Message: “We want a king!” from The Rev. Dr. Kristine Blaess

Christ, our King, is the one who stepped up into his throne by first taking his place on the cross to suffer and die in disgrace. Christ, our crucified King, is the suffering servant, the Good Shepherd of the Sheep, the one who turns our ideas of power and greatness on their heads, and asks us to follow him on a path that feels perilous but is the only path to life. This is Jesus’ hope for us today – will we hear the voice of our shepherd today? And will we follow him as Christ our King?

Read More

Message: “Who are you?” from The Rev. Dr. Kristine Blaess

Who are you? We start in all manner of places as we find our voices and tell about ourselves. But perhaps we can’t do any better than this, when we begin to tell who we are: We came as witnesses to testify to the light, so that all might believe. This is our calling, and the calling of the church –It is a shared calling of every Christian, that like John the Baptist,our voices, too, might be raised to bear witness to Christ, the light of the world.

Read More

Message: “The love and joy of the Lord” from The Rev. Dr. Kristine Blaess

A message from the series “Sermons during Epiphany.” God breathed his spirit and his life into humanity. God smiled. And he may have wept a tear of joy. It was very good.
And it was evening, and it was morning, and God rested with his darling creation, gazing upon every single thing with delight.

You, too, dear ones, were made in God’s image. You, too, were created by God out of his love, out of his joy, out of his desire to create you and be with you. You, too, dear ones, are ones who God’s gaze rests upon. God sees you and you are his delight.

Read More

Message: “The Light Shines On” from The Rev. Michael Whitnah

A message from the series “Sermons during Christmas.” From the very beginning, from before the very beginning, the will of God is Life, and Light. And when his beloved creation was shrouded in darkness, the Word became flesh and lived among us, entered into the darkness of sin and death itself, and was not overcome, but rather overcame the darkness, and won for us, Life.

Read More

Message: “What if Nineveh Repented?” from The Rev. Michael Whitnah

A message from the series “Sermons during Epiphany.” In Jesus Christ, the prophetic folk-tale of Jonah is made true. The Word of the Lord goes forth, with power and authority, breaking the power of sin that rules the human heart, and ushering in the new life, the new kingdom, of God…even in the most impossible, inconceivable, unlikeliest of places.

Read More

Message: “The prize and price of being connected with the life of God” from The Rev. Dr. Kristine Blaess

A message from the series “Sermons during Epiphany.” The invitation is here for us today – we are invited to the wedding banquet. The robe of salvation, the robe of healing, of forgiveness, of transformation, of full life is here to put on. Because when we come close to God we are changed. Come to the wedding feast! Come to the greatest celebration, and be made whole.

Read More

Message: “Who is He?” from The Rev. Dr. Kristine Blaess

A message from the series “Sermons during Pentecost.” Jesus’s question is for us today, too. Who do you say that I am? In all the parts of your life — Who do you say that I am? Am I a human teacher? Am I your Lord who comes to you with healing, with forgiveness, with restoration, to make all that has gone wrong right and to make all that has been sad, unsad? Am I God who has come to you in the flesh and now comes to you in the bread and the wine?

Read More

Message: “The Main Thing” from The Rev. Michael Whitnah

A message from the series “Sermons during Pentecost.” The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. And the main thing is that Jesus Christ, son of Mary, Son of God, the Messiah was crucified and died, rose again from the dead, and reigns as King over all. The Church is the community gathered together, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to remember and participate in this great story that is the Gospel.

Read More