Harrowing Of Hell

Category: Kingdom of God

The Presentation

Sermon | February 3, 2013

February 3, 2013, The Rev Kate Wesch preaching.

Simeon and Anna have a lot of wisdom and they can teach us. I know their lives couldn’t have been simple or easy and yet, there they were day in and day out, praying and waiting. A little head cold comes along, a little adversity, trials, and stress, and I fall apart. As author Lauren Winner puts it and I agree, “I wish I had the eyes and faith that Simeon had, the eyes and faith to recognize God’s redemption in unlikely bodies. I wish I had the eyes to see God’s redeeming work in the world around me, and the faith to proclaim it. How can I become a person who can recognize God’s unfolding redemption, and respond with Simeon’s words?”

The Manger

Sermon | December 25, 2012

December 25, 2012 The Rev Doyt Conn preaching

Merry Christmas. It seems we are the group that got up and got our presents opened this morning and now are ready for church. This is a nice service; small and quiet, as we gather here to consider the child born in the manger who changed our world

Stewardship and the Widow’s Mite

Sermon | November 11, 2012

November 11, 2012, The Rev Doyt Conn preaching

Today I am going to talk about pledging and money. If it is a topic you don’t want to hear about, you might want to try my 13 year old daughter’s favorite spiritual discipline…tuning me out.

Self Interest and the Pursuit of the Kingdom of God

Sermon | July 29, 2012

July 29, 2012, The Rev Doyt Conn preaching

Here are some numbers on what it would cost to save the world’s environment:

Planting trees to reduce flooding and to capture carbon $ 23 b
Protecting topsoil on cropland $ 24 b
Restoring rangelands $ 9 b
Restoring fisheries $ 13 b
Protecting biological diversity $ 31 b
Stabilizing water tables $ 10 b

The total cost to save the world’s environment = $110 b

What do you think of that?

These numbers come from a book titled Plan B, 4.0 by Lester Brown from the Earth Policy Institute. He is a leading thinker on issues of aid, food and the environment… depending on whom you ask. Numbers and statistics always seem debatable. Rarely, do they seem a force for creating a like mind or galvanizing a future direction.

And I wonder why? Why doesn’t good research and good science serve to answer the world’s environmental problems? In school we certainly learn that there are right answers and wrong answers. So why doesn’t that play out when dealing with the great issues of our day, particularly issues surrounding the environment.

David or Herod?

Sermon | July 15, 2012

July 15, 2012, James Cowan preaching

We all sin. That’s one of the underlying assumptions of Christian theology. It’s why the Bible is filled with images of sin and repentance. Job cries out: “I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” David laments: “My sin is ever before me.” John the Baptist proclaims: “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near.” Christ avows: “I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance.” And Paul testifies “ to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus.”

Independence Day

Sermon | July 8, 2012

July 8, 2012, The Rev Kate Wesch preaching

This Sunday is when church and state collide. While we typically separate feelings of nationalism and faith, this is one Sunday that these two aspects of our community, our citizenship and our faith-affiliation, come together.

So, why talk about the nation at church? Why observe Independence Day in the pulpit?

The opening collect prays that all people of the earth are made for God’s glory with the intention of serving God in freedom and in peace. We are, all of us, God’s creation, placed on this earth with the opportunity to serve God. In some cultures and nations, this service towards God is easier or more problematic than in other places. Whether we live in a country governed by ideals of freedom and enterprise or restrictions and policies, we have the capacity to serve God. However, our method of going about serving God may differ dramatically.

Jumping Off Point

Sermon | June 19, 2012

June 17, 2012, The Rev Doyt Conn preaching

Let me reread for you the text I want to consider this morning. It comes from Paul’s 2nd Letter to the Corinthians; the second part of verse 11 in chapter 5, it reads: “we ourselves are well known by God, and I hope that we are also well acquainted with our own conscience.”

Thomas Merton writes,

“You cannot tell me who I am and I cannot tell you who you are. But if you do not know your own identity you probably don’t have one.” (para: p> xii No Man Is An Island) I would further add: if there is no one to hear the rumination of our conscience, are we even conscious at all?

Desmond Tutu says it like this: “A person is not a person without other people.”