Sermons

E2B 2020 1 Samuel 3:1-10 [11-20] Just this week I saw a picture of a coffee mug with that pretty, swirly script on the side that is often used for…

Baptism of Our Lord Year B 2020 Mark 1:4-11 The story of the Baptism of Our Lord begins with crowds seeking John’s baptism of repentance—that is a redirecting, a turning…

Epiphany 2021 Matthew 2:1-12 & Isaiah 60:1-6 Having been a life-long Lutheran, I’m sure I first learned that “Epiphany” meant this festival, commemorating the visit of the magi to the…

Advent 4B 2020 Luke 1:26-38 [46-55] An old friend of mine was listening to Christmas music with her daughter. The song “Mary Did You Know?” came on, and her daughter…

can wish for the good old days. He wants them to remember God’s faithfulness so that they will be confident that God will act again on their behalf. John is…

Sunday, December 6, 2020 Mark 1:1-8; Isaiah 40:1-11 Over the past few months I have been doing a lot of hiking with Otto on several trails that were new to…

A1B 2020 Mark 13:24-37 I of course spent this Thanksgiving isolating at home, but I did get to call and Zoom with some friends and family I don’t get to…

The new season of The Crown, the Netflix series about Queen Elizabeth II, was released last week, so I went back to the beginning and have been re-watching all the…

P25A 2020 Matthew 25:14-30 I love to cook because I love to eat, but although I love to eat baked goods, I have never gotten the hang of baking. I…

P23A 2020 Matthew 25:1-13 Think back, if you can remember, to the middle of March. We were slogging through the cold, wet, grey end of winter. We were working our…

All Saints A 2020 Matthew 5:1-12 I am struck by the irony of celebrating All Saints Day in our current season of coronavirus. Normally today would serve as a reminder…

Reformation 2020  John 8:32-36 We’re probably all familiar with the bit of wisdom, Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.  I know I have many…

P20A 2020  Matthew 22:15-22 I am not a big TV person.  I’ll watch a whole series on Netflix if someone recommends something good, but I don’t sit down with the…

P19A 2020 Matthew 22:1-14 Several years ago I had one of those summers where almost every weekend was a wedding, and all the wedding venues were different: one in a…

P18A 2020 Matthew 21:33-46 We are as far away in our calendar year as we can get from Holy Week, but today’s gospel places us just two days before Jesus’…

Return to worship May 2, 2021 according to the following schedule:          First Sunday of the month: 9 AM worship in the sanctuary; 10:30 AM worship in the fellowship hall         …

P17A 2020 Matthew 21:23-32 Do you ever think about your family and friends and how you are able to get along with them pretty well even though they are not…

P16A 2020 Matthew 20:1-16 There is perhaps no parable that Jesus tells that makes people angrier than this one. Good, hardworking laborers put in a full day’s work and get…

P15A 2020 Matthew 18:21-35 Matthew is not my favorite gospel writer; but it’s fortuitous that the pandemic hit while we were in Matthew’s year in our lectionary cycle, because the…

P14A 2020 Matthew 18:15-20 As I’ve gotten settled into my new house, I’ve acquired quite an extensive collection of user’s manuals for many more products and appliance than you would…

August 30, 2020 P13A 2020 Matthew 16:21-28 Have you ever had a really great day, and then woke up the next day and everything just goes horribly wrong? That’s Peter…

P11A 2020—Matthew 15:21-28 One of the things that I’ve been missing during the pandemic is the ability to travel, especially to travel out of the country. I think it’s exciting…

P10A 2020: Matthew 14:22-33 & 1 Kings 19:9-18 The story of Jesus walking on water is so often referenced in popular culture that you don’t have to be biblically literate…

P9A 2020: Matthew 14;13-21 When I read this passage this week it occurred to me that I can’t remember the last time I was in a deserted place and hungry….

P8A 2020: Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52 She put before them another parable: the kingdom of heaven is like a woman who ordered something fragile from Amazon; she opened the box and…

P5A 2020 Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30 Some of you know or know of my dog Otto. He loves to be outside, I’m sure partly because Labradors are bred as sporting dogs,…

P4A 2020: Matthew 10:40-42 I started the process of buying my new home right before the pandemic hit, which meant everything took a little longer than usual. So I was…

P2A 2020: Matthew 9:35-10:8[9-23] I don’t want to jinx it, but unless something goes wrong, this will be the last Sunday that I’ll be leading worship from my dining room….

Holy Trinity A 2020: Matthew 28:16-20 If you are expecting me to explain the mystery of the Holy Trinity on this Trinity Sunday, I have bad news for you. You…

Pentecost A 2020: Acts 2:1-21 & John 20:19-23 Those of you who have participated in our Zoom Sunday fellowship or committee meetings have discovered that the blessing of video conferencing…

E7A 2020 John 17:1-11 This week I was going through boxes, and I found several greeting cards from a member of my first parish.  They were cards for different occasions,…

E5A 2020 John 14:1-14 This has been an interesting last week or so. We are still, of course, living through the strange new world of the pandemic. That was probably…

Easter 4A 2020 John 10:1-10 You may have noticed from the opening hymn, the psalm, and the gospel that today is Good Shepherd Sunday, when God’s people are pictured as…

Easter 3A 2020 Luke 24:13-35 It must be because I spent too many years in school, either as a student or a teacher, but I more often conceptualize time according…

Easter 2A (COVID-19 QUARANTINE, WEEK 6) John 20:19-31 This is Camp Sunday, so I’m wearing an official camp t-shirt, but for a few of the years I worked at Sequanota…

Easter A 2020 (Corona Quarantine) Matthew 28:1-10 Let’s just take a moment, right now in the middle of the most bizarre Easter Sunday I bet any of us have ever…

Easter Vigil Proclamation of the Resurrection 2020 Coronavirus Quarantine Had we been together and had we read all of the traditional scripture for tonight, we would have read about: Our…

Maundy Thursday 2020 John 13:1-17, 31b-35 I am particularly grieved that we cannot be physically together this evening, because our remembrance of this gospel story is usually such a sensory…

L5A 2020 (Third Sunday of Corona Quarantine): Ezekiel 37:1-14 A few months ago a friend and I had a discussion that was a little bit theology and a little bit…

L3A 2020 John 4:5-42 This is surely the strangest sermon I’ve ever preached, or at least the strangest circumstances in which I’ve preached. In preparation for today, I was thinking…

L4A 2020 (Second Sunday of Coronatide): 1 Samuel 16:1-13 This story from 1 Samuel is one of my all time favorite passages of the OldTestament, but as with so many…