October 2, 2016, The Rev. Doyt L. Conn, Jr. preaching
You have a mustard seed in your shoe. There was probably a moment when you felt is unearthed, but whether you feel it today or not, matters not. It remains there. It is hasn’t left. It can’t. It never will. God planted it long, long ago, at that moment when God thought you into being, even before placing you in a womb.
September 25, 2016, The Rev. Doyt L. Conn, Jr. preaching
So I invite you to look for Lazarus. He or she is nearer than you think, and they might not look like what you expect. Their need is more likely of the soul, than of food or money or medical care. In fact in this city, it is way more likely we will find an emaciated soul than an emaciated body. So take the risk. Step more deeply into the community God has set you in. Stop at the threshold of your gate; listen to someone’s story; tell your own.
September 18, 2016, The Rev. Kate Wesch preaching
Throughout the Bible, and especially in this parable, we are confronted with a God who takes our norms and expectations and tosses them upside down. Jesus praises the manager’s insane behavior and urges us to act more like him! You see, Jesus wants us to use the tools of this world, be it money, privilege, voice, opportunity, whatever it is, to flip things on their head, to build relationship, to make the earthly realm a better place for all.
September 11, 2016, The Rev. Doyt L. Conn, Jr. preaching
Knowledge about God increases our joy. And that, I suppose, is what Jesus will be looking for when he drops by Epiphany for church on Sunday. Does he see the joy? Are we people who see or are we people who sort? That is the question I think he would ask. And if we are the kind of people who sort, I suppose Jesus would stick around to turn us around, to better see God.
September 4, 2016, The Rev. Kate Wesch preaching
Early in the book, The Fault in Our Stars, Augustus says to Hazel, “Tell me your story.” She begins to tell him of her stage IV cancer diagnosis at 13, treatments, etc. Augustus interrupts her and says, “No, that’s your cancer story. I don’t want to hear that. I want to hear your story. Who are you, Hazel Grace?”
August 28, 2016, The Rev. Todd Foster preaching
Today’s Gospel tells of when Jesus attended a dinner party hosted by a leader of the Pharisees. The guests are all concerned with status, with hierarchy. Where you sat at the table signified something about you, about your importance. It still does, doesn’t it? Formal dinners aren’t perhaps as common today as they were in first-century Palestine or in the era of Downton Abbey, but everywhere you look, there are other signifiers of worth we think about and obsess over: things like clothes, cars, neighborhoods, professions. Often our satisfaction with a paycheck depends not on whether it suffices for our needs for food, shelter, and clothing, but on how my check compares to your check.
August 21, 2016, The Rev. Doyt L. Conn, Jr. preaching
This is the nature of lies put upon us. We come to own them and let them grow in our souls. They become like the air we breathe. They are like a frog in the pot of boiling water. They become our truths, and they bind us, and we don’t even know it. They start with Satan, the Father of Lies, but then they grow as we own them and nurture them and in some cases we come to believe they are the best thing about us.
August 14, 2016, The Rev. Doyt L. Conn, Jr. preaching
When the world is a mess, don’t seek peace on earth; don’t double down on having it your way, because when everyone is doubling down on their own wants, needs, whims, and desires, the mess gets worse. Light the match that Micah puts before you: Look to God. Wait for God. God will respond.
August 7, 2016, The Rev. Todd Foster preaching
We try to be wise investors. So how about a prospectus on the Kingdom of God?
That prospectus would need to answer four questions:
1. What is the kingdom of God?
2. Why and how would you invest in it?
3. What are the risks?
4. And what are the promised returns?