Sermons
“Hannah More on the Virtue of Moderation”
Luke 14:25-33
Hannah More shows us how to evangelize with integrity and charity. Holding fast to the truth and exercising wisdom in how we communicate it are both essential for our witness to the world, as reflected in More's life and writings.
Check out Hannah More’s essay, “On the Conduct of Christians in their Intercourse with the Irreligious."
“The Narrow Door”
Luke 13:22-30
“Light has come into the world.” Christ, the light of the world, sees us as we truly are. His gaze penetrates all lies and self deceit, seeing us as we truly are. His penetrating gaze is filled with love. He is light, revealing our false understanding of ourselves and of others. To walk through this door is to confess the truth, which releases us from the attachments we have made to this world, finding salvation in the light of Christ.
“Not Peace, but Division”
Luke 12:49-56
Jesus asks the rhetorical question: “Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” On the surface, a difficult passage to understand, especially when that we see that he is called prince of peace in Isaiah 9 and when the angels announce Jesus’ birth to the shepherds saying, “peace and good will toward men.”
“Discipleship as Pilgrimage”
Luke 12:32-40
The Christian life (discipleship) is a pilgrim existence. While we don’t identify with this world as it currently is, we identify with what it will one day become by God’s power. Discipleship is securing our primary attachments to God’s kingdom, which is the way life was meant to be lived. The person who looks to another world (God’s kingdom) is actually living for this world.
“The Lawyer and the Parable of the Good Samaritan”
Luke 10:25-37
By entering this story, the lawyer is freed from a world dominated by self-justifying logic. The parable confronts his pride and invites him to freely respond to the mercy of God standing before him. By the instrument of the parable, the lawyer is able to move from pride to humility.
“Following Jesus”
Luke 9:51-62
Jesus challenges us to follow him with radical hospitality and wholehearted commitment to him and his kingdom.
“Who do you say that I am?”
Luke 9:18-24
Peter’s declaration of faith invites us into bolder, more courageous faith and intimacy with Jesus, the Christ–with an understanding that we, like Peter, will also at times misunderstand or get things wrong or not quite be able to fully grasp something. And with an understanding that faith is not a static thing, but a growing thing–something that develops and enlarges and deepens throughout one’s life (as it did for Peter).
“Worship the Triune God”
John 14:8-17
Trinity Sunday is the culmination of the story the Church embarks on each year from Advent to Pentecost. In Advent, we awaited God’s redemption with hope as Gabriel announced to Mary she would give birth to a Son. At Christmas, we celebrated the Nativity of Jesus. In Epiphany, we witnessed God’s revelation of himself to the world. In Lent, we repented of our sins in preparation for the death of our Lord. In Holy Week, we received the command to love one another and watched our Lord betrayed, arrested, tried, condemned, beaten, crucified, and buried. In Easter, we entered into the joy and celebration of the resurrection of our Lord and his victory over death. At the Ascension, we saw Jesus taken up into heaven to sit in glory at the right hand of the Father. And at Pentecost, we received the Holy Spirit for comfort in our affliction and confidence in our mission. We respond in worship.
“The Power of the Holy Spirit”
John 14:8-17
In Acts 2, at Pentecost, the Spirit inhabits the church in a uniquely powerful way: through multiple languages spoken at once. This is a fulfillment (and anticipation) of Jesus’ words from Acts 1:8, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”
John 14:21-29
The more complex our world becomes, the more the simple invitation of faith resonates with our hearts. The call for obedience in this passage cannot be fully understood without verse 26. Jesus tells his disciples, “The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” Rather than a set of rules, Jesus’ call to obedience is placed within the care of a Helper, a Counselor, One who knows our hearts, our experiences, our struggles. Let us hold ourselves in his presence within the life of the church (fellowship, Scripture, Eucharist, and prayer) that our affections may grow and the Holy Spirit may guide us into a joyful and life-giving obedience.
“The Paschal Mystery”
John 10:25
The works of Christ (his suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension) are at the center of the creed we confess each week. For our salvation “he suffered, he was was buried, he rose again, and he he ascended.” In the creed we are not professing an idea that we simply agree to. These are not things we merely believe. We are proclaiming a truth, a mystery that we participate in. As Paul writes in Romans 6:4, “We were buried … with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”
“The Hospitality of Our Risen Lord”
John 21:1-14
The hospitality Christ offered the weary, grieving disciples is a model for us as we live out the gospel of hospitality.
“On the Third Day He Rose Again.”
Luke 24:1-12
The poets and artists rightly reflect of the unspeakable reality of the resurrection. In the tradition of Mary, the evangelists speak quite plainly: “We have seen the Lord.” These two responses satisfy each other. For the resurrection to be deeply true it must be simply true. And for it to be true at all it must be profoundly true.
“All Things as Rubbish”
Phil 3:7-16
Explore Paul’s heart through this message by contextualizing this famous passage within his broader ministry. How does Paul consider the loss of “all things” in light of “the surpassing worth of knowing Christ”? Consider God’s invitation for the “obedience of faith” in our own times.
“A Parent’s Heart”
Luke 15:11-32
Put yourself in the Parrable of the Sons and imagine the emotions and the heart of the Father. Certainly this is meant to discernible how the Father feels towards us, but also and invitation to ask that our heart would be more like His.
“An Undivided Devotion to the Lord”
1 Cor. 10:1-13
Look at how Paul responds to the division and moral corruption of the early church in Corinth by pointing back to the example of the Israelites. How is this passage (within the context of the entire letter) a challenge and encouragement to us?
“The Narrow Door”
Luke 13:22-35
When Jesus is asked, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” he shifts the question to a personal challenge: “Strive to enter through the narrow door.” In contrast to the open fields of instruction and invitation, the narrow door is the entrance into discipleship. Passing through this door is a recognition that Jesus is Lord and requires humility.