Sermons

Our readings for this Sunday go beyond simple forgiveness, exploring how forgiveness rebuilds and restores a fractured community. The readings aren’t about flippant forgiveness, cheap grace or pretending but about how costly it is to reconnect. Forgiveness is not shallow but instead requires effort. Thank God for a life of faith where we know we […]

Since the seventh century, September 1 has symbolized the day of the creation of the world in the Byzantine tradition and has been the opening feast of its liturgical year (known as the Feast of the Indiction), in parallel with Rosh Hashanah marking the Jewish New Year. We are celebrating this new feast day, Creation […]

This week’s reading is all about facing difficult things – our enemies, suffering, expectations. Moses is asked by God to go back to Egypt. Paul asks the community in Rome to stick with each other even when it isn’t easy and Jesus tells Peter he is going to suffer and die. We are not promised […]

This week we are invited to think about how we are a ‘chip off the old block.’ We are not in this life alone, we are a part of a deep and wide community of faith full of imperfect folks just like Peter. And yet this is the exact foundation Jesus wants for the church […]

Even Jesus sometimes needs a reminder that all means all. In this week’s text a Canaanite woman reminds Jesus that even though she may not be a part of his community, she and her daughter also deserve dignity and care. May we too listen to the interrupting mama bears in our midst. Accompanying Scripture:Isaiah 56:1-8, […]

Stormy weather ahead in both texts this week. Storms remind us of the limits of our power over our own lives and yet this helplessness does not need to cause panic. In the midst of all storms, we can cling to God’s steadfast presence and love. God proclaims to us peace in the midst of […]

In today’s first reading God invites all who are hungry or thirsty to receive food and drink without cost. Jesus feeds the hungry multitude and reveals the abundance of God. In Holy Communion, we remember all are welcome to the table and none are turned away. As we share the bread of life, we are […]

In today’s gospel Jesus offers everyday images that reveal to us the reign of God: a tree that becomes a sheltering home, yeast that penetrates and expands, a treasured pearl, a net that gains a great catch. Even as we seek the riches of God’s reign, the great surprise is that God’s grace finds us […]

Why is there evil in the world? In the parable of the wheat and the weeds Jesus suggests that both grow together until the harvest. With Paul, we long for the day that all creation will be set free from bondage and suffering. Having both weeds and wheat within us, we humbly place our hope […]

Why is there evil in the world? In the parable of the wheat and the weeds Jesus suggests that both grow together until the harvest. With Paul, we long for the day that all creation will be set free from bondage and suffering. Having both weeds and wheat within us, we humbly place our hope […]