Harrowing Of Hell

Category: Pentecost

Holy Trinity

Sermon | May 26, 2013

May 26, 2013, The Rev Kate Wesch preaching

She thought about it for a minute, and then predictably asked, “What’s the Holy Spirit?” Excellent question. Now, how on earth do I explain the Holy Spirit to a toddler? “The Holy Spirit is a very special gift from Jesus. The Holy Spirit is always with us. It’s like we are carrying around a small piece of God everywhere we go. It reminds us that God loves us.” “God loves us,” she repeated and then eagerly made plans to wear her bright red “Wonder Woman” t-shirt to church.

Holy Land, Holy Fire – Part 2

Sermon | May 19, 2013

May 19, 2013, The Rev. Doyt Conn preaching

The story we hear in the book of Acts today is one we hear every Pentecost. It is the story of the arrival of the Holy Spirit in a manner that changes all people, including Parthians, Medes and Elamites, as well as people from Mesopotamia, Pontus, and Pamphylia; but also Greeks and Palestinians, Russians and people from Georgia, Romania and Kazakhstan, and maybe, just maybe, people from a little parish in Seattle called Epiphany.

You may recall that 19 of us just returned from pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Our time there coincided with the Eastern Orthodox Holy Week. Jerusalem was packed with people from all over the world, on a journey to see the Holy Fire come out of the tomb from which Jesus rose victorious.

Pentecost and Baptism

Sermon | May 27, 2012

May 27, 2012, The Rev Doyt Conn preaching

Catholic Church and the Girl Scouts. And given the speed at which the church moves I don’t imagine this is going to change any time soon.

But turning on a dime has never been one of the churches strong points, and this reality is highlighted, I think, by the language used in the Baptism service we are participating in today.

Ruth and Pentecost

Sermon | May 13, 2012

May 13, 2012, Charissa Jones preaching

Today we dive into the Old Testament. In our current age we often wrestle with questions about the scientific and historical accuracy of the Old Testament, and wonder therefore, whether it is more than just an interesting anthropological document belonging to a people from a long distant time. Yet the Old Testament itself wrestles with core questions that still grip us today. At the heart of the Hebrew narratives, declares Robert Alter, we find two recurring tensions.

First: a tension between the divine promises made to Abraham, Moses and the prophets – and the seeming impossibility of fulfillment, amidst the disorderly character of events that unfold. The second is related: it is a tension between God’s will and human freedom. Old Testament narratives repeatedly draw us into the question, “How do we trust in the promises of God when the divine plan appears to be in the hands of people with an unruly nature – in the midst of circumstances that feel most unpromising?”