Sermons on Spiritual Life
Lent 5 – 3/22/26 – The Acceptance of Suffering
The video is missing the first few moments of the sermon because of a technical issue. John 11:1-45 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This…
Lent 4 – 3/15/26 – Does God Make Your Knees Tremble?
John 9:1-41 As Jesus walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in…
Lent 3 – 3/8/26 – Conversation is Transformative
John 4:5-42 Jesus came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you,…
Lent 2 – 3/1/26 – May each of our lives be a blessing
Genesis 12:1-4a The Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” So Abram went,…
Lent 1 – 2/22/26 – Beware crafty voices
Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.” Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said…
Ash Wednesday – 2/18/26 – Sermon for Ash Wednesday: memento mori
In the early 15th century, the monastic and mystic, Thomas À Kempis wrote a meditation on death: “Very quickly our life here will end” he wrote. “ … In every word and deed, we must live our lives today as if we were to die tonight. … if we are not ready to die today, how will we be ready to die tomorrow? Tomorrow is not certain. We can’t even guarantee there will be a tomorrow. “What does…
Epiphany 6 – 2/15/26 – The Light for the Road: From Mountaintop Glory to Everyday Faithfulness
Matthew 17:1-9 Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for…
Epiphany 5 – 2/8/26 – The Full-Bodied Experience of God in Christ
Matthew 5:13-20 Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.…
Epiphany 4 – 2/1/26 – Not all anger is the same
Matthew 5:1-12 When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.“Blessed are the merciful, for they…
Epiphany 3 – 1/25/26 – Sermon
Matthew 4:12-23 When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali,on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—the people who sat in darknesshave seen a great light,and for those who sat in the region…