SERMONS
Sermon 6/16/19: The Future Is Fluid
So what are God’s pronouns? Our God who is and was is and is to come is all of them, AND more than we can even imagine: He who creates and orders life, she who nourishes and sustains, and they who flows and moves through us and all of creation to proclaim the good news of salvation for all. We are a people of endless potential, who serve a triune God of endless potential.
Sermon 6/9/19: Aren't You Glad We Aren't All the Same?
Holy Trinity is a Pentecost community. Our differences make life interesting and reveal that God loves diversity and is the very source of infinite variety. The Holy Spirit is the energy that unites us and challenges us to not only bang our diversity drum and say what a great church we are because we try to welcome everyone. Rather, we are empowered to move beyond mere acceptance of others to transformation. As we listen and learn from those most different from us—racially, ethnically, religiously, economically, politically—we become more. We discover new ways of thinking, serving, loving. We become transformed by this Spirit of God, this Advocate, the One that abides in us forever.
Sermon 6/2/19: Look Out, Not Up
We pause for a moment on this feast day to celebrate the mystery of Christ’s ascension to be seated at the right hand of God. Jesus does not abandon us but empowers us through the Holy Spirit to be his body in the world. We are invited look for new beginnings, not dwell on the ending. Stop looking up to heaven to find the Holy One and start looking out. For Christ is among us now in bread and wine, and in this community, and in the love and light we share with others.
Sermon 6/1/19: Not just welcoming...inviting.
We aren’t alone, separated from God. In fact, the Ascension of Jesus means that Jesus is not just in one physical place anymore, but Jesus is everywhere, with all of us, at all times.
Sermon 5/26/19: Nevertheless, she persisted, and she prevailed.
Fear, sadness, and anger may overcome us, but today we are also reminded that it is the Holy Spirit, the advocate, as Jesus says in our Gospel today, that God has sent to us to teach us and remind us of the peace that Jesus leaves with us, the peace Jesus gives to us, not as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. Instead, like Lydia, Pastor Betty, and countless other powerful, persistent, prevailing women, let our hearts be opened by the Lord to this peace that surpasses all human understanding. Nevertheless the advocate, she persisted, and she prevailed.
Sermon 5/19/19: A New (and difficult) Commandment
If you were about to die, what would you tell the people you love? What hope or dream would you share? What advice would you offer? Jesus didn’t have a hospice team caring for him or a book outlining the four most important things to do or say before he died. And yet we hear his goodbye blessing in today’s gospel text. “Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”
Sermon 5/18/19: Love Unbounded
In the same breath that we hear this command of Jesus to love one another, we also hear the story of Peter, who wasn’t so sure about who was included in this love. Could God really work among the people who were outside of the purity codes? Could the Holy Spirit really reside among those people who didn’t get it? Could God work among those people who were on the outside? Who were unclean?
If we are going to follow this message of Christ, this new commandment, that we love one another, then we recognize that the love of God has no boundaries. That means the Holy Spirit can be found in prisons and brokenness, in greedy rich people, in the meetings of conservatives and liberals, in immigration marches, in back alleys, on streets, and right here, among all of us gathered tonight.
Sermon 5/12/19: "These Top Two Easter Songs May Surprise You"
Can you name your top five favorite Easter hymns or songs? Can you even name five? I bet if I asked you to do the same with Christmas carols, you’d come up a long list. How many Easter albums do you know by well-known recording artists? Yet it seems everyone makes a Christmas album. Doesn’t matter if you’re Christian or Jewish, agnostic or church-going. Barbara Streisand, Karen Carpenter, Frank Sinatra, Michael Buble—they all sing of “Jesus, Lord at thy birth,” and “Son of God, love’s pure light.” And yet Easter is the principle Christian feast. It’s the real deal. It may surprise you to learn the two Easter songs featured in this sermon.
Sermon 5/5/19: "Come and Have Breakfast"
“Come and have breakfast.” A simple, and easy invitation from Jesus. I remember in the years that I was too afraid to darken the door of a church because of my queer identity, I never missed Sunday brunch with my friends. Brunch was my church. And, y’all, Jesus invented brunch. It’s all over the gospels, Jesus eating with everybody and anybody, anywhere, and getting flack for it. Jesus consistently teaches, preaches, and builds community over food, with food, and in the presence of food. Anywhere we practice this type of communion, Jesus is with us. Jesus feeds us and asks us to feed each other. Life is not always going to be easy, there will be hardships, without a doubt. We don’t deny the pain and suffering of bearing the weight of the cross, but we also can’t deny the power of the resurrection. My hope is that those of us who have been taught that faith is a constant struggle can gradually begin to relax into these moments where Jesus is asking us to be present and enjoy life.
Sermon 4/28/19: "You Can't See It"
Christ speaks words of peace and words of beauty to us this day—even amid our insecurities, our doubts, our pride, our indifference. May Easter open your eyes. To see the earth coming alive. To see the amazing gifts in each new day. To see the risen Christ among us in bread and wine. To see the image of God in our siblings, especially those most different from us. And finally, to see what you too often miss: that you are beautiful!
Sermon 4/27/19: "Faith in the Face of Fear and Doubt"
Today you may be here filled with fear and doubt and that is ok. Jesus is not waiting for us to get our house in order and open the door. Jesus is breaking the houses we lock ourselves up in offers to us peace and breathes on us the liberating Holy Spirit that frees us. And if that image is too abstract for you and you need something more real to touch and to taste, come to the table, and like Thomas, experience Jesus’ real presence with you. Through that real experience of resurrection, the Spirit is at work, giving us ordinary, fearful, doubting people extraordinary boldness to declare, “My Lord and my God.”
Sermon: The Truth-Telling Women of Easter
Three named women in today’s gospel reading, Mary Magdalene, Joanna and Mary mother of James, along with other women who were at Jesus’ tomb, ran to tell the good news to the others; but the men didn’t believe them. The guys said their report was an idle tale.
Sermon: What's This About The Ideal Wife?
There are many ways to meet an ideal spouse, if you can find one. Consider the story of someone who put out their list of 25 qualities for an ideal spouse and married the person three years later. Proverbs ends with a poem about the “ideal wife” and Jesus talks about greatness. What virtues motivate us?