Category: Sermons

July 28, 2013, Charissa Bradstreet, MDiv preaching

The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is a story that makes many of us uncomfortable, in no small part because the large scale act of judgment captures our attention. God eliminates two cities with rains of sulfur and fire. It seems another example of what many refer to as “the angry God of the Old Testament.” We are also uncomfortable because of a horrible and dangerous misreading of the text which has led to an association of Sodom with homosexuality. For those who believe homosexuality is a sin, this has become one of the texts used to justify their claims that God hates homosexuality.

July 14, 2013, The Rev Kate Wesch preaching

God asks Amos, “What do you see?” and then, God says, “Go, prophesy!” Now, God asks each one of us. What do you see? Do you see institutional racism, workplace bias, ageism, poverty, or homelessness? What do you see that gets your blood boiling, your spirit agitated, and your soul hungry for change?

July 7, 2013, Diana Bender preaching

Today, we just heard the end of the book of Matthew. Within 3 weeks, I studied carefully the end of Luke, the end of John, the end of Matthew. At the same time, I experienced the end of my job and a major life work, and the end of a big phase of my parenting career. I think God is trying to get my attention. Something about endings maybe?

June 30, 2013, The Rev. Doyt Conn preaching

This morning I’d like to focus on and then fuse the message from the Gospel with the wisdom from Paul’s letter to the Galatians. The hope is to gain a bit of insight into how we were made to live naturally in the kingdom of God. The key word to follow today is freedom.

June 23, 2013, The Rev Kate Wesch preaching

Elijah has really been through the ringer when today’s reading from I Kings begins.

To bring us up to date:

“He is headed into the wilderness because the evil Queen Jezebel had a contract out on his life and he was scared to death of her. He had good reason to be. He had just staged a contest on Mount Carmel between himself –one lonely prophet of Yahweh – and 450 of the prophets of Baal, whom Jezebel worshipped. The contest was to see whose god was really God, and Elijah won.

While Baal was nowhere to be found, Yahweh sent a blast of fire from heaven that no one present could deny, and Elijah marked the victory by killing every last one of the losers.

When Jezebel heard it she sent a message to Elijah, letting him know that he was about to be the next loser, and he knew her well enough to start running right then.

June 16, 2013, The Rt. Rev. Gregory H. Rickel preaching

June 16, 2013, The Right Rev. Gregory Rickel preaching

This past Thursday we ordained five priests for the Church at St. Mark’s Cathedral. The day the Church was celebrating happened to be the day we celebrate the life of GK Chesterton. He was an amazing servant of God, who was known for his wit and candor. He has many great quotes, and I have lots of favorites, like “The Bible tells us to love our neighbors and to love our enemies. probably because they are generally the same people.”

But the one he is most famous for and is so often misquoted or paraphrased is this one: “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and not tried.”

But perhaps my personal favorite quote of chesterton is one I left the new priests with Thursday night, “Let your religion be less of a theory, and more of a love affair.”

June 9, 2013, The Rev Doyt Conn preaching

This morning I’d like to continue that conversation by asking two questions: First, what causes organizing principles in God’s divine economy to thrive or wither? And second, does anything exist outside this economy?

June 2, 2013, The Rev Doyt Conn preaching

Love is the framework of God. And while it is a framework that does not answer all of our questions or give us everything we want, it is the framework that can sustain our yearnings without crumbling; that can magnify our joys without indulgence; that can lift our hearts beyond the weight of idols. It is the framework that inspires us to love our family, to love our learning, to love our church.