Harrowing Of Hell

Category: Baptism

You Are my Beloved

Sermon | January 11, 2026

To watch the sermon click here. In my childhood imagination, the Jordan River was a mythical place. It was larger than life, a fast-moving current full of life and vitality. The Sunday Schools lessons about crazy old John the Baptist probably contributed to this image. Jesus’ cousin John, the guy who hung out in the

When Preparation Meets Anticipation: Joy is Complete

Sermon | December 14, 2025

  To watch the sermon click here. Last Sunday we imagined what might happen if an intelligent life form found NASA’s Golden Record, the cosmic greeting card attached to Voyagers 1 and 2, and decided to come searching for us. So let’s pick up the story there. Imagine these visitors gliding toward our solar system,

You Are Symbols of the Living God

Sermon | March 9, 2025

To listen to the sermon click here. What does the swastika, a five-pointed star, and an upside down pink triangle have in common? They have all undergone significant symbolic shifts. The original meaning of the swastika found its origin in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism as a symbol of good fortune and the cycle of life.

Baptism is a Wake Up Call

Sermon | January 12, 2025

To watch the sermon click here. How often do you think about water? After all, water is essential for life. Water is essential in creation. Water is something we cannot live without. I was reminded of this in a powerful way last October when I took my 14 year-old son backpacking in the Cascades one

Advent is a Love Story

Sermon | December 8, 2024

To watch the sermon click here. Today’s Gospel is a love story. The word “love” is not mentioned, and yet I see love pouring from every curved letter and every straight letter that make up the words of the majestic and tender sentences of today’s story. It’s John the Baptist’s love story with Jesus, that

Slow Down: The Compounding Error of Haste

Sermon | July 14, 2024

To watch the sermon click here. On my phone I have an app that calculates compound interest. Most of you know about compound interest. It is simply the interest on the initial principle plus, the accumulated interest from previous periods. It’s interest on interest, and allows a fund to grow a lot faster than it

Inviting Someone to Church

Sermon | January 21, 2024

To watch the sermon click here. I don’t know about you, but I thought Jesus and John the Baptist were friends. That’s what the tradition implies, and yet we hear today: “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the Good News {of God}” (Mk 1:14). Seems now that John has been thrown

Cowboy Boot Repentance

Sermon | December 10, 2023

To watch the sermon click here. We start today with cowboy boots… Just kidding. We start today with John the Baptist. He is a familiar character in the Bible: ”a voice crying out in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord,make his path straight…”  To us he may seem an early flamboyant cameo character