Sermons

When a person chooses to make oneself the main character of his or her story, we call that story an “autobiography.”  Autobiographies are distinguished from their counterparts, biographies, by the simple fact that an author is relating his side of things, her perspective.  See if you can recognize the author of this short autobiography: In… [Read More]

  Have you ever considered the weight of silence?  Put another way, have you ever suffered for the secrets that you have kept?  Recently, I finished a book by Philip Roth entitled, The Human Stain (2000).  An award-winning book at the time of its creation, it is a disturbing book: disturbing because of the complexity… [Read More]

Have you ever feared being replaced?  It’s a common fear.  Perhaps you work in a department that is considering downsizing in the pandemic.  Perhaps you are anticipating saying goodbye to an adult child who is getting married or forming a new relationship or moving out and who is currently making space for a new nuclear… [Read More]

Perhaps to some, it may seem unusual for this particular congregation to have a Juneteenth service, though we have held a Juneteenth service before.  In some parts of this country and in some congregations, Sunday Juneteenth services coincide with Juneteenth celebrations in various towns and states.  For those who may not be familiar with Juneteenth,… [Read More]

The English crime-writer, Dorothy Sayers, was once quoted as saying, “The whole [Trinity] thing is incomprehensible… If it were comprehensible, nobody would have struggled to make it comprehensible in the various creeds of the church(es). Nobody has yet succeeded, and perhaps the very incomprehensibility is why we no longer pay more than lip service to… [Read More]

Twice this week, I saw graffiti.  The first was on a church monument at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in South Minneapolis.  The pastor took several the clergy virtually around the neighborhood after the events of this past week.  She showed the local bookstore, shops, the burned out 3rd precinct, the housing that her church helped… [Read More]

Ascension Sunday has become a bit of an oddity to explain to the church.  The day celebrates—celebrates—Jesus’ leaving the disciples again.  As if the first time wasn’t quite enough:  with trials and crosses, Roman overlords and an unbelievable resurrection to boot.  In our passage from this first chapter of Acts, our biblical writer gives us… [Read More]

  Do you, in these days of sheltering-in-place, find yourselves looking longingly at travel photos or foreign cities or places unknown to you?    Do you ever imagine yourself walking the village streets of Portugal, visiting the faraway ruins of Egypt, or browsing the markets of the Mediterranean?    I’ve been thumbing some of those… [Read More]

“Do not let your hearts be troubled…” These are the words Jesus says to us this morning.  I don’t know about you, but I have been troubled lately.  Subtract the feeling of being shut-in, or the act of caring for children 24/7– that’s not what is troubling me.  Introvert that I am, I can find… [Read More]

This past week I compiled a grocery list and headed off to our local grocery store.  It never fails to surprise me—those empty shelves of cleaning products, yeast, baking supplies, and paper goods.  Some joke about the shortage of toilet paper, but I was on the hunt for hydrogen peroxide.  The shelf was empty—and not… [Read More]