Sermons
Ninth Sunday after Pentecost
We contemporary people tend to wrestle quite a bit with stories like we just heard in our Gospel reading. Grains of barley loaves multiplying in the hands of Jesus; a midnight stroll across the turbulent sea to join the disciples. The category of miracle is most often justified away to make stories like these palatable. …
Continue reading “Ninth Sunday after Pentecost”
You can’t drive a parked car
Bible Text: Jeremiah 23:1-6; Psalm 23; Ephesians 2:11-22; Mark 6:30-34, 53-56 | Preacher: Rev. Mary MacKenzie | Series: 2021 | How is the church different from other charitable organizations, social service agencies, or organizations working for social justice? I would say it’s that we do acts of charity and we strive for justice and peace …
Continue reading “You can’t drive a parked car”
Seventh Sunday after Pentecost
Bible Text: 2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19, Psalm 24, Ephesians 1:3-14, Mark 6:14-29 | Preacher: The Rev. Natalie Johnson | Series: 2021 | For many of us, we have been “trained” through our years of hearing Scripture read and sermons preached to look for the redemptive line in a gospel narrative. There are times, perhaps, that we find it …
Continue reading “Seventh Sunday after Pentecost”
Stymied
Bible Text: Ezekiel 2:1-5; 2 Corinthians 12:2-10; Mark 6:1-13 | Preacher: Rev. Mary MacKenzie | Series: 2021 | Jesus is stymied. He’s been on a roll, going from village to village, crisscrossing the lake and attracting crowds everywhere he goes. He has been teaching, healing, casting out demons, even raising the dead. He has decided …
“Letting Go and Drawing Near”
Bible Text: Ezekiel 34:11-16; Psalm 87; 2 Timothy 4:1-8; John 21:15-19 | Preacher: Dr. Mark Lloyd Taylor | Series: 2021 | With just three days to go until June 30, it’s hard for me not to hear some of the Apostle Paul’s words to Timothy more personally than usual. “The time of my departure has …
Continue reading ““Letting Go and Drawing Near””
Third Sunday after Pentecost
Bible Text: Ezekiel 17:22-24;2 Corinthians 5:6-10,[11-13],14-17;Mark 4:26-34 | Preacher: The Rev. Natalie Johnson | Series: 2021 | Our Gospel reading today comes from a unit of text that is often referred to as Jesus’ Parables Sermon. Mark has strung together four parables (along with one allegorical explanation) into a narrative sermon in which Jesus conveys …
Continue reading “Third Sunday after Pentecost”
Solidarity
Bible Text: Genesis 3:8-15; Psalm 130; 2 Corinthians 4:13- 5:1; Mark 3:20-35 | Preacher: Rev. Mary MacKenzie | Series: 2021 | Solidarity is one of those words that’s bandied about pretty freely these days. Kind of like they do with awesome. I may be pleased to get a dinner reservation and the person taking the …
The Disruptive Beauty of God’s Holiness
Bible Text: Isaiah 6:1-8; Psalm 29; Romans 8:12-17; John 3:1-17 | Preacher: Dr. Mark Lloyd Taylor | Series: 2021 | I want to try something a little different with this morning’s sermon. For I continue to chafe a bit under the constraints of “ZOOM Church,” even as I’m intrigued by its possibilities. I invite you …
Continue reading “The Disruptive Beauty of God’s Holiness”
Pentecost 2021
Bible Text: Acts 2:1-21, Romans 8:22-27, John 15:26-27;16:4b-15 | Preacher: The Rev. Natalie Johnson | Series: 2021 | In the book of Acts, the second of his two-volume work, Luke gives us the story of the Day of Pentecost. It is a story familiar to many of us (perhaps you’ve heard or read it a …
Continue reading “Pentecost 2021”
Getting Ready for What’s Next
Bible Text: Acts 1:15-17, 21-26; 1 John 5:9-13; John 17:6- 19; Psalm 1 | Preacher: Rev. Mary MacKenzie | Series: 2021 | How do you get ready for what’s next when you don’t know what’s next? Does it feel like we’ve been trying to do that very thing for the last year – and more? …
Continue reading “Getting Ready for What’s Next”