Sermon: "Snowed In", Mark 5:1-20 (January 21, 2024)

I had a big week: I got stuck in the snow in a parking lot this past Thursday. It’s only the second time that this has happened to me, as far as I can recall (if there were other times, I must have blocked them from my memory). The previous time was, unsurprisingly, during the snowpocalypse of 2017. At that time, I vowed to never again attempt a vehicular adventure until everything was fully plowed, but this week, I decided to give it a shot, thinking that my brand-new car with a higher suspension would keep me out of trouble. Sadly, I was very much mistaken. Not only did I get stuck in that parking lot, but I almost got stuck again on my own street, and I had to park in the driveway because my car couldn’t make it up the 5˚ slope into the garage. It’s a pretty helpless feeling, sitting in your vehicle, surrounded by ice and snow, wanting to get on with your day but unable to do much more than spin your wheels.

Sermon: “Unearned, Unasked-for, Undeserved”, 2 Kings 5:1-14/Luke 10:1-11, 16-20 (July 7, 2019)

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Let’s talk about privilege.

For some, it’s a dirty word. It immediately puts us on the defensive, and we feel like our struggles and challenges are being ignored. We feel like it minimizes the hard work that we put in to get where we are. We feel like we’re being told that we’re a bad person. But interestingly, there’s another word that means almost exactly the same thing which for some reason doesn’t have the same distressing connotation to us, one that we Christians are often comfortable with and even eager to apply to ourselves

Sermon: “Rock of Ages: God’s Faithfulness”, Psalm 40:1-12/Lamentations 3:1-9, 19-41 (March 24, 2019)

(This sermon is the second in our Lenten Series, "Rock of Ages", in which we're exploring how rocks can symbolize different characteristics of God and of ourselves.)

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In my pre-Lenten planning, I designated this week as the one for preaching about God’s faithfulness. My plan was, of course, to focus on God: how like a rock God is in God’s reliability and steadfastness. It was going to be a comforting, feel-good sermon. But of course, “best laid plans” and all that; as I was doing my preparation and study this week, I found my thoughts going in a different direction than I’d anticipated. You see, scripture contains more examples of God’s faithfulness than anyone could possibly hope for. But what might surprise you is that many of these references aren’t joyful proclamations erupting out of praise or thanksgiving; more often, these references to God’s faithfulness are made in the context of biblical lament.