Sermons

My first call as an ordained Deacon was to serve in ministry with and among people with disabilities, particularly people with intellectual or developmental disabilities. For 10 years I led inclusive worship services, bringing together people with and without disabilities, encouraging all who gathered to express their love for God and their love for each other…

Do you remember how suddenly and unexpectedly church life changed in March 2020? I do! I was serving as the minister for a small Lutheran congregation in partnership with an Episcopal parish. We worshiped together every Sunday. By the second Sunday in March 2020, we were just starting to hear about the coronavirus, that new virus…

Today we enter a new season in the liturgical calendar of the church; the season called Time after Epiphany. As followers of Jesus who practice our faith according to Lutheran teachings, we order our worship life by the liturgical seasons to help us keep our focus on Jesus. These liturgical seasons (that begin with Advent and…

In my house, we are in the habit of watching the network nightly news to find out what’s going on in the world. Although this is not the only source of where we get our news, it does provide us with an overview of what the network executives think is the most important news of the…

During these weeks of Advent, a group of twenty or more people have gathered here at Holy Trinity on Wednesday evenings to share supper and conversation together. It’s been a rather wonderful time of talking and laughing and sharing joys and concerns and eating and reflecting on God’s Word and God’s presence among us. The mix…

This third Sunday in Advent is traditionally considered the Sunday of joy. It is one of the few times in the church year when you will see the color pink as a liturgical option. Here, we have one pink candle among the blue; it is the candle of joy. In some liturgical settings, today is called…

Today in our gospel reading we hear of the coming of John the Baptist. We often think of John the Baptist as sort of a wild person, who lived in the wilderness, on his own, and wore camel’s hair clothing and ate locusts and wild honey. That’s the image we get from the gospel of Matthew.…

On this first day of this new year in the liturgical calendar of the Christian church; on this first day of this new season of Advent, this season when we prepare our hearts and minds and bodies for the coming of the Christ child; on this first day of the month of December in the year…

As the Church year comes to a close, as the Christmas season begins to fill our schedules, we feel ourselves pulled in two different directions, like sheep being scattered from their shepherd.   And this time of the year always brings with it that tension.  Each year, we begin to prepare for the Christmas season—the celebration of…

We are quickly coming to the end of the liturgical church year; the cycle of days and weeks and festivals by which some Christians order their lives; the cycle that revolves around the story of Jesus and his birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension, and promise to come again. The liturgical church year is marked by varying…

It’s been quite a week for this country of ours that we so love. As New England Synod Bishop Nathan Pipho said in a video message on Wednesday morning, after we knew the official results of the presidential election – the reality is that many millions of people are feeling joyful, hopeful and optimistic by the…

When I was in high school, my oldest brother took great delight in asking people – What’s the shortest verse in the Bible? Do you know what it is? It’s in this morning’s gospel reading from John – verse 35 – “Jesus wept”. Now if you are paying attention you will tell me that’s not what…

Today in our worship service we are remembering Reformation Day, which actually shows up on the calendar later this week (October 31). Legend has it that it was on October 31, 1517, that Martin Luther, a young German priest and professor of theology, posted his 95 Theses on the door of the castle church in Wittenberg.…

This time of year, we are being inundated with ads and commercials filled with politicians telling us what they think we want them to do for us.  Each commercial, each debate answer, each interview, makes assumptions about the values of the people on the other end.  When a candidate makes a pitch or gives an answer…

We continue this morning in the season of the church year known as the time after Pentecost – ordinary time. We mark this season with the color green – the color of growth – as a reminder that this is a season for growing in our life together as people who follow in the way of…