Rev. Timothy J. Ensworth
A house divided against itself (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Mark 3:20-30, 4:35-41
January 21, 2018
I am distressed.
Last Monday, Jorge Garcia was deported to Mexico. Jorge is thirty-nine years old, married with a fifteen-year-old daughter and a twelve-year-old son. He was brought to the United States as a child thirty years ago by an undocumented relative. … Continue reading ...
How does Jesus help families facing problems with addiction? (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Mark 2:1-12
January 14, 2018
How does Jesus help families facing problems with addiction? That was the question posed by one of you as a suggestion for an Epiphany season sermon: How does Jesus help families facing problems with addiction?
It’s a hypothetical question, right? … Continue reading ...
What is a miracle? (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Mark 1:4-11
January 7, 2018
What is a miracle?
According to the New Oxford American Dictionary a miracle is “a surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency.” Something surprising. Something inexplicable, out of the ordinary. … Continue reading ...
A carol of joy (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Luke 1:46-55
December 24, 2017
You just heard “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” arranged and played by Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy. I heard Natalie and Donnell in concert last Sunday afternoon at the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center. They were joined by four other amazing musicians from Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Cuba, and Ireland, and by five of their six children: Mary Frances, Michael, Clare, Julia, and Alec. … Continue reading ...
A carol of love (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Isaiah 60:1-3, 19-20
December 17, 2017
Next Sunday evening, Christmas Eve, at about 11:57 pm, I will be standing in the front of the sanctuary holding a lighted candle and many of you will be sitting there in the pews holding lighted candles and we will be singing together “silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright.” … Continue reading ...
A carol of peace (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Isaiah 40:1-11
December 10, 2017
God is coming!
That’s the good news. These are the tidings of comfort and joy announced by the prophet Isaiah to people weary and beaten down and tired of suffering: God is coming. What is God coming to do? God is coming to rule and to rescue and to tend.… Continue reading ...
A carol of hope (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Isaiah 64:1-12
December 3, 2017
(Choir sings: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, arr. Dan Forrest)
Did you like that song? Did it pump you up? What is it about that song that gets you excited, that lifts your spirits, that makes an emotional connection with you?
It’s the style of the music, isn’t it, bright and joyful and full of energy? … Continue reading ...
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 ...
TRUTH (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Ecclesiastes 11:1-8
November 19, 2017
What is the truth?
The Trump administration claimed that the crowd attending his January 21 inauguration was the largest ever to witness the inauguration of an American president and when news outlets published photos proving otherwise, White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, labeled them as deliberately misleading.… Continue reading ...
Loosen up! (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Ecclesiastes 10:1-14
November 12, 2017
Loosen up, because the grip you have on the life you are trying to perfectly control is not your grip to have — it is God’s.
That is Lauren Reisinger’s take on the book of Ecclesiastes: loosen up.
Next summer, on August 18th, Lynne and I will celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary. … Continue reading ...