Sermon: "Christmas Shoes", Christmas in July (July 28, 2024)

Let’s begin with a story: “There was once a farmer who didn't believe in Jesus. One snowy Christmas Eve, his wife asked him to come with her to worship, but he refused. ‘That story is nonsense!’ he scoffed. ‘Why would God come to Earth as a lowly human? That's ridiculous!’ So his wife went to church, and he stayed at home.

Sermon: “Recipe for Repentance: Empathy”, John 13:1-17, 33b-35 (April 1, 2021--Maundy Thursday)

(This is the Maundy Thursday sermon for our Lenten series, "Recipe for Repentance".
Previous sermons can be found here, here, here, here, and here,

and the Ash Wednesday message can be found here.)

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I think I’ve mentioned it in the past, but it bears repeating that the word “Maundy” (which we see almost exclusively in the context of Holy Week) comes from the Latin word for “command”. While this holy day is most often associated with the Last Supper or the foot washing that we just read about, it’s named for the “new commandment” that Jesus gives the disciples: “Love one another as I have loved you.” As an aside, I always imagine Jesus smiling wryly as he calls this a “new” commandment, since it’s the exact same message he’s been trying to get across since day one of his ministry. But on Maundy Thursday, he elevates it from a suggestion or an instruction to a genuine commandment, on par with the Torah: Love one another as I have loved you.

Sermon: “The Witness of Unexpected Reactions”, Acts 2.14a, 36-41 (April 26, 2020)

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Have you ever heard of “reaction videos”? It’s an online phenomenon where people post videos of themselves (or others) as they encounter things for the first time. They can be experiencing anything from a video game to popular music to unfamiliar technology to a viral video, but no matter what it is, the whole point is to watch their reaction. Yes, you heard that right: the entertainment value of one of the most popular trends on YouTube lies entirely in the unfiltered reactions of strangers.