Sermon: "A Tale as Old as Time", Christmas in July (July 26, 2026)

While there are many stories about Jesus’ life that have been passed down to us - both canonical and extracanonical - the Christmas story has a special place in our collective hearts. Part of it, I’m sure, has to do with the fact that we associate it closely with “the most wonderful time of the year”. But I think another part of the reason that we love this story so much is because it makes it clear that our Messiah is special. Long before he heals the sick or walks on water, Jesus' conception through the Holy Spirit, the shepherds, the star, all clearly tell us that we’ve hitched our wagon to the right savior. The Christmas story tells us that OUR messiah is someone that the world has never seen before and will never see again.

Or does it?

Sermon: "Big Burger Thinking", Acts 11:1-18 (May 15, 2022)

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Did you know that in this country, the standard size of a commercial cheeseburger is the result of our collective inability to understand a basic mathematical concept?

It’s true. A decade after McDonald’s first introduced the Quarter Pounder, A&W decided to introduce the “Third-of-a-Pound Burger”. They figured by offering more meat at the same price, they could successfully take on the golden arches. Their version even performed better in taste tests. But the Third-of-a-Pound Burger failed commercially for a simple and absolutely ridiculous reason: it turns out that the general public doesn’t understand how fractions work. Even though the A&W burger was technically a better deal, people thought that they were being asked to pay more for less burger. They thought that 1/3 was smaller than 1/4.[1]

Let that sink in for a minute. As a society, we’re stuck with smaller burgers because of our own mathematical ignorance.

Sermon: “The Truth Behind the Veil”, Exodus 34:29-35/Luke 9:28-36 (March 3, 2019)

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I’ve got to be honest: it was really difficult for me to focus on this week’s sermon. There’s been a lot going on in the world this week, and it’s had the lamentable effect of draining the hope right out of me. Some of it’s personal, but several of the things weighing on me have been very public and all over the news. Notably, Michael Cohen testified before members of Congress on Wednesday in order to help them discern the right path forward for our nation. I’m sure many of you were just as riveted to the coverage as I was. With everything going on this week, I had serious trouble thinking about anything else. It literally felt like I was tearing my spirit in two trying to keep my mind exclusively on scripture while my heart was elsewhere. So I decided to choose the path of authenticity and attempt to preach about these current events through the lens of our lectionary readings.