Sermon transcript unavailable
Sermon transcript: This is one of those weeks where I read the scripture and think: what are we supposed to do with this? Jesus just…sort of floats up into the sky like Mary Poppins. What possible difference does that make in our lives?1 But, the other scriptures for the week aren’t clicking with me either. You’re getting an ascension of Jesus sermon…
Sermon transcript unavailable
Sermon transcript unavailable
Sermon transcript:1 There are certain verses in the Bible that come with…baggage. John 14:6 is one of them: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to God except through me.” For many, those words have not sounded like good news. They’ve sounded like a locked door. A narrowed path. A line dividing who’s in and who’s…
Sermon transcript: Sometimes when I look at or listen to my oldest child Calvin, I swear I am seeing and hearing my late father-in-law, Jim Saunders. Calvin is tall like his grandfather, has the same quiet, unassuming personality, the same logical, mathematical mind, and even the same turn of phrase, “I suppose.” And they say it the exact same way. You know,…
Sermon transcript unavailable
Sermon transcript: Sometimes I read Scripture and it’s just one simple word or phrase that sticks with me—like a burr on a dog’s fur. “So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy…” Does that resonate with you? Fear and joy at the same time? I thought about this, and three moments from my own life came rushing back: the…
Sermon transcript: What are we to make of this oddly named day? Where is the grace? It’s hard to see. And we have to be careful—careful not to hold up someone’s torture and execution as somehow redemptive. That’s one of the dangers of orthodox belief: the idea that God sent Jesus solely or mostly to die for the forgiveness of sins. The…
Sermon transcript: There’s a tiny haiku poem that’s been living in my head lately:“My barn having burned down, I can see the moon.”1 On first hearing, it sounds like a story of simple resilience — something collapses, and beauty appears. But if we stay with it a little longer, we realize it’s both harder and truer than that. The poet, Mizuta Masahide,…