Rev. Cari Copeman-Haynes

For Ascension Sunday, Rev. Cari referred to the story of the day as told in both Luke 24:44-53 and Acts 1:1-11 (which, after all, are by the same person). The topic is the passing of the baton from Jesus to the disciples, just before the gift of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the…

This morning was “Mama’s Day” at Crossroads, a service dedicated to the ministry of our mission partner in Busia, Kenya. The Mama Orphans Children’s Home has provided shelter, food, and education to children orphaned by AIDS for more than 20 years. Today Rev. Cari preached for Mama’s Day, which is unusual. More often, she privileges…

This week, for the fifth Sunday in the season of Easter, Rev. Cari preached a sermon that pulled together Acts 8:26-40 with her recent reading of Andrew Solomon’s 2001 book The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression. Today is the threshold of “Mental Health Awareness Week” which caused her to make this choice. The story of the conversion…

The fourth Sunday of the Great Fifty Days of Easter is always “Shepherding Sunday,” so today our texts were Psalm 23, and John 10:11-18. Rev. Cari preached on the text from John, pulling out the Easter themes of 1) making sense of the apparent “failure” of the crucifixion, and 2) recognition of the presence of…

For the third Sunday of Easter, Rev. Cari preaches on Luke 24:36b-48, the story following that of last Sunday. It is still Easter evening, and the Risen Christ appears to his followers, who still are not expecting to see him, and so don’t recognize him. “Peace be with you,” is his greeting, a greeting that…

Preaching on Mark 16:1-8, Rev. Cari opened with a direct acknowledgment of this, our second COVID Easter, amid the brokenness of our world. Then she shared references from two articles she received in her inbox during the week, before fully leaping into the text. When grief lies as heavily upon our flesh as a stone…

Rev. Cari’s sermon for Palm Sunday was based on the story of Jesus’ “triumphal entry” into Jerusalem, as it is found in Mark 11:1-11. In this sermon, she explodes the notion we have somehow inherited, that “Hosanna” means “Hooray!” and restores its true meaning, which is actually, “Save us!” In the sermon, she doesn’t deny…

For the fifth Sunday in Lent, Rev. Cari preached a combination sermon, starting with Ezekiel 47:1-12 and then incorporating Romans 6:15-23 as well. The surprise in the sermon is that sanctification – a process we typically think of as involving we humans becoming holier, or more like Jesus – in the text from Romans is…

For the second Sunday in Lent, Rev. Cari preached on Grace. The text was Romans 4:1-5 and 13-17, in which Paul discusses Abraham and Sarah. Cari used a translation from her New Testament professor at VST, the late Dr. Lloyd Gaston, which emphasizes the “faithfulness of God” much more than conventional understandings. She also referred…

It’s the first Sunday in Lent, and Rev. Cari begins a new series today on Sin and Salvation… so guess where she starts? At Sin. Her texts are Romans 7:14-25, Paul’s quintessential reflection on what we might call “the human condition” and Matthew 4:1-11, the story of Jesus’ temptations in the wilderness. Listeners will have…