Harrowing Of Hell

Category: Spiritual Formation

Dualism and the Presidential Race

Sermon | July 24, 2016

July 27, 2016, The Rev. Doyt L. Conn, Jr. preaching

God is your Father. God made you. God loves you. God has you because God is hallowed. God is whole, holy, healthy, full, and complete, and in every situation this omnipotent God HAS YOU. And in moments when we aren’t sure about this, when we aren’t sure how to hold the tension between the good and the bad within us, when we aren’t sure how we will keep from collapsing into dualistic, binary, black-and-white thinking, then we pray: Father, hallowed be your name.

Resurrection at Nain

Sermon | June 5, 2016

June 5, 2016, The Rev. Todd Foster preaching

It is fascinating to me that when God chose to put on flesh and come into the world in power, God chose not to do so with huge assertions of political influence or military might. Jesus did indeed demonstrate mastery of rulers, kingdoms and death, but Jesus didn’t abolish these things. Still today we lose children, parents, siblings, friends, and lovers. What Jesus, God in the flesh, did was to bring us good news. Jesus proclaimed and demonstrated and confirmed the presence of God with us and God for us. Jesus showed us that the death and loss, the sadness and hurt we experience isn’t the final, defining word in our lives. There are more fundamental forces at play in our existence even than questions of life and death. We are invited into a larger reality, and an allegiance that transcends the here and now. We are invited into a relationship that is bigger than life itself.

The Great Easter Vigil: Baptism with Water

Sermon | March 26, 2016

March 26, 2016, The Rev. Doyt L. Conn, Jr. preaching

Jesus came from God so we could go up up up from darkness to light, from chaos to order, from bondage to freedom, from death to life. It is this mysterious relationship that we sit in and celebrate tonight. And it begins with water. Water is essential. It is essential for point to God; who is more essential.

Ashes: Let Us Be Marked

Sermon | February 10, 2016

February 10, 2016, The Rev. Kate Wesch preaching

And so, this day, this first day of Lent, we are marked as a sign of our mortal nature, a reminder that we are stardust. This is an act and a reminder of this season of penitence, of fasting, and self-examination. It is an echo of our baptism, and a foreshadowing of last rites.