In our story from John’s Gospel, the people find Jesus in Capernaum, and they’re trying to figure out what this Jesus is all about—what it would mean to believe in him, and what it would mean to follow him. So they ask Jesus, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we… More
Sermons
Worship is more than preaching. Each worship gathering draws from the wealth of gifts of the community. We have rotations of volunteers who share the responsibilities of preaching, song leading, and service planning. We take turns reading the assigned Scripture readings for the day. The high point of our worship is our time for response and sharing. Since we believe that anyone can offer an interpretation of the Bible, we provide time in our worship for people to offer their own reflections on the Scriptures and the sermon.
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A dwelling place
It hasn’t been easy for David since he was chosen to rule Israel – picked the last of his brothers, sent out to a giant with a pocket of stones, made to play the harp to appease a demon, his death plotted by the king. I imagine he is weary from the unpredictability that has… More
Shake the Dust Off
I don’t have an mp3 player in my car, and frankly, I’m past the stage of putting music on a disc only to have it get all scratched up. So, I have become increasingly comfortable belting out pop songs, even if it draws stares. I am to an extent, beholden to the radio channels, to… More
Teacher, do you not care?
Friday morning I saw a man, probably in his 40s, walking slowly up Morehead Avenue, just around the corner from my house. He was walking with his hands stretched out, out from his sides, making his body into a cross. I stopped and watched him for a while, I watched him walk like that until… More
Pentecost: Oscar Romero
Day of Pentecost On Pentecost we pay attention to the mystery of the Holy Spirit, the presence of God poured out from heaven: God’s spirit alive in us, alive in our world. What are the signs of the Holy Spirit, the signs that the Spirit of God is at work? I thought I’d see if… More
Uprooted and Sent
Seventh Sunday of Easter My favorite yoga pose is the tree pose. I love the experience of shifting my weight to one leg, finding a center, imagining my foot sending strong roots deep into the earth to hold me, as I raise my other foot, resting it against my calf muscle. I love to breathe… More
You Are Mine: Love as Ownership
Today is Mother’s Day, and when I got assigned to preach on this day, I was a bit anxious. I grew up in a non-denominational, evangelical, church, and so I always expected to hear a a sermon that valorized mothers and motherhood on Mother’s Day. I felt a bit panicky because in the last six… More
Vines, Eunuchs, and Love
Fifth Sunday of Easter Listen again to 1 John 4:16, “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.” And hear again the words of Jesus from John 15:4, “Abide in me as I abide in you.” In those short verses we hear the word “abide” five… More
Touch me and see
A while ago I got a call, saying that someone in the jail downtown wanted to see me. I put on a tie, because I thought I should look like a professional, and I grabbed my bible, because I thought that’s what pastors brought along with them when they went to visit people in prison.… More
They were afraid
Easter “They were afraid.” Those are the last words of Mark — the earliest, the oldest, of the four Gospels. Mark ends his story of Jesus with Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome at the empty tomb, bewildered. There are alarmed, seized with terror, so they flee in shocked silence. The end.… More
Seeing and Following Jesus
Introduction This evening, I would like to look mainly at the lectionary reading from John and share with you some of my thoughts. I do not plan to examine every detail but rather to comments on it at several points. I will conclude by attempting to relate the other lectionary reading to a theme in… More
On healing
In our Old Testament reading for today the people of Israel, after their spectacularexodus from Egypt, are slowly moving across the desert and dying from snake bites. God tells Moses what to do:Numbers 21:9 So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; andwhenever a serpent bit someone, that person would… More
The Human One
“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Mark 8:34 When I read these words from Jesus, my mind takes me all the way back to Junior High. I remember the T-shirts my friends would wear at youth group — one shirt would have… More
Muddy
The kids have been singing. For those of you who don’t get here early at 4 PM each week, you should know that you are missing out on some fantastic congregational singing these days. Eric comes each week with his guitar and the kids sit up here and belt out hymns, as well as some… More
Transfiguration and fire
If you know me well enough, you’ve already guessed where I’m headed — you’ve already guessed what verse caught my eye, the part about the fire, of course. “Our God comes and does not keep silence, before him is a devouring fire, and a mighty tempest all around him” (Psalm 50:3). Obviously I’m going to… More
Paul and power
The first day of my community organizing class the teacher wrote the word “power” on the center of white board. “What are the words that come to mind when you see this?” he asked. We were eager seminaries, ready to take up our crosses, ready to die to ourselves. So we answered predictably: bad, pride,… More
Reluctant Prophet
If you consider the length of the bible, or the Old Testament, or even just the prophetic books of the Old Testament, Jonah seems insignificant in comparison — both in the space he takes up, and the gravity of his actions. The book of Jonah is only 4 chapters long, which takes up a mere… More
Attention
In our psalm today, we hear of how intimately God knows us. At first the psalmist describes God as knowing our day-to-day activities: sitting, standing, walking, lying down, and speaking. But we then hear about a knowledge that only God can know: God knows what is inside of us, God knew us in our mothers’… More
Heavens torn apart
“And just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.” That’s the scene at the Jordan River, with John the Baptist and Jesus. There they are, at a baptism, and the heavens are torn apart. This is apocalyptic language.… More
In the middle
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” This is the season to talk about beginnings. The new year. The end of the last one, and the beginning of the new. So we make our resolutions, on how this year will be different than the last.… More
The politics of Mary
The Politics of Mary Fourth Sunday of Advent Luke 1:5-56 Dec 21, 2014 Isaac S. Villegas “The Lord has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly,” Mary sings, “God has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.” There was a famous book, written in the… More
Songs of joy
Psalm 126 and Luke 1:46-55 December 14, 2014 Catherine Thiel Lee “It may be that no one on earth can tell the truth, except through flower and song.” ~ Nahuatl theologian, quoted by Virgilio Elizondo “When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like [men and women] who dreamed. Our mouths were filled… More
I got a black space; I’ll write your name
I got a black space; I’ll write your name Matthew 25:31-46 by Isaac Villegas Nov 23, 2024 “Nice to meet you / where you been? / I could show you incredible things /… / Saw you there and I thought oh my god / Look at that face /… / But I got a blank… More
Permeable boundaries
Permeable Boundaries Luke 17:11-19 by Peter Hausmann November 16, 2014 One doesn’t run into lepers much these days, least ways in our parts. But Zombies, America can’t seem to get enough of Zombies on TV and in movies in the past few years. Zombie’s are what I usually think of when I hear the word… More