Rev. Timothy J. Ensworth
Only one thing to say (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Ecclesiastes 11:9 – 12:14
November 26, 2017
There is only one thing to say …
After all this, there is only one thing to say …
Useless, useless … It is all useless …
“Hebel,” הבל. The Hebrew word is הבל. We translate it “useless” or “vanity” (“vanity of vanities, all is vanity”) or “emptiness.” … Continue reading ...
Long enough (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Isaiah 40:1-2
January 11, 2015
A mentor once told me that it is a minister’s job to comfort those who are disturbed and to disturb those who are comfortable. So which are you? Comfortable or disturbed?
The people of Jerusalem were disturbed. They had been disturbed for a long time: disturbed and beaten down and hollowed out and sucked dry of hope and desire beyond anything we are capable of imagining. … Continue reading ...
We are going (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Isaiah 40:27-31
February 15, 2015
Are you waiting for something? You’re expecting me to say something, aren’t you? But what if I’m not ready? What if I don’t want to? What if I’m too tired?
Do you know how hard it is? Trying to come up with something to say? … Continue reading ...
Depression and the paradox (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Isaiah 62:1-5
January 17, 2016
What do Soren Kierkegaard, Princess Diana, Abraham Lincoln, and Angelina Jolie have in common? They have all suffered from depression. As have Elijah the prophet and David the king and the author of the psalm you just heard. As have I.
So if you have suffered from depression, if you are depressed, you are in good company. … Continue reading ...
Familiarity breeds contempt (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Luke 4:20-30
January 31, 2016
I can talk about fear, because I have been afraid. I can talk about doubt, because I have doubted. I can talk about depression, because I have been depressed and know what it feels like from the inside. I understand depression. And even though I have not known despair, I can talk about despair because I think I understand it. … Continue reading ...
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 ...
You are that man (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
2 Samuel 12:1-7
June 12, 2016
What makes you angry?
When you can’t get service on your cell phone? When Fareway is all out of your favorite brand of chips? When the San Jose Sharks and captain and hometown hero, Joe Pavelski, lose?
Do you get angry when you lose the vote? … Continue reading ...
Clay (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Jeremiah 18:1-11
September 4, 2016
Imagine a young woman there on the floor at the front of the church. She is sitting on a short stool behind a small table. On the table is set a broad wheel that she spins by means of a foot pedal. She places a mound of wet grey clay onto the middle of the wheel and she begins working the clay with her hands: stretching, shaping, smoothing, sculpting.… Continue reading ...
love is patient (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Matthew 4:12-17
January 8, 2017
Silent night, holy night,
Son of God, love’s pure light …
Epiphany is the season of light, the season of illumination, the season when the light of the Son of God allows us to see things as they are, to see things as they really are.… Continue reading ...