to show up as we're celebrating the start of the big roof project! But it is another reminder that it's not our lovely and quirky building that matters, but the vital work of love that the building makes possible. 

"Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him a question…" - Luke 20:27-28 Friends, Long before I was a pastor, I had a job that involved working alongside lawyers as they navigated lawsuits and prepared for depositions and trials. My role often involved drafting examination questions about the financial issues of the case, based on the reams and reams of documents we had reviewed and analyzed.

I've been thinking this week about the 'cloud of witnesses' who have been part of my life, and the life of this church, over the past decades. So many beloved friends and family members who have died, but are still with me in an almost tangible way. And I've been feeling very grateful.

Friends, I’ve been thinking quite a bit about silence lately - and wrestling with my yearning for it at a time when silencing seems to be the objective of so many authoritarian powers. Like most things, silence isn’t good or bad in and of itself. It can be both generative and destructive, both holy and sinful.

Finally, the season has come! I’m not thinking of the lovely Autumn weather that has indeed shown up, after a sizzling September and a too hot early October. And I’m not talking about the election season, God knows. I’m speaking of the beloved annual pledge season, celebrated this time of year throughout Christendom. At this season, church communities all around the world start thinking and planning about the coming year, and figuring out how to meet whatever new challenges or opportunities may await.

So much of life depends on how we show up for one another, and just as importantly, how we allow others to show up for us. This week in worship, we’ll reflect on what it means to live that kind of mutual care: to lend what we can, to ask when we need, and to trust that God’s abundance flows through our shared courage.

This Sunday, in honor of the Feast of St Francis of Assisi, we will celebrate a Blessing of the Animals during our 11am service. It's a rare Sunday when we are not joined by a furry friend or two, but we hope this week to have many!

At a desperate moment in the life of his nation, the prophet Jeremiah gets a strange message from God: 'Buy a field in your hometown.' This at a moment when the Kingdom of Judah is about to be overrun by the armies of the Babylonian Empire, and Jeremiah himself is under house arrest for saying things that are critical of his own government and rulers. A strange time to invest in real estate.

These are days heavy with worry. The headlines shift by the hour, and the politics of our moment seem to lurch further into reactionary territory. It’s so very troubling. And more often than not, we are left wondering what to do, how to keep moving, how to make sense of this much uncertainty and ache all at once.

This week's Gospel passage is all about joy, and the need to never give up on anyone. Jesus is always getting criticized for spending time with the sorts of people nobody else wanted or cared about. Spending time because he understands that everyone matters to God. Every soul is of sacred worth. Every single person has the potential to increase our joy.

Over the past several Sundays, I’ve been intrigued and inspired by the challenging Jesus we’ve encountered in Luke’s gospel. The Jesus who says he didn’t come to bring peace, but division (Luke 12:51). The rule-breaking Jesus (Luke 13:14-16). The order flipping, imagination-stirring Jesus (Luke 14:13-14). This week, we’ll spend more time with the Jesus who refuses to be tamed - the Jesus who believes the power of love, the power of kindness, the power of drawing the circle wider and treating people’s needs as holy - can overcome even the most entrenched systems of exclusion.