Worship & Sermon Archive

It's the fabulous St. Paul & St. Andrew Christmas Pageant! This year's pageant is "The Writers' Room."

On this blessed Second Sunday of Advent, we look to the coming of -- John the Baptist?? Certainly! John the Baptist is the central character of Advent, the star, so to speak. And boy, is his a story to be told.

Very few things grab our attention as quickly as the simple phrase, "Once upon a time." Storytime is the best. Kids and adults both love the cozy, cuddle up time over a picture book. And there is nothing as sweet or tender as a heart-to-heart between loved ones, when somebody takes a tiny leap of faith to share with another a bit of their life's story.

On this last Sunday of the Christian year, right before the beginning of Advent, we celebrate "The Reign of Christ", also known as Christ the King Sunday. It has an interesting history. In 1920s Italy, Pope Pius XI was concerned about the rise of a narrow nationalism and fascism at home and abroad, and he wanted to mark a day for the church to emphasize that, as Christians, our primary loyalty is not to a political party, or any leader, or even our nation, but to Jesus Christ.

Birth pangs are a frequently used motif in the apocalyptic imagery that was common in Jesus's Jewish tradition. As someone who physically birthed two humans from my womb, I know a thing or two about birth pangs. One of the things I learned through my labor and delivery experiences is that fear-based resistance intensifies pain and draws out the process in dangerous and unhealthy ways. We've been talking and singing about the importance of resistance, of holy resistance, in recent days.

The gospel story of the woman giving her last two coins to the temple treasury leaves me with some questions. Jesus notices the woman's generosity, but does he actually approve of her contributing so sacrificially? And why does this widow, offered so little protection by religious or secular law, want to support a system that ignores her and her needs?

Jesus is clear. These are the greatest commandments, and they work together. You can't love God without loving your neighbor, and that requires loving yourself as well. But how many of us are good at all three?

"Whoever wishes to become great among you must be a servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be servant of all." Mark 10:43 Why are we here? That's a question I ask myself every now and then. Maybe more now than then, given the strange and troubling political climate of this moment.

"Who are you?," is one of those big existential questions that I think faces all of us. On the most basic level, our names are the first ever introduction we get to most relationships. From emails, to texts, to perhaps even being yelled at in a crowded spaces, our names and what we call ourselves shapes deeply how other people interact with us.

God said to Noah, “This rainbow is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all the animals that are on the earth.” Genesis 9:17 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!

We have reached the fifth and last part of our sermon series on the Joy of James, and find, in this final chapter of James, that the answer to everything is - wait for it - prayer!! Are you sick or suffering? Pray! Are you happy, full of joy? Pray!

As I've been prepping for Sunday, my brain keeps transporting me back to the Intermediate Hebrew class I took during seminary. Perhaps a strange place to be, since we aren't working with any Hebrew Bible texts this week?

How much peace have you made this week? What does it even mean to 'make peace'? In the literal sense of the phrase, James is telling us that peace can be manufactured, constructed. But how?

Remember Walkmans? Remember cassette tapes? Well in that same era, I have a distinct memory of "borrowing" my mother's Jane Fonda workout tape and putting it into my walkman. I set off on a walk.

This week's lectionary serves up some strange passages. The Gospel reading begins with Jesus saying, "Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and I in them." Just because we affirm this, do this, each communion Sunday doesn't quite remove the 'Ewww!' factor in this passage!

What if the writer of 1st Peter, a chaplain and pastor to refugees, displaced & unhoused, made a pastoral call on King David? Would David’s fears have been relieved? Would his last gasp for vengeance be stilled? (read 1 Peter 3:9-15 for some clues).

Have you ever had to be a bearer of bad news? How did you feel or what did you do to prepare to give someone a word that you knew was going to be hard?

Who's been watching the Olympics this week? I confess, I've missed most of it so far, except for a few of the preliminary events in women's gymnastics.

What is a miracle? I don't know how I feel about miracles. On the one hand, I feel like most things that happen have a simple, logical explanation. On the other, I can't picture moving through life without a constant feeling of wonder!

What a week! I don't know about you, but I think I'm all about tired of saying and feeling this. Continued political strife and violence, failing infrastructure at the hands of our inability to be good stewards of our resources, it's too darn hot/wet/windy...and on and on.