Sermons from 2025
02 Mar 2025
TransfigurationMarch 2, 2025Luke 9.28-43a When I was in middle school I somehow ended up on our school’s Science Olympiad team, despite the fact that science wasn’t particularly my jam and practices happened during the same time that I had volleyball practice. When I think about it now, the concept seems kind of fun, but at the time my younger self was mostly annoyed at having to juggle the responsibility. The whole idea was essentially like the Olympics for middle school…
23 Feb 2025
7th Sunday after EpiphanyFebruary 23, 2025Genesis 45.3-11, 15 There are a lot of things I love about living in Virginia. Before this weekend, I would have said the mild winters, but here we are with more snow than I’ve seen in eons, even in Michigan. No, I have come to love so much about living here, but y’all (see? I even love saying y’all now), I have one really big pet peeve, and some of you know this because you’ve…
16 Feb 2025
6th Sunday after EpiphanyFebruary 16, 2025Luke 6.17-26 I confess this morning that…I’m tired. I mean, you know all know me, so you know, generally, I’m always sleepy. No matter what time the alarm goes off, if someone asks how I am in the morning, I’m going to say, I’m tired. But that’s not what I mean. I am achingly, bone-deep, down to a cellular level tired. I am tired of constantly feeling as though we are living through moments of…
09 Feb 2025
5th Sunday after EpiphanyFebruary 9, 2025Isaiah 6.1-13 Life in the country, particularly life in the country of the Midwest, comes with certain requisites. Cornfields aren’t scary, they’re just your backyard. It is not necessarily surprising if you look out and see a neighbor’s animal wandering around your yard. I grew up with our neighbor’s pheasants annoying our dogs incessantly, and now my mom has a rooster next door. You measure things in time not miles, and anything under an hour…
02 Feb 2025
Presentation of Our LordFebruary 2, 2025Luke 2.22-40 Life with a teenage nephew that you don’t see everyday is a lesson in the mind-bending weirdness of time. I feel like every time I see Felix lately, something is different, and this has been going on for about the last year or so. I will never forget rolling into their house for his birthday last year and having him turn the corner of the hall and go, “Hi,” then promptly see my…
26 Jan 2025
3rd Sunday after EpiphanyJanuary 26, 20251 Corinthians 12.12-31a If you’ve been on social media in the last week or watched GMA or Today you have probably heard something about this whole Onyx Storm thing. It was a book released this past Tuesday, which has been highly, passionately anticipated by flocks and flocks of fantasy readers. It’s the third book in a series that is essentially about dragons and their riders. Now trust me, this is going somewhere… I just finished…
19 Jan 2025
2nd Sunday after EpiphanyJanuary 19, 2025John 2.1-11 If I’m being honest, as I’ve gotten older and as I’ve done more conscientious reading about his life, I’ve found myself nervous, and if anything, frustrated by Martin Luther King, Jr., Day. Let me be explicitly clear here, not because of him, because let’s be real if there is any human being deserving of a day of honor, respect, and memorial, it’s him. No, I find myself frustrated with what ends up being…
12 Jan 2025
Baptism of Our LordJanuary 12, 2025Luke 3.15-17, 21-22 This past week, my sisters and I and our book club went to New York City to see Our Town. We had read a book last summer that heavily featured the play and so we jumped at the opportunity to see it live, even while knowing that we weren’t exactly signing up for the most upbeat of evenings in the city. This is where I give the requisite spoiler alert for a…
05 Jan 2025
EpiphanyJanuary 5, 2025Matthew 2.1-12 So we’re going to give a shout out to the history nerds amongst us this morning by spending a little time with the worst and allegedly mad monarchs of all time. Let’s start with some of the obvious—Caligula. You may know some facts about him, but did you know that he banned the mention of goats in his presence and attempted to get his horse elected to a position on his council. Ivan the Terrible of…