Sermons

Title: 153 Date: April 14, 2010 Texts: John 21:1-14, Acts 9:1-6 Author: Isaac S. Villegas I love this story about Jesus, this story in John’s Gospel about his appearance to the disciples. I love it for the details, the strange details; the care John shows in getting the story right. Usually, the Gospel of John… More

Title: Easter in us Date: April 4, 2010 Texts: Isa 65:17-25; Ps 118:1-2, 14-24; Acts 10:34-43 Author: Isaac S. Villegas “Let him easter in us, be a dayspring to the dimness of us, be a crimson-cresseted east.” That’s one of the last lines from Gerard Manley Hopkins’ poem, “The Wreck of the Deutschland.” Let Christ… More

Title: Bodies Matter, part 2 Date: April 1, 2010 (Holy Thursday) Texts: John 13:1-17, 31b-35 Place: CHMF Author: Isaac Villegas This sermon is titled, “Bodies Matter, part 2,” because I preached “Bodies Matter, part 1” in Cary this morning. Some of us held a footwashing service at a detention center operated by the Immigration and… More

Title: Bodies Matter, part 1 Text: John 13:1-5 Date: April 1st, 2010 (Holy Thursday) Place: ICE Detention Center, Cary (NC) Author: Isaac Villegas (Note: this sermon was part of a footwashing worship service that was held at a hidden Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center; our footwashing protest received some media coverage: “Protesters hold demonstration”… More

Title: In the world Texts: Ps 118:1-2, 19-29; Phil 2:5-11 Date: March 28, 2010 Author: Isaac Villegas What does it mean to be Christians in the world? How are we supposed to live as witnesses to God’s love? Those are basic questions for us. But as a way to answer them, I thought I’d stir… More

Title: An Anatomy of Sin Texts: Lk 15: 11-32 Date: March 14, 2010 Author: Isaac S. Villegas So far, during this season of Lent, we’ve talked a lot about repentance and forgiveness. Now I think it’s time we talked about sin. Why do we want to sin? We know it’s bad for us, or bad… More

Title: The Time Is Now Date: March 7, 2010 (3rd Sunday of Lent) Texts: Isaiah 55:1-9, Luke 13:1-9 Author: Monica Schmucker The passages this week got me thinking, what is it that motivates people to change? What sparks repentance? It strikes me that Jesus issues a warning to repent and Isaiah an invitation to repent.… More

Title: “Fruit” Text: John 15:1-5 Date: March 7, 2010 Event: Ervin Stutzman’s installation Author: Isaac S. Villegas A few years ago I started a vegetable garden in our front yard. I was thrilled to see the fruit growing from the long vines—grape tomato vines entangled with large slicing tomatoes, growing into one another, all mixed… More

Title: Escape Date: February 28, 2010 (Lent 2) Texts: Ps 27, Philip 3:17-4:1, Lk 13:31-35 Author: Isaac S. Villegas The Pharisees want what’s good for Jesus. They respect his ministry and want him to survive. These Pharisees may even consider Jesus a friend of their own ministry. So, according to Luke’s Gospel, “some Pharisees came… More

Title: Lent as metaphor and reality Texts: Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16; Luke 4:1-13 Date: Feb 21, 2010 Author: Tom Lehman Lent began four days ago on Ash Wednesday, as it always does. Lent is the least cheerful of the seasons in the Christian year. It is sometimes understood as a time to suspend earthly pleasures. Some… More

Title: Wurstessen Date: February 17, 2010 Texts: Gen 3:19, Isaiah 58:1-12 Author: Isaac S. Villegas March 9th, 1522. Zurich, Switzerland. It was the middle of Lent. About twelve people got together at the house of Christopher Froschauer and had a feast of sausage. Eating sausage during Lent was strictly forbidden by the church, and back… More

Title: Freedom for what? Date: February 14, 2010 (St. Valentine’s Day) Texts: 2 Cor 3:12-4:2; Lk 9:28-36 Author: Isaac S. Villegas “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Cor 3:17)—that’s what Paul says in our passage from Second Corinthians. Freedom. What does it mean to be free? I want to give… More

Title: Dirty Pockets, Lint Balls, and Love Text: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 Date: February 7, 2010 Author: Meghan Florian I work part time as a Wedding Assistant at Duke Chapel, so most Saturday afternoons find me alternately scurrying around the chapel in uncomfortable shoes, or sitting in the back pew and listening to as many as… More

Title: The weaker members Text: I Corinthians 12:12-31a, Luke 4:14-21 Date: January 24, 2010 Author: Isaac S. Villegas “The members of the body that seem to be weaker are necessary” (I Cor. 12:22). That’s what Paul says in our passage from I Corinthians—Ben mentioned this verse in his sermon last Sunday, and I’ve been thinking… More

Title: A material Spirit Date: Jan 10, 2010 Texts: Acts 8:14-17 Author: Isaac S. Villegas “They can beg and they can plead / But they can’t see the light, that’s right / ‘Cause the boy with the cold hard cash / Is always Mister Right, ‘cause we are / Living in a material world /… More

Title: A faithful remnant; or, On being part of a faithful remnant when your girlfriend insists upon packing heat. Texts: Jeremiah 31:7-14 Date: January 3, 2010 Author: Chris Gooding Prayer: O LORD of hosts, we recognize that we have often not been very good at explaining your work among your people, Israel.  Help us to… More

Title: Christmas meditations Date: Dec 27, 2009 Texts: Lk 2:1-20, 2 Cor 5:17-21 Author: Isaac Villegas First Meditation (Lk 2:1-14): “News is power” Knowledge is power. News is power. I think it was in the Economist that I read about how financial firms pay a lot for cutting edge communication technologies. The firm that gets… More

Title: Untitled 1 Texts: Micah 5:2-5; Luke 1:39-55; Hebrews 10:5-10 Date: December 20, 2009 (Advent) Author: Matt A couple of weeks ago Celia preached on advent and the expectation that comes along with waiting. She likened waiting to pregnancy – 9 months of hopes and expectations building and building, climaxing in the arrival of new… More

Title: Deconstruction Texts: Phil 4:4-7, Lk 3:7-18 Date: Dec 13, 2009 Author: Isaac Villegas The people come out to John to be baptized. But apparently John never learned how to be nice, how to be open and kind and polite and say excuse me before leaving the table and thank you and please, and how… More

Title: An Advent Reorienting Texts: Luke 1:68-79; Luke 3:1-6 Date: Dec 6, 2009 Author: Monica Schmucker As you looked at your bulletin and listened to the Scripture passages, you probably noticed that the lectionary has done something peculiar this week: the Psalm passage is replaced by a psalm of sorts from the New Testament. This… More

Title: Christ our King Texts: Dan 7:9-10, 13-14; Rev 1:4b-8; Jn 18:33:37 Date: Nov 22, 2009 Before I get started, let me say something about where we stand today in the church calendar. We stand at the edge of Advent. Next Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent. And during Advent we wait with Mary… More

Title: A body at home Texts: Dan 12:1-4; Ps 16; Heb 10:19-25; Mk 13:1-8 Date: Nov 15, 2009 Author: Isaac Villegas Jesus stands outside the towering temple in Jerusalem—at its highest point, the walls probably reached up to 175 feet high. You can see the building from miles away, dwarfing all the other structures in… More

Title: Leftover grain, Leftover people Texts: Ruth 3:1-5, 4:13-17; Mark 12:38-44 Date: Nov 8, 2009 Author: Thomas Lehman Our passages from Ruth and from Mark could hardly be more different as literature. After a first reading of the material from Ruth one could ask whether it belongs in the Bible. In contrast, Mark is familiar… More

Title: Jesus wept Date: Nov. 1, 2009 Texts: Wis. of Sol. 3:1-9, Rev. 21:1-6a, Jn. 11:32-44 Author: Isaac Villegas Jen has been writing online about her life with her child Martin who is autistic. Jen was one of the founding members of our church. She and her husband were here from the beginning, but now… More