The story of Abram and Sarai begin our conversation about what a relationship to God looks like. In their story, we see that all people begin their relationship to God with God choosing us. We do not earn our status as children of God, we are given it.
We end the sermon series with the celebration of Epiphany. Like the 3 wise men, hope does not always land at our doorstep, sometimes we have to go looking for it. As we start the New Year we think about practices we can take on that help us find hope everyday.
On Christmas Eve we celebrate that the hope that we have been waiting for has arrived. The challenge for many of us, however, is that we often don’t recognize the hope that has come. We don’t recognize because we are looking for the grandiose, when long ago the Holy One was born in a barn. […]
The only constant in life is that we ought to expect the unexpected. Our hope should not be different. The beauty of an unexpected hope is that unconditional grace is the outcome. This is certainly the case for Jesus’ birth. The savior of the world was born in an unexpected way and in an unexpected place […]
Questions and doubts are often frowned upon by Christians; they are perceived as reflecting a lack of faith. Questions and doubts, however, provide the opportunity for us to find the answer. During Advent many people as the same question as John the Baptist, “Is this the one?” How do we answer that question for ourselves? […]
John the Baptist urges us to consider that hoping for the coming of Christ requires something of us. “Bear fruit,” he says. Hope is expecting, but hope is not merely waiting for what we expect. Hope is changing our habits and living differently. As we prepare for the Christ child, perhaps we need to listen […]
In the Gospel of Matthew Jesus tells us to be ready and the prophet Isaiah speaks of the glory of what we are told to anticipate. Our challenge is that many of us do not expect Jesus to return anytime soon. The first step of hope, is managing our un-expectations. How would we change our […]
On Christ the King Sunday, the last day of the church calendar year, we would expect scriptures that declare the majesty and reign of Jesus Christ. What does the story of the crucifixion have to do with God’s kingdom that is ushered in by Jesus? “The cross is not a detour or a hurdle on the […]
With a nation divided after the 2016 election, we listen to the words of the prophet Isaiah, who speaks of God “Creating a new heaven and new earth.” The newness that God has in store for all of creation is not only a future reality, it is a present creative activity. Our task is to […]