Sermon: "The X(mas) Files: WHO?", Isaiah 40:1-5/Luke 3:2-9, 15-16 (December 3, 2023)

This Advent, we’re going to be investigating “The Xmas Files” together: we’ll be taking on the role of detectives: digging into the scripture that informs our understanding of that first Christmas Day over 2000 years ago, and examining how those events still echo in our lives today. Although undoubtedly a worthwhile endeavor for the weeks leading up to Christmas, this task won’t be easy because, if we’re being honest, we’re pretty far from objective as investigators go. These stories have personal meaning to us, and we’ve heard them so many times (usually in the exact same context and manner) that our understanding of them has calcified over the years into something easy and comfortable. While this generally suits us fine in an otherwise festive time of year, if I had to pick any two words that absolutely do NOT describe God’s kindom, I’d probably choose “easy” and “comfortable”. So, as members of a denomination that traditionally places a high value on intellectual curiosity, we’re going to let go of what we think we know, put on our detective hats, and trust God’s Word enough to subject it to questioning – starting this week with the question of WHO?

Sermon: “Everything Old is New (and Old)”, Isaiah 9:1-7 (June 11, 2023)

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This morning, we’re continuing our mini sermon series on Isaiah. Last week we talked about Isaiah’s call to prophecy, and over the next three weeks, we’ll be exploring one prophecy from each of the major divisions of the book: the section written before the Babylonian exile, the section written after the southern kingdom of Judah had fallen, and the section written in anticipation of Israel’s eventual restoration.

Sermon: “In the Meantime”, Micah 5:2-5, 6:6-8 (November 13, 2022)

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Micah is one of what’s known as the “minor prophets” of the First Testament. This designation isn’t a judgement on the substance of his prophecy; rather, it’s a comment on its length as compared to the more substantial prophetic books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. In spite of its brevity, however, the book of Micah still manages to pack quite a punch. For example, Christian theologians throughout history have considered the first part of today’s reading proof of Jesus’ identity as the Messiah. It claims that a divine ruler would come out of the insignificant little town of Bethlehem. This would have been the equivalent of promising that Notus or Greenleaf would produce the next Abraham Lincoln or FDR – only, you know, God. So the fact that the Messiah is prophesied to – and ultimately did – come out of Bethlehem is exciting and offers a sense of real hope.

Sermon: "A Prophet Like You", Deuteronomy 18:15-20/Acts 2 (January 28, 2018)

1/28/18

Sermon video here.

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One of the gifts of the Revised Common Lectionary is that it draws our attention to things that we might not think about otherwise. For example, the last two weeks’ readings have shown us that prophets aren’t all cut from the same cloth: Samuel was earnest in his desire to serve God beginning in his childhood, while Jonah threw prophetic temper tantrums. Then this week, we get this informative flashback in Deuteronomy that provides helpful insight as to why God gave prophets to the Hebrew people in the first place. While we do tend to talk about prophecies often enough—especially around Advent—it’s less common to talk about the mechanics, characteristics, and criteria of prophet-dom. So I’m really glad to have this opportunity to dig into it, especially given a recent conversation I had.