Sermon: "Rahab's Gift", Joshua 2:1-16 (December 15, 2024)

This time of year, we tend to put a lot of emphasis on faithfulness – with good reason. The story of Christmas would not exist as we know it without many people’s willingness to do as God asks: Mary and her willingness to bear the son of God, Joseph and his willingness to raise a son that isn’t his, the shepherds and magi and their willingness to worship an infant from a poor family – all these figures are considered righteous specifically because of their faithfulness. We wouldn’t have Jesus without it. But for all the emphasis that we place on faithfulness as a path to righteousness, it’s far from the ONLY one. In fact, since God is the one to determine what IS righteous, God can assign that designation however God sees fit – even to someone who’s decidedly UNfaithful. Rahab is the perfect example of this.

Sermon: "Sensing the Sacred: Do You Not Perceive It?", Numbers 21:4-9/John 3:1-17 (March 8, 2020)

(This is the third sermon in our Lenten series, "Sensing the Sacred". 

The others can be found here and here.)

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Out of all of the senses that we’ll be talking about during Lent, sight is the one that we tend to rely on the most. It’s on the front lines of our perception. A very unscientific poll that I found online indicated that, if they had to choose one sense to lose, only 4% of respondents would be willing to give up their sight—the lowest percentage of all the possible responses.[1] Conventional knowledge says that “seeing is believing,” and while it may not be the ONLY path to belief, it certainly helps. This proverb even has a 21st century iteration—“Pics [pictures] or it didn’t happen.” Different words, same sentiment: if it can’t be observed with the eyes, then it’s irrelevant.