As Americans celebrate the birthday of our nation, we give thanks for our civic freedoms of speech, religion, assembly, due process, a speedy trial, voting and many more. Our freedom has made us the envy of much of the world. But as with any valuable gift, our civic freedoms can be abused, neglected or underappreciated to…
Baptism of our Lord Sunday is about identity … Jesus’ identity as Son of God … and our identity as children of God. Baptism is at the heart of both these identities. In Jesus’ day, that identity was shaped through sermons spoken from hillsides and sermons preached from boats. If Jesus’ came to our world…
In his January 1941 State of the Union address delivered to Congress, Franklin Delano Roosevelt shared these words, as he spoke about national security and a proposed change from America’s traditional stance of non-intervention. In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human…
Lord, it is time: we pray for our children. Not only for them in their infancy, when disease or accident alone might harm them; not only for them in childhood, when their dreams begin and school is hard and our own discipline’s the hardest thing they must endure; not only for them in adolescence, when…
Traditional Sermon Reformation Sunday It has been 500 years since the beginning of the Reformation. Five hundred years have passed since Martin Luther posted 95 debatable topics–thesis statements–about God’s mercy, our faith, and the work of the church. This past year there have been books published, interviews given, and PBS movies made about the life…
“…since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” -Romans 3:23-24 On this day we celebrate the heart of our faith: the gospel of Christ—the good news—that makes us free! We pray that the Holy Spirit…
New Day Sermon Easter 7 Through life’s ups (and downs) we could use a bit of a pep talk.
