Sermons & Worship from November 2016

Matthew 1:1-3; Genesis 38:1-26 Introduction to scripture: The gospel of Matthew begins with the genealogy of Jesus, starting 42 generations back with Abraham, the father of the Jewish faith, and traveling down from father to son to arrive at Joseph, because it is Joseph, and not Mary, who is descended from the house of David.  To be descended from the house of David gave a Jew living in first century Palestine street cred; kind of like someone today who can…

Proverbs 13:7; Matthew 6:19-26 We are living in complex times. Out of curiosity, I went back and looked at census forms over the years and in 1920, the US census form asked if you were male or female, had a tiny box to list your color, and asked for your place of birth and “mother tongue.” The 2010 census listed 17 check box options for race alone, and even allowed people to check more than one box. For the 2020…

Matthew 10:16 We have just come out of an exhausting and divisive campaign and the post election climate continues to be one of anger, blame, fear, and hurt. Although I believe firmly in the separation of church and state, I believe just as firmly that that doesn’t mean faith has nothing to say to the current situation. What is faith if not a means for us to come to terms with our humanity, to understand our role in society, to…

Psalm 25:1-5 I am here to tell you this morning that all good things in life take time.  Well, perhaps I shouldn’t say “all” — there are indeed spontaneous events that bring us great joy and there are even wonderful ideas that can come to fruition with hasty last minute efforts — so I wouldn’t want to carve it as a rule in stone but I do believe that in general, good things in life take time. Have you ever…