Sermon: “The Chicken AND the Egg”, Amos 8:4-6, 9-12/Luke 10:38-42 (July 17, 2022)

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It’s probably safe to say that we’ve all heard the riddle about which came first, the chicken or the egg. It’s an age-old paradox that asks, given the nature of bird reproduction, how did that cycle START? If you google the question, you’ll find all sorts of smarty-pants answers about how eggs predated chickens by millions of years in other species, or how the chicken came about when two “almost-chickens” laid an egg with just enough genetic mutation to make it a new species. So I suppose the “right” answer is that the egg came first. But to be honest, I don’t really like that answer. I feel like it ignores the intent of the riddle; that is, to point out how the two states of being rely upon one another to exist. In my mind, it’s not actually a question of “either/or”; it’s a question of “both/and”.

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.

Life and Love out of Darkness (Maundy Thursday)

Each year, our community combines Holy Week services with another local church, Southminster Presbyterian Church. We alternate who takes point on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday--this year, we were up for Maundy Thursday. 

Now, Maundy Thursday is known as "the day when we wash each other's feet" in many communities, but in many others, the thought of touching another person's bare foot is enough to turn them atheist. You may recall that two years ago, we did a ritual involving broken pottery that was both beautiful and profound (from my perspective, at least). This year, since our Lenten focus was on symbols, I wanted to make sure we did something significant that tied into our theme.