Sermons from 2024
15 Dec 2024
3rd Sunday of AdventDecember 15, 2024Luke 3.7-18 When I lived in Pennsylvania, I ended up becoming pretty good friends with the girl who cut my hair. My usually introverted self wouldn’t dread the hour in the chair trying to small talk because Jordan and I just had a nice, easy flow to conversation. There was one time I came in and she was veritably vibrating with excitement. “I have a new obsession!” I was so immensely curious what this could possibly…
24 Nov 2024
Christ the KingNovember 24, 2024Revelation 1.4b-8 As we enter into the week of the turkey, let me share with you the story of my family’s most memorable and ill-fated Thanksgivings, a Thanksgiving to go down in history. It was somewhere in the early 2000’s when Jon and Kristin decided that they were at a serious enough point in their relationship that they were going to start sharing holidays—thus came the first Thanksgiving where she was in upstate New York and…
17 Nov 2024
26th Sunday after PentecostNovember 17, 2024Mark 13.1-8 I wish I came here this morning with a happy, warm and fuzzy story from our time in Costa Rica, like the little guy whose mom brought him in to see us a year after our docs saved his one week old life from meningitis last year, but that isn’t the story that has been holding my heart. No…the moment that still plays over and over in my brain is the mom who…
03 Nov 2024
All SaintsNovember 3, 2024Isaiah 25.6-9Revelation 22.1-6aJohn 11.32-44 One of the things that I love so much about my grandma is that she is entirely technology adverse. It’s not that doesn’t like it, she doesn’t have any sort of aggressive feelings about it, but she just doesn’t see the point. Now, of course, this has caused a smidgen of angst amongst all of us because this means my grandma doesn’t have a cell phone, which means if she falls when she’s…
27 Oct 2024
Reformation SundayOctober 27, 2024Jeremiah 31.31-34, Romans 3.19-28 Last Monday before I left for work, my mom asked me what I wanted her to tackle in the wide world of unpacking. I told her the thing that would be most helpful would be for her to unload the zillions of kitchen boxes that were strewn across my apartment. I said if she could just get my pots and pans and dishes put away that would be an immense help. She then…
20 Oct 2024
22nd Sunday after PentecostOctober 20, 2024Mark 10.35-45 We’re going to play a little bit of a guessing game this morning. I’mgoing to give you some facts and you have to see if you can come up withwho you think I’m talking about. When you think you know it just raiseyour hand; I want to see how long it takes the majority of us to figure thisout. So here we go. She was born January 19, 1946. She has beennominated for…
13 Oct 2024
21st Sunday after PentecostOctober 13, 2024Mark 10.17-31 0.2% A miniscule number, meaningless even, basically impossible. Having a 0.2% chance of doing anything is pretty much saying it’s just not going to happen. Those are the kind of odds a team has of winning with ten seconds left in a came they are losing. It’s barely worth mentioning, and yet, 0.2% is my current favorite kind of odds, because it turns out, it’s actually not impossible. It’s close, but it’s not…
06 Oct 2024
St. FrancisOctober 6, 2024 Genesis 1.24-31 I think it’s safe to say that we all have some kind of visceral memoryaround experiences with creation; those memories which fill us up, slow ourheart rates, and bring an overwhelming sense of peace because they evoke afeeling, a feeling of being out in nature, our in God’s world and beingentirely at rest in our surroundings. For me, so many of these kinds ofmemories are tangled up in growing up in Michigan. When I…
29 Sep 2024
19th Sunday after PentecostSeptember 29, 2024Numbers 11.4-6, 10-16, 24-29 There is a story amongst folks at my first call that is still infamous. If you were to ask any of my former youth group parents about the Maize Quest incident, they would all immediately burst out laughing and then sufficiently and wholly roast me for what was just plain foolishness on my part. So let’s set some context here, we were taking the youth group to the local corn maze.…
22 Sep 2024
18th Sunday after Pentecost September 22, 2024 Mark 9.30-37 If you were here a couple of weeks ago, you might remember thestory of Sebastian’s quick exit from Tron while we were at Disney. Well,that same day, one of my favorite moments of the trip happened. As Imentioned before, Bash was highly skeptical of any ride that could beconsidered “big.” It was his first time riding any rides like this, and so priorto any ride, the line experience would be filled with questions…
15 Sep 2024
17th Sunday after Pentecost September 15, 2024 James 3.1-12 I have started a lot of sermons a lot of different ways, but I must say, Inever expected to start one with the words of the well-known philosopher,Katy Perry. Ok, obviously I’m kidding about the philosopher part, but notabout the source of the quote I came across this week. While coveringPerry’s acceptance of the Video Vanguard award at the MTV Video MusicAwards this week, People magazine brought up several portions of…
08 Sep 2024
16th Sunday after Pentecost September 8, 2024 Mark 7.24-37 As most of you are pretty well aware of by know, you know that Icome from a long line of sports enthusiasts who are nothing if not fiercelyloyal when it comes to our teams. At my grandpa’s funeral, our pastorworked in his love of the Detroit Tigers into the sermon because she knewthat was at the core of his identity. I grew up on the baseball diamonds ofthe various leagues my…