Sermon: Dam It, Amos 5:5:14-15, 21-24 (November 9, 2025)

Just over two years ago, in September 2023, a terrible tragedy hit the Libyan city of Derna. After years of neglected maintenance and record-breaking torrential rain from Storm Daniel, two dams that had held the Wadi Derna River back since the 1970s collapsed, unleashing over 30 million cubic meters of water on the sleeping city[1]. The loss of property and life was staggering, to the point that as of three months ago, almost 3,300 people are still unaccounted for.[2] Some official figures number the fatalities at just over 4,500 deaths,[3] but other sources estimate that as many as 24,000 lives may have been lost.[4] It was the deadliest dam failure of the 21st century and the second deadliest in recorded history. 

If you’re wondering what on earth this awful event has to do with today’s scripture reading, it’s probably because you’ve never heard these verses in the larger context of Amos’ prophecy. 

Liturgy: Let Justice Roll Down, Amos 5:14-15, 21-24 (November 9, 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 #356, “Sing Praise to God, Whose Mighty Acts”

Hymn GTG #773, “Heaven Shall Not Wait”

Hymn GTG #757, “Today We All Are Called to Be Disciples”

Liturgy: 6th Sunday After Pentecost, Ezekiel 47:1-12 (June 30, 2024)

   *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 #580, “Glory Be to the Father”
Hymn GTG #375, “Shall We Gather at the River”
Hymn GTG #484, “Out of Deep Unordered Water”

Sermon: "The Poetry of Water", Psalm 65 (June 9, 2024)

You may not remember this about me, but I don’t especially like preaching on the psalms. It’s not because I don’t like them; I think that the Psalms are a beautiful showcase of the depth of humanity’s emotions. But the same thing that makes them beautiful to read is what makes them difficult to preach – they’re poetry. A poem can be challenging enough to understand when it’s in your native tongue, but it gets exponentially more difficult when it’s in an unfamiliar ancient language. The goal of poetry isn’t the same as prose: it isn’t to tell a story, but to convey an emotion or a deeper truth. It uses sentence fragments, metaphor, double-entendre, and ambiguity – all very advanced linguistic concepts – to accomplish this. The fact that poetry purposely uses language in an imprecise and subjective way makes it extremely difficult to translate. Many of the words used in the psalms have multiple meanings, or meanings that don’t make sense to us in the context we find them.

Liturgy: 3rd Sunday After Pentecost, Psalm 65 (June 9, 2024)

 *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 #479, “Ho, All Who Thirst”
Hymn GTG #480, “Take Me to the Water”
Hymn GTG #476, “Crashing Waters at Creation”
Hymn GTG #410, “God Is Calling through the Whisper”

Sermon: “Fettered and Blessed”, Jeremiah 17:5-10/John 4:4-15 (February 13, 2022)

-----------------------------------------------------

I’ve been to the Emergency Department exactly once in my life. It was (I think) about 8 years ago. I woke up with a slight twinge in my side, which slowly grew worse throughout the day, until I figured it wouldn’t be a good idea to ignore it any longer. By the time my dad drove me to the hospital, it had developed into full-blown, excruciating abdominal pain. I had to sit in the waiting room with this pain for far longer than I would have liked, but the hospital staff eventually got me set up in a room and immediately hooked me up to an IV as they began to run tests.