Category: Sermons

December 23, 2012 The Rev Doyt Conn preaching

I’d like to stand up here this morning and inspire the congregation around issues pertaining to gun control. I’d like to stand up here this morning and galvanize our common will to serve people who suffer with mental illness. These are topics on our collective mind after all. Because they were two forces that added to the nightmare that took place at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, a week ago Friday. Certainly these two things were at play. And as people of action, and power, and compassion we seek the cause of this horrible crime, to point at it, to pull the string and snip it short, so something like this never happens again. This is our common prayer.

December 16, 2012, The Rev Doyt Conn preaching

It is times like these when we gather at church. It is where we come when we don’t know what to think and when we are uncertain about how to feel. It is where we come when we are not quite sure what to believe… we come here because we belong here. It is our place, this holy space. This is where we gather, where our souls sync together, unified through the power of liturgy.

December 9, 2012, Davis Walker preaching

It’s that I can relate to the shock those poor fellas must have felt when pledge cards showed up to ruin their dinner. Because who wants to think about pledging? To be perfectly honest, pledging has never really made sense to me. Now I don’t mean that I believe that giving to the church is a bad idea – that would make me an odd choice to be up here today. I mean that every year I struggle to create a mental framework that lets me come up with a pledge that I believe to be thoughtful and appropriate.

December 2, 2012, The Rev Doy Conn preaching

Waiting, I think, makes an event all the sweeter. Waiting increases our sense of thanksgiving and gratitude. There was a day when waiting was more thoroughly woven into the rhythms of life. We waited for crops to come in. We waited for snow to melt and the salmon to run. We waited for fruits or vegetables to be in season. We waited to have enough money to buy something we couldn’t afford. We even waited for the appropriate night to watch our favorite TV show. Now we just Tevo it. Now we write the waiting out of the story of our lives and I sense we are diminished because of it.

November 18, 2012, The Rev Doyt Conn preaching

The sermon today is about the problem of pain and suffering. Don’t worry, it’s not another stewardship sermon.

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.