Most weeks, our worship leader offers a 15–20 minute sermon based on the Scripture texts for the day.
Our regular preacher is pretty versatile. She’ll tell stories, pull together different ideas, lead a meditation, give the congregation an “assignment” to talk about in twos or threes, show a slide show or video, or sometimes even sing to the congregation. The sermon functions to deepen our reflection on the Scripture themes of the day, and often leaves us with a challenge or a question.
Scripture texts are outlined in the Revised Common Lectionary.
April 21, 2024
The fourth Sunday after Easter is typically “Shepherding Sunday” – a focus on the metaphor of Jesus as “Good” or “Noble” or “True” Shepherd. Rev. Cari preached on John 10:11-18 (but she did cheat a bit, and include verse 10 in her pondering). On the threshold of Earth Week, this sermon wonders what “abundant life”…
Bystander to Witness
For the third Sunday after Easter, Rev. Cari opens up Luke 24:36b-48, another resurrection appearance of the Risen Christ. In this sermon, she is playing with the transformation of the disciples: from frightened bystanders who have witnessed a traumatic event, to active witnesses to the abundant grace of the living God.
Visions of Peace
Rev. Jim Short grapples with John 20:19-31 for this first Sunday after Easter. Imagine Thomas, looking for the Resurrected Jesus, bursts into the room where the disciples are hiding in fear from the temple authorities. They say to him, “We saw him and the marks of his crucifixion. We were filled with joy, and he…
Easter’s Invitation
For Easter Sunday, Rev. Cari preached on the resurrection narrative as found in Mark 16:1-8. In this version of the story, the women go to the tomb just after sunrise to anoint Jesus’ body. The discover – to their great alarm – that the heavy stone has been rolled away from the entrance to the…
Save Us Now
On Palm Sunday Rev. Cari preached on the dramatic entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, contrasting it with the presumed military procession of Pilate. This contrast rises out of the work of New Testament scholars, the late Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan, in their influential 2006 book, The Last Week: What the Gospels Really Teach…
Invitation to Trust
The Rev. Wendy Bily was our guest preacher this morning, for the 5th Sunday in Lent. She preached on John 12:20-33 in which Jesus speaks of his impending death, and compares himself to a “grain of wheat.”
So… Affirming!
For the 4th Sunday of Lent, and Affirming PIE Sunday, Rev. Cari preached on John 3:13-21 (a text that has two others hovering in the background: Numbers 21:4-9, and Genesis 22). Though it was tempting to dive into the troubling aspects of the background texts, Rev. Cari kept her focus on the love of God….
The Paradox of the Gospel
For the second Sunday in the season of Lent, Rev. Cari tackled the paradoxical Gospel text of the day, Mark 8:31-38, in which Jesus says several difficult – even inconceivable – things. So it’s little wonder that she opened with a reference to the trio of Fezzik, Inigo and Vizzini in Rob Reiner’s film The…
Ground Orientation
For the first Sunday in the season of Lent, Rev. Cari preached on Mark 1:9-15, the text suggested for the day by the Revised Common Lectionary. Because the gospel of Mark doesn’t waste words, we’ve heard much of this text before! But the two verses pertaining to today’s theme are the ones concerning the Spirit…
A Way Where There is No Way
On the fifth Sunday after Epiphany, Rev. Cari preached on the Hebrew Bible text, a passage from the prophet Isaiah, which picks up mid-argument… from Isaiah 40:21-31. She gives some context, then opens up the “meat” of the passage: what it means to “wait for Our God.” Along the way she brings out a few…