Jr.'s Sermons

We're told to look for the devil in drugs, sex and rock n roll. But if we're to believe Jesus, religion can distract us from God. The only solution to satanic religion is to follow Jesus to the cross.

Living in the wilderness takes extra preparation. So too, if we're going to enter into the season of Lent, we need to prepare. God is going to do something powerful in our midst. Will we be ready for it? Will we be prepared?

Ash Wednesday begins Lent, a season of corporate prayer and fasting. But Jesus instructed us to do those things in private. So how can we do them together?

Most religions have a god who's confined to a mountain - high above the world with special people who can only access the gods on special days. But when God became human in Jesus, God left the mountain once and for all to live among us. This means that Jesus is with us everyday, everywhere we go!

Disagreement is tough - in the church as everywhere else in life. How do we engage people we disagree with - especially when we're so sure we're right? Paul tells the Corinthian church that "right" is the wrong framework. Unless we disagree on a foundation of love, we're headed for disaster. How do we pursue unity above all else?

Knowledge is power, and we can be tempted to hold ourselves above others when we have more understanding or experience. In 1 Corinthians 8, Paul takes a simple question about eating meat and turns it into a discussion of loving community.

What would you do if you learned the world was ending next week? Our answers to that question reveal our ‘happiness gap’ – how far we are from the life we really want. The Corinthian Christians asked Paul whether they should marry given the trials of their culture and the immanent return (they think!) of Jesus. Paul’s advice to them is to be content where they are. Rather than focusing on the greener grass over there, we should focus on what God is calling us to right where we are.

Our culture values personal freedom above all else. We’re not the first to do so – the Corinthians did too. But the Apostle Paul challenges personal freedom as the highest value, observing that when what matters most is my desires, I become a slave to those desires. Instead, Paul insists personal freedom must submit to the law of Love. We belong to each other.

As Epiphany begins, we ask the question, “What does it look like for God to live with us?” Paul’s encounter with the Ephesians in the book of Acts demonstrates that it’s possible to be a Christian but missing out on the life God has called us to. Baptism reminds us that God has not only saved us from our sin, but also saved us for his work of restoration in the world. What does it look like for you to be all-in?

Christmas is such an intimate celebration – a time to gather with friends and family – that we often forget the global sweep of the story. But two often-overlooked encounters with the infant Jesus remind us of God’s faithfulness – not only to us, but to the whole world! As we look toward a new year, how can we be filled with hope at what God will do?

Traditions are a beloved part of our Christmas celebrations – from lights and trees to Santa and gift-giving. Changes to holiday traditions can be hard, but change is the one constant of the Christmas story. How can we find Christ present in the center of our traditions, no matter what they look like this year?

Who doesn't love Christmas lights? Light is one of the central images of the Christmas season, but sometimes we forget what the light points to: that the darkness of sin is coming to an end. That God is up to something new. That WE are called to be that light in the world! As we prepare for Christmas, what does it look like for us to shine the light of God's hope into the world?

How does our preparation for the Christmas season cause us to miss Christ? Often, our lives become cluttered with busyness and sin that keep us from seeing the God who comes to us at Christmas. Both Isaiah and John the Baptist invite us to prepare a path for God in our lives. They insist a call to repent is a comfort for us! How is repentance a sign of God’s comfort during a busy holiday season?

How often in our preparations for Christmas do we forget to prepare ourselves for the coming of Christ? While the prophet Isaiah prays that God will tear open the heavens and come to us, Jesus instead comes humbly, in ways we least expect. How can we be alert and attentive this Advent season so we don't miss when Jesus comes among us?

In times of trauma and grief, it feels like all the structures that keep our lives stable have been stripped away. But as we enter into the process of Lament, those structures begin to reemerge. It’s not daylight yet, but we can begin to sense that the long night of our grief is ending. Hope draws us together and invites those voices who have long been silenced to be front and center.

When do we stop praying for healing? What does solidarity look like with those who are hurting? Artist and theologian Katie Fisher shares from Lamentations 3. Putting dust in our mouths is at once an act of solidarity and a declaration of hope.

What does it look like when God gets angry at us? Lamentations illustrates that God's anger is God giving us what we want - life apart from God. How can we learn to see God's anger as an aspect of God's love - and an invitation to life?

Grief is uncomfortable. In the face of tragedy, no words are sufficient to salve our pain. Yet in the face of others’ pain, we find ourselves offering platitudes and speaking for God so we can avoid their pain. But Lamentations 1 is a funeral dirge. We hear the woman’s honest, unflinching cries of pain and see the prophet join her, offering nothing but his presence. How can we learn to be honest about pain so we can begin the process of reorientation?

We avoid pain and grief as much as possible. When faced with someone else's grief, we avoid or offer platitudes. But the book of Lamentations invites us to sit with grief, to enter into the prophetic process of Lament. In this series, we'll explore how to grieve and how to be a friend to the grieving. Ultimately, we'll see how the process of lament invites us to be agents of healing in the larger world.

We struggle to offer grace to people we feel don’t deserve it – which is, ironically, exactly who needs grace. Uncovering the true biblical origins of Satan helps us come face to face with this graceless impulse. It turns out, refusing to extend grace to others is what makes us truly Satanic. How can we choose to be a grace-filled people?