The Reign of God

"The reality of the reign of God coming near has always been difficult to comprehend because we understand it as a "already/not yet" reality. The reign of God has absolutely come near, and it's effects are felt in the present. But it hasn't yet been fully realized--there is still more to come. We've only gotten a taste of it."

Shepherd Me, O God

"We put our trust and our faith in a God that is able to be our shepherd from death to life, because we put our trust and faith in a God who's already walked that road. The Easter season is the bold proclamation that Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. It is the firm belief, the bedrock of our faith, that death, no matter how tragic or how disastrous, does not have the final say, does not hold any power, does not dictate terms to us any longer."

Sermon – April 19, 2015 – Easter 3B

Doubt is an essential part of faith. It is the natural reaction when we are confronted with something we desperately wish to be true, but which flies in the face of our expectations and defies the ways in which we think things should work. It is a faithful response to the unbelievable in our midst that, by all other measures, cannot possibly be true. It is the process through which we come to accept and believe.

Sermon – April 12, 2015 – Easter 2B

"This is who the church is. People empowered by the good news, who take care of each other and those in need. Everything else is on the side; it's not our identity. Our identity is in God. It's in baptism. It's in the good news, the sharing. It's in our freedom to defy the norms and expectations of our culture and society to show love where it is needed most."

Sermon – February 8, 2015 – Epiphany 5B

"I wonder, though, if we see ourselves more as released from sin than we see ourselves as released to something else, to something greater."