Shalom

Shalom (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Isaiah 2:2-5
June 24, 2018

Shalom aleichem.

Peace to you.

Shalom is a greeting.  It’s a greeting you might offer as you open the door of your house to a friend — shalom — or a greeting you might offer with a nod of your head as you pass a stranger on the street — shalom. … Continue reading ...

Via pulchritudinis

Via pulchritudinis (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Micah 6:6-8, Matthew 5:1-9
February 2, 2014

What do these seven things have in common?

1) Sue holds up Diane’s photograph on the cover of this Sunday’s bulletin.

2) The chancel choir sings the refrain of “Blest Are They.”

3) Sophia and Grace come to the front of the sanctuary and hug each other.… Continue reading ...

You have to go outside

You have to go outside (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Genesis 1:1 – 2:4
June 15, 2014

(Play excerpt from Dan Gibson, “Land of the Loons”)

Welcome to my world …

Lakes, cold and deep and blue, sometimes still, sometimes raging, dense forests of long-needled pine and aromatic cedar and glistening birch.

The haunting call of a loon, the deliberate and unruffled movements of a moose raising itself from the water onto the lakeshore, swimming beaver and soaring eagle and stealthy walleye.… Continue reading ...

Leaving jealousy behind

Leaving jealousy behind (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Romans 13:8-14
September 7, 2014

In seventeen days, on September 24, our church will celebrate its 158th anniversary.  Our congregation has a long history in Waterloo, virtually as long as the history of the town itself.  It is your church, it is our church, but it is a church we have inherited, with a long-established tradition of worship and ministry and mission in Waterloo and the Cedar Valley.… Continue reading ...

Let us stand in awe

Let us stand in awe (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Luke 5:1-11, Philippians 2:1-13
September 28, 2014

He was calling them.  He is calling you.  To what?

What do you see?

Look again!  Look closer!  What do you see?  Do you see evidence of what you cannot see, intimations of what you cannot comprehend?  Do you see things that hint at a kind of wonder and beauty so extraordinary, so sublime, that your eyes simply cannot bear the sight?… Continue reading ...

For whether we live or whether we die

For whether we live or whether we die (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Psalm 90:1-12
November 16, 2014

Teach us how short our life is,
so that we may become wise.

How short is our life?

We last no longer than a dream …

We are like a dream … vivid and real, while it lasts … full of wonders and marvels, while it lasts … but when the dawn comes, when we are awakened, the dream is gone, remembered maybe for a short while, but soon forgotten.… Continue reading ...

Are you bored?

Are you bored? (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Luke 9:28-36
February 7, 2016

Are you bored?

That’s my sermon.  The photograph was taken Wednesday morning in the front yard of our house in Cedar Falls and that is my sermon.  But since I should probably earn my keep, I will elaborate.

Are you bored?  Do you find your life tiresome, dull, routine? … Continue reading ...

He comes

He comes (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Luke 13:31-35
February 21, 2016

Balinese Jesus

sermons.believersjournal.org/wp-content/uploads/darsane(1).mov

What do you think?  What do you think of a Jesus with long flowing black hair?  What do you think of a Jesus with long slender fingers and smooth ochre skin?  What do you think of a Jesus with ankle bracelets and arm bracelets and a golden necklace? … Continue reading ...

Beauty of the life we have/no matter what

Beauty of the life we have/no matter what (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Psalm 23
April 17, 2016

What do you see when you see Charley Corson in a pout and pigtails?

What do you see when you watch Jack Conrad speak with such authority about the names and habits of various species of dinosaur?

What do you see when Laura Kaliban offers you the bread of life?… Continue reading ...