SERMONS
Fruit and Chaff
Here in Chicago, on lands previously cared for by the Ojibwe, Odawa, Potawatomi, as well as the ancient peoples that preceded them, we are called to ensure that our grain, our young, the people and places and ideas that we care for, are worthy of our repentance. We must ensure they are capable of responding to and healing the harm we leave behind.
ADVENT’S WAKE UP CALL WHEN ALL YOU WANT TO DO IS SLEEP
When we are tempted to give up hope, to sleep through life, this vision keeps alive in a us the dream for a better world. God’s shalom. A peace that will last. A world without violence, a world without weapons, a world without senseless killings.
What the God of Love Looks Like
Now is a good time to be reminded that in scripture we encounter God whose power and majesty differs radically from the reign of a human monarch or any political leader in a democracy. We need to use the image of Christ the king as a corrective to our human understanding of kingship because our king, Christ, has a completely different way of reining.
When Things Fall Apart
In our part of the globe, November is a stark reminder of life’s impermanence. We could simply notice the barren leaves, the shorter days, the colder weather. But the rhythms and cycles of the earth alert us to our place in the universe. Everything changes.
Unconventional Saints
This morning, surrounded by photos of our dearly departed who were also blessed in this life, we remember that God sees us. The Holy One knows the losses and struggles that weigh us down. The exhaustion from caring for others. The disappointments at home, work or school. The worry about a loved one who is ill or preparing to die. God sees us and honors us. God blesses us and accompanies us.
Tricks, Treats, and Trees
Zaccheaus decorated a tree with himself. His neighbors saw the chief tax collector.
Jesus, passing through, saw Zacchaeus.
Sorting People
For God is not a sorter like we are. Rather we have the sort of God that always surprises us with mercy. And forgiveness. And a new beginning. At the baptismal font. At the table. And in the world.
Prayers and Justice
You see, our prayers and actions go together to manifest the reign of God. When we beg and plead with God for justice, we may not be changing God, but we are likely changing ourselves. Changing our outlook. Changing our energy. Changing our focus.
Being the Least Bit Thankful
We can be free, spontaneous, unpredictable, improbable, and content in gratitude, not because it is a requirement, but because it reflects the confidence we possess when we cry out “Have mercy!”
Finding Our Place
Give us faith, O God. Give us a vision for the future. For finding our place in the universe may just give us a surprising path forward.
Being Seen
There is a basic human need to be seen and known. Chasms between the rich and the poor, the hungry and those who feast sumptuously, the un-housed and well housed still exist today. Seeing the other is a big deal. We are called to acknowledge their presence, their needs and gifts. And above all, their status as children of God, worthy of respect and dignity.
Marked Down
Rather than hoarding, let us be about dispossessing. Let us be about letting go. Let us be about extending grace to the underserving and the unsuspecting. Moving away from a tit-for-tat way of looking at the world. To a divine economics full of surprising mark-downs.
Have you seen my?
That God does God’s best work when we’re utterly lost and unable to find ourselves. But that is exactly how God-The seeking shepherd and the same God we know as The searching woman operates.
On the Basis of Love
In Jesus, God only deals with you in one way. And that is on the basis of love. Not on law. Not on what you deserve or don’t deserve. Just straight-up boundless love. It is this kind of love that can be found within the walls of this very church. And it is on the basis of this love that you have been set free.
Practicing Grace
Tables are where we get to practice receiving and giving God’s grace. God has invited us to be a part of an incredible banquet – a metaphor for God’s community – the place where all of God’s people come together.
We get free too
But, if we can see this text through a lens of empathy, if we can understand that synagogue leader as one who is trying to be faithful, who isn’t ignorant or heretical, we can see in ourselves that same truth. When our rules get in the way of freedom, when our rules become more important to us than the liberation of God’s people from bondage, then hear me now, our rules have to change.
Mary, Part Two
Mary is an icon of God’s boundless love and comfort. As Jesus has been portrayed in images from every possible culture and ethnicity, so has Mary.
Risk Taker
Yet theologian Carter Heyward reminds us that faith, by definition, is uncertainty. Faith is full of doubt, steeped in risk. Faith is about matters not of the known, but of the unknown.
Be the Church
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.