Sermon: "Ten Simple Rules", Exodus 19:3-7, 20:1-17 (October 11, 2026)

By the time we arrive at this point in the story of God’s people, we’ve learned a lot about the many benefits that come with being chosen by God – we’ve read about God’s deliverance in the stories of Noah, Joseph, and the parting of the Red Sea, we’ve read about the promises that God has made to humanity in general and to Abram specifically – but this is the first time we’ve encountered the RULES of being God’s chosen people. As it turns out, being God’s most precious possession comes with some obligations, and this is the first time that they’ve been formally laid out in Scripture.

Liturgy: Healing on the Sabbath, Luke 6:1-11 (February 2, 2025)

 *You are welcome to use or adapt any of my resources for free, but I ask that you provide proper citation AND comment on this post to let me know.*

Hymns

Hymn GTG #393, “O Day of Rest and Gladness” 

Hymn GTG #61, “Your Law, O Lord, Is Perfect” 

Sermon: "My Hands Are Tied", Daniel 6 (August 18, 2024)

Most of us are young children when we first encounter Daniel’s twin stories of the Fiery Furnace and the Lion’s Den (because apparently, stories about capital punishment are foundational to every child’s theological education). And almost universally, we’re told that the moral of both stories is that if we trust in God, God will rescue us from danger. But of course, as most of us have figured out by now, that’s just objectively untrue. It’s probably past time for us to consider more nuanced interpretations of these ancient stories.

Sermon: "But Why?", Deuteronomy 6:20-25 (August 27, 2023)

Kids ask a LOT of questions. I think we can all agree. It’s in their nature. A 2017 British study found that children ask an average of 73 questions a day,[1] which, while lower than the estimated 2.3 million that most toddler parents probably would have guessed, is still an impressive number. A majority of these questions are directed towards a parental figure – while kids today have access to technological resources like Google, Alexa, and Siri right at their fingertips, their caretakers are still their primary source of new information. This is probably for the best, considering how many of their questions require a nuanced response: Alexa may be able to tell your 3-year-old how much an elephant weighs without incident, but you don’t necessarily want her fielding the “were do babies come from” inquiry, and she’s certainly not equipped to satisfactorily explain why people who don’t finish their vegetables don’t get dessert in your house.

Liturgy: 13th Sunday after Pentecost, Deuteronomy 6 (August 27, 2023)

*You are welcome to use or adapt any of my resources for free, but I ask that you provide proper citation AND comment on this post to let me know.*

*Call to Worship (based on Deuteronomy 6:24)

Leader: Why does the Lord command us to live a certain way?
People: So that all of God’s beloved children might live full and prosperous lives.

Sermon: "Let Faithfulness Rain", Exodus 19:3-7, 20:1-17 (October 9, 2022)

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By the time we get to this point in the story of God’s people, we’ve learned a lot about the many benefits that come with being chosen by God – we’ve read about God’s deliverance in the stories of Noah, Joseph, and the parting of the Red Sea, we’ve read about the promises that God has made to humanity in general and to Abram specifically – but this is the first time we’ve encountered the RULES of being a people set apart by God. As it turns out, being God’s most precious possession comes with some obligations, and this is the first time that they’re formally laid out in Scripture.

Sermon: “Forgiveness Clause”, Matthew 18:15-35 (February 20, 2022)

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My dad is a lawyer. As is the case with many young children, I insisted for years that I wanted to have the same job when I grew up—not because I had any concept of what a lawyer actually DOES, but because it was pretty much the only job that I knew about. (My mom eventually earned her graduate degree and entered the work force too, but “School Psychologist” is much harder for a six-year-old to say and spell than “Lawyer”, so it didn’t impact my career plans at the time.) Plus, my dad’s downtown office had a spiral staircase, which I called “pizza stairs” and thought was the coolest thing ever.

Sermon: "Lose the Recipe", 2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14/Galatians 5:1, 13-25 (June 30, 2019)

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Do you ever wonder what scripture would look like if the early Christians hadn’t screwed up so much?

I do. I mean, Paul’s primary motivation for letter-writing was usually to correct some misconception that had been making the rounds in Christian communities, and depending on who you ask, these letters make up anywhere from 30 to almost 50 percent of the New Testament. It was always something with those blockheads: either they were excluding gentiles, or they couldn’t get along with each other, or they were pledging their allegiance to specific teachers instead of to Christ, or they were keeping other people as personal property…they just couldn’t seem to get it right, no matter how many times Paul yelled at—err, wrote to them.