Sermons

Guests, missions, and hospitality 1 Kings 17:8-26, Psalm 146 by Isaac S. Villegas June 9, 2013 In 1452, Pope Nicholas V issued his infamous decree called Dum diversas, Latin for “until different.” This papal decree is infamous because it marks the beginning of European expeditions into West Africa to capture and sell human beings, the… More

The Delight of Wisdom Proverbs 8 by Catherine Thiel Lee May 26, 2013 Proverbs, let’s just put it out there, is a funny bit of the Bible.  I remember liking it when I was younger.  It seemed straightforward, if occasionally a little dated or esoteric.  My suburban teenage self might not have really been able… More

Pentecost, language, and difference Acts 2:1-21 by Isaac S. Villegas May 19, 2013 In 1492, in Salamanca, Spain, Antonio de Nebrija presented to Queen Isabella his latest book. Nebrija wrote the first textbook on the grammar of the Spanish language — a grammar of the vernacular, the ordinary language of the people, the everyday language… More

Easter without end John 17:20-26 by Isaac S. Villegas May 12, 2013 John chapter 17 is a long prayer — Jesus’s prayer for his friends, for his loved ones. John 17 is his long prayer on the night he is handed over to his executioners. Jesus knows what Judas is about to do. Jesus knows… More

Mixing and Sharing by Kathy Roberts May 5, 2013 I take the title of my sermon from a phrase that anthropologist Glenn Bowman uses to describe what goes on at sacred sites in Macedonia.  It is his Macedonian research that I draw on here. In John 14: 27, Jesus says to his disciples: “Peace I… More

Bluebirds, nests, and hope, part 4 Psalm 23, Revelation 7:9-17, John 10:22-30 by Isaac S. Villegas April 21, 2013 In 2008 I preached three sermons on the bluebirds who were living, and dying, in my front yard, in the bird house that my neighbor gave me. I guess we can call that my only sermon… More

The Wounded Judge Who Saves Acts 9:1-6 by Scott Schomburg April 14, 2013 In the Acts of the Apostles we enter a world ruled by the crucified Jesus. The resurrected one returns to the scene exalted in the preached word. Peter and John carry this witness into the city of Jerusalem, directed toward rulers, elders,… More

To believe John 20:19-31 by Isaac S. Villegas April 7, 2013 In a documentary called The Undocumented, Marcos Hernandez tries to track down his father, or at least the body of his father, who was last seen in the Arizonan desert, with other migrants, a group of them, walking for days in the 120-degree summer… More

Come and See John 20:1-18 by Catherine Thiel Lee Easter: March 31, 2013 Jesus Christ is risen! (Everyone hopefully responds, “He is risen indeed!”) Nice.  And I have just proved that you already know this story, the one I have been asked to stand up here and tell you.  You already know this story. But… More

Holy Thursday John 13:1-17, 31b-35 by Isaac S. Villegas March 28, 2013 Ash Wednesday and Holy Thursday go together. Both turn our eyes, they turn our lives, to the basics, the fundamentals of earthly life: dirt and water. On Ash Wednesday, at the beginning of Lent, we are marked by ashes, by dirt, and we… More

God of Israel, strange and familiar Isaiah 43:16-21 by Matt Elia March 17, 2013   I Our Psalm for today reads: “When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.” What might it mean for us to be like those who dream? In a short story published in 1911, W.… More

Prodigal Son Luke 15:1-3, 11-23 by Isaac S. Villegas March 10, 2013 On Monday mornings, a few years ago, there was a worship service in a clearing in the brush and trees for the people who lived nearby, in the woods. We worshiped on an abandoned concrete slab, a stones throw from an onramp for… More

Fox and the hen Luke 13:31-35 by Melissa Florer-Bixler February 24, 2013 While I’ve heard the adage “fox in a henhouse” it came to life when I visited the home of one of my daughter’s classmates who lives on the outskirts of Chapel Hill. The mother of the family was showing me their sprawling acreage… More

Temptations Luke 4:1-13 by Isaac Villegas Feb 17, 2013 In the wilderness, the devil asks Jesus a question, a question in the form of three temptations. The question is: Who are you, and who will you be? This is a question for us, during Lent, during this time in the church calendar to reflect on… More

It’s all about you by Isaac Villegas Feb 13, 2013 Ash Wednesday “It’s not about you.” That’s the first sentence of a popular Christian book published a decade ago: The Purpose-Driven Life, a New York Times bestseller. “It’s not about you.” That’s wrong, and Lent shows us why, because during Lent we remember that it… More

Transfiguration, Freedom, and Valentinus 2 Cor 3:12-4:2, Lk 9:28-36 by Isaac Villegas Feb 10, 2013 On the mountain, as he is being transfigured by God’s glory, Jesus stands in the company of the great prophets of freedom — he stands with Moses, the one who led Israel out of Egyptian slavery; and he stands with… More

Guest Preacher Luke 4:21-30 Ben D. Feb 3, 2013 Holy Spirit, open our eyes that we may recognize Jesus in the words we hear. Direct our steps that we may approach Jesus as that solid rock which makes a true foundation, and not as the rock of scandal that would cause us to stumble. Amen.… More

Our Wedding Feast John 2:1-11 by Meghan Florian January 20, 2013 Three days ago Jesus was baptized in the river Jordan by John. Three days ago John saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove. This man Jesus is different, somehow. He walks by, and people say, “Look, here is the lamb of God!”… More

Psalm 29, Isaiah 43, Luke 3 by Jordan Farrell January 13, 2013 Water is awesome. In fact, I struggle to think of anything that is more versatile and awe-inspiring than water. It can lead to some pretty wonderful things. For those of you who have ever listened to the music of a river, chewed on… More

The Horrified God Zeph 3:14-20; Isa 12:2-6; Phil 4:4-7; Lk 3:7-18 by Isaac Villegas Dec 16, 2012 “Be silent before the Lord God.” That’s the verse that stuck out to me as I read Zephaniah this week. It comes early in the book, at the beginning: chapter 1, verse 7. “Be silent before the Lord.”… More

Finding salvation in Advent by Thomas Lehman December 9, 2012 Last Sunday, as the season of Advent began, Isaac spoke about life in prison, omens of an unbearable future, people fainting from terror, Jesus as a mashup artist (whatever that is), looming chaos, and catastrophe; all this when you might have come on the first… More

An Apocalyptic Climate Luke 21:25-36 by Isaac S. Villegas Dec 2, 2012 I’m reading a quirky book. It’s about a lot of things, but, for me, as I read, it feels like an invitation to pay attention to beauty, the graceful loveliness found in unexpected places. A man named Ken Lamberton wrote the book while… More

Hear Mk 12:28-34; Deut6: 4-9 by Catherine Lee November 4, 2012 “This utterance of Israel is not a dictator.  It will not impose its will.  It can only issue its summons and its invitation and await a decision that is always to be made yet again.” ~ Walter Brueggemann, Theology of the Old Testament, 725… More

Sacrifice Heb 7:23-28, Mk 10:46-52 by Isaac S. Villegas Oct 28, 2012 They said he was a strange man. “Chris was something else; the weirdest one of all of us, Don shared at the microphone yesterday at the memorial service. Christopher Ross Henne, born in 1952, died last month, in his sleep. He just couldn’t… More