But truthfully: We’re already really good at worship. It’s one of the things Holy Trinity is known for. It’s the first thing we figured out how to adapt (and re-adapt repeatedly) during the pandemic.
Outsiders Who Get It
Sermon 10/25/20: Love Your Neighbor (Pr. Michelle Sevig)
It’s not going to be easy, but it is possible to love my neighbor, even the ones I don’t particularly like, because this love is motivated by and expressed through the unconditional love we receive every day from the Holy One. Whether we deserve it or not, whether we feel it or not, God’s love for us overflows.
Sermon 10/18/20: Whose face do you see? (Pr. Ben Adams)
When you are upset about the driver in front of you and you speed up to give them the stink eye, you can ask yourself, whose face do I see in that other driver? Or better yet, if you do go through with giving them the stink eye, whose face would they see? Is it the face of God? Or when you look in the mirror, whose face do you see? Do you see the face of God whose image you have been created in? Or turning the conversation back to taxation, whose face do you see when you pay your taxes? Is it the face of God in the person on the street corner who could benefit from public housing, universal healthcare, and a strong social safety net? Or do you only see the face of those who use the tax system to exploit the poor and further enrich the wealthy?
Sermon 10/10&11/2020: Bishop Yehiel Curry
Sermon 9/20/20: Complaints (Pr. Matt James)
We, you and I, all of us, simple, ordinary (and beautiful!) human beings are gifted, called, knit, into God’s saving work in this world. Simple as we might be, were made to be God’s gift, God’s response to the needs of our fellow creatures in this world. In our own actions, in our own words, we are a sign of God’s never-ending love, not only for one another, but for this broken down, dying, lamenting world.
And when exhaustion, or physical or mental illness, or the forces of oppression hold one or a number of us down, we have one another gift: this community: this simple, beautiful, body of Christ to lament, to shout, to protest, to vote and help others vote, to wear a face covering, to simply be a sign of God’s grace, of strength, of hope, of love in this world. That as we make our way together, through the wilderness, in the midst of all that we cannot quite bear, God hears our cries, God responds in ways both big and small.
Sermon 9/19/20: Bread of Heaven (Pr. Ben Adams)
This God given bread for the journey is needed more than ever, because we need to be filled with something different than what the world is filling us with. I know for me personally, when I turn on the news, or open my social media feed I am filled with fatigue as we close in towards our eighth month of the pandemic, I am filled with existential fear for our climate future as wildfires and hurricanes rage, I am filled with frustration at the partisan divides that toxically pit us against one another, I am filled with anger at continued racism and police brutality, and now I am filled with grief over the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Filled as many of us are with fatigue, fear, frustration, anger, and grief, we might think there can’t possibly be any room for anything else, but there is still a hunger for liberation. And, in order for us to carry on towards our liberated promised land, we’ll need some bread for the wilderness journey, some true bread of heaven that comes from God and gives life to the world. And so, in this liminal space between departure and destination, we feast on the bread of heaven until we’re filled with the true presence of the living God who is leading us to liberation.
Sermon 9/13/20: Sing the Song of Freedom (Pr. Michelle Sevig)
We have all been set free to sing a song of freedom because God has won the victory for all. We worship a God--at the festive Easter Vigil, or in these ordinary, yet extraordinary times from our home--whose heart beats for the suffering and marginalized, but also extends to the influential and the privileged. By God’s grace alone, we are free to live a new life in Christ, reborn every day in God’s love and mercy for the world.
Sermon 9/12/20: Forgiven People Forgive People (Pr. Ben Adams)
Dear People, you are forgiven, and forgiven people forgive people. And if that act of forgiveness feels like an impossible task before you with all the frustration we feel with one another, trust that renewed in our baptisms, God will make all of us, signs of reconciliation in the world, and together we will move forward and find a future together. A future transformed, healed, and whole.
Sermon 9/6/20: What plagues you? (Pr. Craig Mueller)
The plagues were designed to bring Pharaoh to his knees. That he might realize the limits of his power. The plagues of our time bring us to our knees as well. Like an addict who hits bottom. Like someone at the end of their rope. For then there is a spiritual opening. A trust in God or some higher power or presence. Calling us to the reconciliation Jesus speaks about in our gospel. Calling us to fulfill the commandments through love as Paul writes about in our second reading. Calling us to be signs of justice and mercy.
Sermon 8/30/20: Holy Ground (Pr. Michelle Sevig)
God calls us to speak about unjust systems that oppress, even if we don’t feel equipped or well-spoken enough to make a difference. God calls us to stand with those who are hurt by violence and natural disasters, or who have no sense of belonging, even if we don’t know exactly what to do. God calls us to open our eyes and hearts to the pain and suffering of others. And God calls us to take off our shoes--to be vulnerable and open to the God who embraces us in our own pain and suffering. God is the one who always holds the action, is never stagnant or still. I AM loves. I AM restores. I AM forgives. I AM calls. I AM is with us whenever we find ourselves on holy ground
Sermon 8/23/20: In Her Own Words (Pr. Ben Adams)
Sermon 8/9/20: The Moment of Recognition (Pr. Craig Mueller)
In these weird, freaky, frightening days, as we begin to sink, Jesus reaches out his hand to us. Catches us. Even when we don’t recognize him—or any divine purpose for it all. Even when we are manipulative or secretive, like Joseph. Even when we don’t think there is any way we can get out of this mess, this sinking ship.
In our doubt, in our despair, we hear hopeful words. “Take heart, it is I, Jesus. Do not be afraid.” It is the moment of recognition. The words we long to hear. The peaceful presence in the midst of the storm we are now living.
Sermon 7/19/20: Sacred Places (Pr. Michelle Sevig)
The Holy One is with us wherever we go. If only we’d open our eyes to see and hear God’s blessing in the most unexpected places and parts of our lives. Sometimes it’s just too hard to recognize God’s presence among us or to recognize ourselves as holy and beloved by God. Like Jacob we run from our past and worry about our future.
Yet God knows your greatest joys and deepest pains and loves you anyway. Receive this promise, like Jacob did, from the Holy One who is with you in your dreams and in your journey to an unknown future.
May you find sacred places and times to rest in God’s presence even in the most unexpected and surprising times.
Sermon 6/28/20: Pride and Joy (Pr. Craig Mueller)
Remember you are God’s pride and joy. You have a future! God’s promise to Abraham and Sarah is for you as well. For everyone born, a place at the table. Isaac and Ishmael. Muslim, Jew, Christian. All those longing for a cup of cold water, those praying for a new day, a better world, a more equitable society, a future bright with promise. People of all colors, races, genders, sexualities, religions, spiritualities, ideologies. For everyone born, All God’s beloved children. God’s pride and joy.
Sermon 7/5/2020: A Genesis Love Story (Pr. Michelle Sevig)
Just like many great love stories in the Bible, this one began with well-springs of water at the baptismal font, when promises were made by God and humans. In those waters we were claimed as God’s beloved, a relationship with the Holy one was born, and God’s faithfulness secured. We are invited to embrace this never-ending love story and say “Yes!” Yes, to God’s love for us. Yes, to God’s love for the world. Yes, to God’s faithfulness, trusting that God will provide all that we need as we work to love our neighbors as ourselves, trusting that God provides for all generations.
Sermon 10/19/19: The Heart of Persistence (Pr. Brooke Petersen)
We need to be reminded to pray and not lose heart. We get tired, our pleas fall on closed hearts and ears that refuse to listen. We get redirected or told we are too loud or too angry. We get frustrated and we break. We show up to protests and it’s hard to carry our signs and chant our chants anymore. And, so this parable is a reminder to us that it isn’t something lacking within us that we need to get right. We aren’t weak because we feel that the work of justice is hard. We don’t lack faith because we lose heart sometimes. God’s promises to us are written on our hearts, and our God, as persistent as a widow crying out in the street, will stand with us as we cry out to every unjust judge and every unjust system. Our God will join God’s voice with ours as we confront powers that do not fear God and respect no one. Our God will link arms with ours as we call for a world that is better, that is holier, that is full of more goodness, and more peace. Our God doesn’t just know that we cry for justice, our God demands it alongside us.
Sermon 10/20/19: Worn Out (Pr. Craig Mueller)
God is the persistent One who is unrelenting:
desiring your wholeness, but also the healing and well-being of all creation.
When you are worn out, when it is hard to have hope for the future,
when you don’t have the energy to stand up for the widows and marginalized ones in our day and time,
God never gives up. God keeps on.
God’s forgiveness and mercy and grace never run out.
This divine persistence changes your heart,
softens your heart, opens your heart
so that you can get up tomorrow and begin another day.
Sermon 10/12/19: Something's Happening Here
In giving thanks to God by seeking the welfare of even those who attempt to hold us in captivity, we are promised that in that radical act we will find our own welfare. Something happens here when we give thanks by living free even in the face of oppression. Something happens when we look inward and thank God for what new facets of our identity we find. Something happens when we respond to our own healing by running back to God at this table and giving thanks for all that God has done.
Sermon 10/13/19: Borders
Jesus shows up at the borders. Where we build walls or draw lines of division, God dwells and erases anything that divides us and them. The Holy One breaks down barriers that divide and embraces everyone. Jesus hears the cries of all who call out for mercy and heals those who recognize and thank the healer and those who do not.