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Madness and crucifixion 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 by Matt Elia Feb 2, 2014 The prayer I’d like to open with is from Saint Vincent de Paul, a 17th century French priest who spent his life serving the poor. In 1605 he was taken captive and sold into slavery in North Africa. Being freed years later, he […]

Title: Emmaus, Hospitality and Power Text: Luke 24:13-31 Author: Isaac S. Villegas Date: February 2, 2014 Event: MCUSA People of Color, “Hope for the Future” Place: The National Conference Center, Leesburg, VA Luke 24:30, “When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.” He […]

Title: Emmaus, Strangers as Companions Text: Luke 24 Author: Isaac S. Villegas Date: January 31, 2014 Event: MCUSA People of Color, “Hope for the future” Place: The National Convention Center, Leesburg, VA A stranger in Jerusalem These two disciples, on the way to Emmaus, have been with Jesus. They have walked with him before, from […]

Broken Body Language 1 Cor 1:10-18; Matt 4:12-23 by Isaac Villegas January 26, 2014 The verses we heard from I Corinthians are bad news for preachers. We’re told that all the work that goes into crafting a clever sermon — the revising, the editing, the memorizing, the public speaking exercises — all of it is […]

Baptized into God Matthew 3:13-17 by Isaac Villegas January 11, 2014   “And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased’” (Matthew 3:13-17). You are my son, my daughter, the one whom I love, the one whom I am well pleased. Who wouldn’t want to hear […]

After Christmas Matthew 2:13-23 by Isaac Villegas December 29, 2013 The Christmas season is full of magic, a season of miracles — Saint Nicholas and Santa Claus surprising children with gifts, stories of angels appearing to shepherds in the night sky, and, the miracle of all miracles, the advent of Christ, God as human flesh […]

On being liked Matthew 1:18-25 by Isaac Villegas Dec 22, 2013 Not only does God love us; God also likes us. The story of Christmas tells us that we are not only loved by God, but that God actually likes us. There’s a difference between loving people and liking them. I can think of people […]

Death in the Hands of Life Third Sunday of Advent, Dec 15, 2013 By Scott Schomburg Matthew 11:2-11 In the world of Matthew’s Gospel, death has broken loose. Its kingdom is on the offensive. It terrorizes. Annihilates. Threatens. Herod’s massacre jolts us into world ordered by death. Disease invades life. Death’s relentless force designates some […]

Advent Fire Matthew 3:1-12 by Isaac Villegas Dec 8, 2013 On this second Sunday of Advent, we talk about fire. Not just the flicker of a candle, but flames, blazing. Christmas brings a baptism of fire. The advent of Jesus means fire. John the Baptist tells us so, when he appears near Jerusalem, with bugs […]

Live by mercy Luke 18:9-14 by Isaac S. Villegas October 27, 2013 The Pharisee stands by himself, it says, and prays; he offers words of gratitude, of thanksgiving. He’s grateful for his luck, his good fortune that he has not become a thief or villain, an adulterer or tax collector — he’s grateful that he […]

She Persists Luke 18:1-8 by Meghan Florian October 20, 2013 In today’s gospel passage from Luke, Jesus tells the disciples a parable about their need to pray always, and not lose heart. The story take places in a certain nameless city, and features two main characters. First, there is a judge who has no fear […]

Homemaking as resistance Jeremiah 29:1-7 by Isaac S. Villegas October 13, 2013 “Build houses… Plant gardens…” Jeremiah says (Jer 29:5). James picks through a crumbling building on an abandoned lot on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, carefully selecting rubble to make a border for the deserted plot of earth he had dug into an […]

Lamentation & Communion Lamentations 1:1-6, 3:19-26 by Nathan Rauh-Bieri October 6, 2013 Last Sunday, Isaac preached about what Jeremiah does in the face of the impending destruction of Jerusalem: he buys a field at Anathoth. This mundane of act of sober hope is also an invitation for life to happen in the midst of and […]

The field at Anathoth Jeremiah 32 by Isaac S. Villegas Sept 29, 2013 I haven’t spent much time at the Anathoth Community Garden. I haven’t pulled weeds in those beds or picked tomatoes from the vines, as I know some of you have done. I’ve only been out there for celebrations — for harvest festivals […]

Righteous but Shrewd; Poor but Extravagant Luke 16:1-15 by Ben D. Sept 22, 2013 As Catherine reminded us last week, Luke’s gospel has much to say about loss—about the experience of losing things.[1] Jesus says: Those who want to save their life will lose it; those who lose their life for my sake will save […]

Kingdom for the Lost Luke 15:1-10 by Catherine Thiel Lee September 15, 2013   Tonight we are going to look at two stories, parables that Jesus told.  They are simple stories.  Nice stories.  Things get lost, but they are found, and then there are parties.  The parables aren’t long, so I’m going to read them […]

Single, like Jesus Luke 14:25-33 by Isaac S. Villegas Sept 8, 2013 I grew up listening to Focus on the Family, five days a week, every morning on Family Life Radio. For that half hour, Dr. Dobson would explain the world to me; he’d tell me how to understand my life and our culture. On […]

Am I yours and are you mine? Luke 14:1, 7-14 by Melissa Florer-Bixler Sept 1, 2013 Ascension Parish is nestled into the side of Portland, Oregon’s Mount Tabor so it was a steep climb to the wooden front door. Making my there was especially difficult when negotiating the terrain with Joni, who finds walking on […]

Restoring Bent People Luke 13:10-17 by Joanna Shenk August 25, 2013 I’ve been trying to visualize how bent over this woman was… I guess that’s not really the point, but it tugs at my imagination. And I wonder why it is that I immediately imagine an older woman with many wrinkles and tattered clothes? We […]

Greed Luke 12:13-21 by Isaac S. Villegas August 4, 2013 Jesus tells a story about a wealthy landowner with a bumper crop, and we get to listen in as he figures out what to do with the harvest. Like all the rest of Jesus’ parables, there are subtleties here that nudge us in all sorts […]

Rise up, O God, judge the earth Psalm 82 by Isaac S. Villegas July 14, 2013 “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked?” That’s what God says to us in Psalm 82. That’s what God says to the world, to our so-called justice systems. At the end of the Psalm, […]

The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house 2 Kings 5:1-14 by Isaac S. Villegas July 7, 2013 There’s a girl, a young woman, an Israelite who is ripped away from her people as part of the spoils of war. Her king and the king of Aram have been at war for years, and […]

Fire From Heaven Luke 9:51-56 by David Swanson July 1, 2013 Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them? Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them? What a question! These men, James and John, were the disciples of […]