Sermons on Psalms
Praising God First & Always
Psalm 113 calls us back to living life-agendas
Good Things & Good People
Do good things happen to good people?
Well, Honestly!
The point is that all of us are carrying stuff that we may be quite unable to let go. Psalm 25 models how we are given to respond to it all! Beginning with the outward praising of God!
The Praise God Wants
We, the church, for better or worse, are the Body of Christ, and that means we are still the primary way the risen Christ is choosing to take up room in the world.
An incarnational reality
Our Christian walk is much more about our awareness of sacredness in everything than it is about us having to do things!
Living in Creation
Let us get on the business of loving, caring for all God’s creation, at least living well.
Wow!
“Wow!” is the most profoundly theological word in English.
Discerning God’s Call
1 Samuel 3:1-10, (11-20) Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18 John 1:43-51
Hope – Meditation
Maybe you too, like the author of Isaiah, have been so fed up with the world around you, the way things seem to be, that in complete exasperation you have shook your fist at the heavens and declared “Oh, that you would rip open the heavens and descend!”
Stranger in a Strange Land
Leviticus 19:33 When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. 34 The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God. My wife Heather and I have three children, two; Julie and Chris, were products of Heather’s first marriage and the third, Aba, is a young…
The Sound of Silence
In the early 1960s an aspiring 20-year-old folk singer took his guitar into the bathroom of his parents’ home to practice because he liked the slight echo chamber effect he got. One night he turned off the light and tried out a few lines, “Hello darkness my old friend, I’ve come to talk to you again…”
Baptism, Believing, and Belonging
Our believing and our belonging are meant to go deeper over time, to give shape to our lives and to our church.
Desiring God
Psalm 63:1-8; Luke 13:1-9 This Lent, we’ve been exploring the theme of encountering God: going out into the wilderness to meet God; seeking to discover or uncover God amidst the fulness, the clutter of our lives. Last Sunday, John Burton reflected with you on some of the ways we encounter God: in the first, stumbling words of a grandchild, in music, and in the vast mysteries of the universe.
Let There Be Light
Psalm 27; Luke 13:31-35 Several weeks ago Jeff introduced the notion of ‘functional atheism,’ in his sermon. This label refers to the inclination many of us have to feel that all the work of the church is dependent on us and not God. Functional atheists may not give voice to this feeling directly but when you listen to the way they talk about the church it seems that their faith is summed up by saying, “If it is our efforts, our…