A Widow’s Mite and Escaping Empire: A Stewardship Sermon on Mark 12:38-44

Stewardship Sermon on Mark 12:38-44

Living Table UCC, the congregation I serve as pastor, is on the brink of doing a whole new thing. We spent years in conversation with other congregations to discern the shape of our future. This summer, we sold our building. Soon we will move into a newly remodeled church building with two other congregations. We … Read More

We are Bartimaeus When We Need to Be Jesus: Prophetic Sermon on Mark 10:46-52

Prophetic Sermon on Mark 10:46-52

What if we, who make up the Bodymind of Christ, start identifying with Jesus in these stories. Instead of waiting for magical healing or magical insights, what if we sought to be the healers – less literally and more actually.

More than Divorce, More than Children – a Revolution (Mark 10:2-16)

Gospel is all about getting the disciples to repent and get busy bringing the realm of God into the here and now. This confused the disciples repeatedly, just as much as it confuses modern disciples. We can grasp the idea of repentance, though we don’t like to do it or admit that we need to. So we can repent. But how do we bring the realm of God into existence? Well, that’s easy, too. Simplicity, openness, and equity.

Whoever is Not Against Us is For Us (Mark 9:38-50)

Mark 9:38-50 sermon

“Whoever is not against us, is for us.” Jesus’ simple, countercultural statement is the key to liberation and unity. If we stop fighting with each other about who has the “right” way to be Christian and unite to demand equity and justice for all those whom the Empire devalues, we could truly change the world. Jesus didn’t care that people outside of his disciples were healing in his name. It was a good thing. Love was brought into the world. If people are bringing Divine Love into the world, bringing healing, hope, justice, why should we care what their religious affiliation is? If lives are saved, then it is good work.

A Place for All: Thoughts on James 3 and Mark 9

Every single one of us has value as God’s beloved. It does not matter who we are, what we do, what we have, what we don’t do, the good we’ve done, the harm we’ve wrought. God loves and claims us all as beloved. We all have value right now, as we are – broken or whole or somewhere in between. Queer, straight, cis, Trans*, rich, poor, healthy, sick, black, white, brown, red, yellow, educated, uneducated, smart, intellectually impaired, wise, foolish, temporarily able-bodied, disabled, mentally healthy, mentally ill, and all the other unique and wonderful combination of things that make us human. We have a place in the Kingdom. We are called to be Kingdom-builders, all of us – each doing their individual part connected to the whole.