Recent Sermons

                                                                      4 Advent, Year B, 2008
                                                                    Mary's First Christmas

                                                                       December 21, 2008
                                                                          Luke 1:26-38

Christmas is just a few days away, and I’m beginning to think about it a lot. And isn’t it interesting that when we think of Christmas, our images are old images, not contemporary ones. When we think of Christmas, we never think of a new Hummer shifting into four-wheel-drive to slice through the snow. We think of a sleigh, going over the river and through the woods to grandma’s house. We don’t think of a high-tech artificial tree with LED lights – even though we may own one – we think of a fresh-cut tree, probably being dragged by that same sleigh.

And the music. Nobody wants to hear Brenda Lee singing “Rockin’ around the Christmas Tree,” or – God forbid – Alvin and the Chipmunks. Can you imagine the uproar if that’s what we sang on Christmas Eve in this church? No, we want to hear the old stuff – the stuff that holds no interest at all in other times of the year, but that’s what we crave at Christmas. Songs about a silent night, about a bleak mid-winter long long ago, about a little town of Bethlehem, about what came on a midnight clear, about singing angels and joy to the world, about coming together to adore him. That’s what we long hear.

And when I think about Christmas, I always think about my childhood, about being with my parents and sister around the Christmas tree. My parents, now long gone, are young and I see them so clearly. I remember all the Christmases of my childhood, even the ones that were hard, when my father didn’t have a job and we didn’t have much – even those I remember with fondness because we were together and love was there.
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Past Sermons (PDF files)

• November 30, 2008 -- The Light Coming Into the World

• November 23, 2008 -- Jesus our King, Christ the King Sunday

• November 16, 2008 -- Treasure in our Hands, 27 Pentecost

• November 2, 2008 -- Sainthood by the Numbers, All Saints Sunday

• October 19, 2008 -- The Air I Breathe, 23 Pentecost

• September 28, 2008 -- Standing on the Firm Foundation, 20 Pentecost

• September 14, 2008 -- Over and Over Again, 18 Pentecost

• September 7, 2008 -- Shouts and Whispers, 17 Pentecost

• August 31, 2008 -- Being a Disciple, 16 Pentecost

• August 10, 2008 -- Dancing on the Waves, 13 Pentecost

• August 3, 2008 -- Not my problem, 12 Pentecost

• July 27, 2008 -- We haven’t missed the bus, 11 Pentecost

• July 20, 2008 -- Gather at the River, 10 Pentecost

• July 6, 2008 -- What would Jesus do is not enough, 8 Pentecost

• June 29, 2008 -- On the Foundation of the Prophets and the Apostles, 7 Pentecost

• June 15, 2008 -- How I Turned Out, 5 Pentecost

• June 8, 2008 -- Follow Me, 4 Pentecost

• June 1, 2008 -- Life on the Rock, 3 Pentecost

• May 11, 2008 -- Behind the Big Red Doors, Day of Pentecost

• May 4, 2008 -- Cast all your anxiety upon Him, 7 Easter

• April 27, 2008 -- His story, your story, 6 Easter

• April 13, 2008 -- The Lord is My Shepherd, 4 Easter

• April 6, 2008 -- And He Walks With Me, 3 Easter