Rev. Timothy J. Ensworth
Drawing the line (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Mark 9:38-41
September 30, 2018
Were you listening on Thursday? Did you listen as Christine Blasey Ford testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, providing her account of being sexually assaulted at age fifteen by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh? Did you listen as he vehemently denied any participation in that assault or in any such behavior?… Continue reading ...
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 ...
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 public witness (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Matthew 10:32-33
June 25, 2017
Bay of St Columba
In the Bay of St Columba on the Isle of Iona,
The stones remember Columba and the monks
Who followed him in trust to work and pray.
With the constant arrival and exit of cold salty waves,
Which daily invade the beach and flee back out to sea,
Smoothed rocks covering the sand sing and chant,
“Where have you gone, dear friend?… Continue reading ...
Deus ibi est (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18; Matthew 5:38-48
February 23, 2014
Deus ibi est. God is there.
Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est. Where charity and love are, God is there.
When you harvest your fields, do not cut the grain at the edges of the fields, and do not go back to cut the heads of grain that were left. … Continue reading ...
Murderers (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Matthew 23:29-39
March 23, 2014
Sure, I’ll admit to being a hypocrite, but a murderer?
In the two hundred years between 1095 and 1291, Christians went to war to reclaim access to important religious sites in Palestine, the Holy Land, in a series of military campaigns, known collectively as the Crusades. … Continue reading ...
Again … joy (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Isaiah 53:10-12
April 5, 2015
How does it all begin?
With a dance …
Out of nothing, out of an empty, shapeless, lifeless void, God sets the universe dancing. Atoms of hydrogen and helium excite and collide and combust, dancing into flame, dancing into light, swirling, congealing, taking shape as stars, dancing stars!… Continue reading ...
The path of peace (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Malachi 2:17 – 3:5
December 6, 2015
Where is the God who is supposed to be just?
This week, we are asking that question again …
… because twenty-month-old Savannah Adams, the precious daughter her parents had tried for for years, will have to grow up without her Dad.… Continue reading ...
Deep peace (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Micah 5:2-5
December 20, 2015
Deep peace of the running wave to you,
deep peace of the flowing air to you,
deep peace of the quiet earth to you,
deep peace of the shining stars to you,
deep peace of the Son of Peace to you.
Deep peace. Have you known it? … Continue reading ...
No matter who (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Acts 10:34-43
March 27, 2016
This is Jesus …
… a young Korean bearing the heavy burden of the cross and the heavy burden of his divided people.
This is Jesus …
… a resolute Masai warrior watching over his brothers, protecting his sisters.
This is Jesus …
… a Balinese dancer, coming to us dancing, spreading light and joy, pushing back the shadows and all the beasts that lurk in the shadows.… Continue reading ...