SERMONS
Sermon 9/27/20: My Mind's Made Up (Pr. Craig Mueller)
As our country faces another bruising battle over a supreme court justice; as many worry whether the upcoming election could break America; as we prepare to discuss the fair tax and other difficult issues, as we prepare to rally, canvass and protest and vote; as we prepare to face the fearful difficult weeks and months, these are not easy words to hear. Most of us would rather be fired up to become more radicalized, rather than heed Paul’s words: be of one mind. Empty yourself. Look to needs of others before your own.
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)
Through this subversive, joyous rebellion of Shiphrah and Puah God begins to make a way out of no way, and as we will continue to see in the coming weeks, it was these courageous women of resistance that set in motion the Exodus.
Sermon 8/16/20: Mary, Mother of Our Lord (Pr. Craig Mueller)
Mary sings a revolutionary song: God lifts up the lowly. But there is more. Mary sings not of us remembering God, but of God remembering us. God comes to our help, remembering the promise of mercy to our forebears. Even when bitter sorrow pierces our hearts, Mary teaches us to sing the sweet praise of a tender God of mercy. A compassionate One who holds us close, even through our loss, even through our tears.
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 8/2/20: Limping Ever After (Pr. Craig Mueller)
I dare say we’ve been on the run. At least before March 2020. Hurrying and scurrying. Playing fast and loose. Swindling more than our share from our siblings. Repressing our nation’s tragic history of racism. Tricking our minds into believing that we could abuse and pollute the earth with no consequences. Living with plenty privilege, and more than enough dysfunction and hostility. There are a multitude of needs this day. As many of us receive communion for the first time since March, Christ comes among us. With great compassion for our world. He comes in the faces of one another—in our homes, on Zoom, in the street. He comes in broken bread, in the brokenness we see all around us. In wounds, in scars, in suffering faces, and in the limp itself.
Christ feeds us and all the world with boundless grace. Even as we become the bread of life for others.
A limp, for sure. Yet no longer on the run. A deep peace comes over us. What we need is here, this day. There is enough.
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 7/12/20: No Rules, Just Response (Pr. Ben Adams)
As followers of Christ we have been set free from the laws of sin and death and in the famous words of Leo Balmudo from Grease, “the rules are there ain’t no rules,” just our response to the love and grace we have experienced through Christ's death and resurrection. Christ IS victorious over death and has sown in us a victory garden with seeds of freedom planted in the soil of our lives, watered by our baptism, that give way to glorious, life-giving fruit. Through the example of rule-breakers like Jacob, Paul, and even God, our profligate seed sower, we are invited to also not follow the rules, and instead follow Christ and respond to the love and grace we have in Christ by extending that same love and grace to others.
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 6/14/20: Laughable (Pr. Craig Mueller)
Laugh with me! Join God’s dream to make the impossible possible. I love this quote from theologian Harvey Cox: “holy laughter is the gift of grace. It is the human spirit’s last defense against banality and despair. We praise of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Sarah, Rachel, and Rebekka. Mary, Jesus, and Paul. God is faithful. You have a future. All will be well. All will be healed. It is the kind of joy we saw at George Floyd’s funeral and at the funeral of the Emmanuel Nine. Even with hearts breaking, we join the laughter of the universe! For Christ is risen. A good laugh, indeed.
Sermon 5/31/20: Dreaming Big (Pr. Craig Mueller)
Will join me in this dream? Will you join the community of Holy Trinity to envision a new church, a new country, a new world? Use your imagination. Even as another black man cries out, “I can’t breathe,” even as we hold our breath in fear and anger, Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit on us today.
I sense it deep in my bones. The Spirit is among us. The Spirit is already creating something new in our world. It is a time for dreams and visions. And a new Pentecost!
Sermon 5/24/20: Still Here (Troy Medlin)
Jesus will come again, and be with us, and stay with us, the same way he came before. Jesus has come, again and again, and continues to dwell among us, in the midst of the messy and mundane of your life and mine. The promise of the ascension is that Jesus is still with us, that he has never left us, he has set up shop with us and continues to walk by our side.
Sermon 5/17/20: In Defense of Hope (Pr. Ben Adams)
There’s no going back to the way things were, things will never be the same, but that doesn’t mean things will be worse. In many ways we have an opportunity to make things better, and by contributing to a better future for all people and not just some, we can be the change that creates a more hopeful future. With the Holy Spirit as our ever present advocate and defense, we can confidently and faithfully step into this future together with hope.