Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost                                     30 August 2020 (Jeremiah 15:15-21   Psalm 26   Romans 12:9-21   Matthew 16:21-28) “Be Genuine…Rejoice…Be Patient…Persevere!” “Let your love be genuine!”  These are the words of St. Paul to the church at Rome, written before he even met them!  “Rejoice in hope!  Be patient in suffering!  Persevere in prayer!”  That’s my sermon for … More “Be Genuine…Rejoice…Be Patient…Persevere!”

Matthew 16:13-20, Romans 12:1-8 One of the more interesting things about the history of the Christian Church, is how it grew so rapidly in the early years following Jesus’ life. Historian, Rodney Stark, author of The Rise of Christianity and long-time professor of Comparative Religion at the University of Washington, points out, that if we … More Be Church

Matthew 15:21-28 Today’s gospel is some pretty tough scripture.  Not necessarily in its difficulty of understanding, in its making sense of, but in its pain.  In the pain of its characters (a mother desperately seeking healing for her daughter, her daughter tortured by possession).  In the pain of Jesus’ initial response to the mother and … More Pain, Faith, and Healing

Tenth Sunday after Pentecost                                                         9 August 2020 (1 Kings 19:9-18   Psalm 85   Romans 10:5-15   Matthew 14:22-33) “Hearing the Voice in the Storm!” I’d like you to think back to a time you were watching a movie, and as it is coming to an end, just as the villain is about to be caught, he slips … More “Hearing the Voice in the Storm!”

Ninth Sunday after Pentecost                                             2 August 2020 (Isaiah 55:1-5   Psalm 145   Romans 9:1-5   Matthew 14:13-21) “The Voice Crying Out from the Wound!” There is a story of a little girl, probably six or seven years old, when she became an orphan of war.  This story comes out of the war-torn years of Guatemala.  Both her … More “The Voice Crying Out from the Wound!”