Rev. Timothy J. Ensworth
One (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Luke 15:1-10
September 11, 2016
(Play video: images from September 11-12, 2001, set to Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings; link = https://sermons.believersjournal.org/wp-content/uploads/adagio.mp4)
That brings back a host of feelings, doesn’t it?
Fifteen years ago today, our world changed. Fifteen years ago today, we changed. For the better? Did we change for the better? … Continue reading ...
First things first (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Luke 16:1-13
September 18, 2016
They say that there are three subjects you should never talk about in polite company: religion, politics, and money. So, having noted that, today we are going to talk about all three!
We are going to talk about religion because that’s what we do here. … Continue reading ...
Open the gate! (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Luke 16:19-31
September 25, 2016
Audio excerpt from Clarence Jordan, “The Rich Man and Lazarus”
(http://www.believersjournal.org/sermons/wp-content/uploads/ClarenceJordan.mov)
πλουσιος (plousios) and πτωχος (ptochos) … rich man and beggar … one they party with and one they spit on … one clothed in the finest fabrics and latest styles and one clothed in sores … one feasting sumptuously — sumptuously!… Continue reading ...
Ordinary servants (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Luke 17:5-10
October 2, 2016
I want you to focus your minds. I want you to put aside all distractions. I want you to summon all your strength, all your willpower, all your determination. I want you to pour your heart and soul into this, and I want you to strive … to be ordinary!… Continue reading ...
You (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Luke 17:11-19
October 9, 2016
Your name is Rahm and you are a leper.
You were not always a leper. There was a time — it seems now like another lifetime or the lifetime of another person, not your own life — a time when you were happy, at least as happy as you could be, considering.… Continue reading ...
Never give up! (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Luke 18:1-8
October 16, 2016
The top ten signs that you have given up …
Number 10: You turned off the TV after the eighth inning of last Tuesday night’s Cubs game.
Number 9: You watched Monday Night Football instead of the first presidential debate.
Number 8. Since the second debate, you have been searching online for houses … in Canada.… Continue reading ...
Despicable me (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Luke 18:9-14
October 23, 2016
This painting was done by Domenico Ghirlandaio in the late fifteenth century. It is one of three paintings I have used in confirmation classes as visual aids for a discussion about the meaning of Jesus’ incarnation. The other two are shown below:
These are three very different paintings, all of which I like, for different reasons. … Continue reading ...
Lost (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Luke 19:1-10
October 30, 2016
It is an eerie and unsettling feeling — being lost.
This summer my son, Matt, and I went kayaking on Englishman Bay in Downeast Maine. We set out from the beach at Roque Bluffs State Park to do a twelve mile circumnavigation of Roque Island, a beautiful, crescent-shaped island marked by rocky cliffs and a long sand beach. … Continue reading ...
Parties, politics, and impertinent puzzles (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Luke 20:27-40
November 6, 2016
In three days, it will be over. Except that it won’t be over, will it?
If the Democratic candidate prevails, the Republican candidate and many of his supporters have suggested they will not acknowledge the legitimacy of the result and, therefore, the legitimacy of the newly elected administration.… Continue reading ...
This is our chance! (Click on the sermon title for .pdf copy)
Luke 21:5-19
November 13, 2016
This is our chance.
There are many angry people out there right now, some angry about the outcome of this election, and others whose anger helped propel the outcome of this election.
This is our chance.
There are many frightened people out there right now, some frightened by what might be done to us, by extremists foreign-born or homegrown, and others frightened by what we might do, by the ways our own brand of extremism may make the world a more dangerous and inhospitable place.… Continue reading ...