Sermons & Worship Audio

  View Archived Sermons    New!! Listen to this Sermon   TUMC Easter Sermon 2011  The surprising importance of Negative Space John 20:1-18 I begin with the line of a hymn –  Christ the Lord is Risen Today – Alleluia Our Easter hymns record the witness of the first apostles as well as the witness of many others who have encountered the Risen Christ in one way or another throughout the ages. In keeping with our recent practice of sharing…

View Archived Sermons   (Sorry, this sermon is not available in audio)   Becoming Human: Shaped by Jesus Lent V: Shaped by new life  John 11 and Ezekiel 37:1-14 Issues of Life and Death You know, every time I read Ezekiel 37: 1-14, the passage that Clay and Andrew shared with us this morning, its graphic depiction of bones lying in a valley reminds me of the kind of movie or program or news segment which needs to be preceded by…

View Archived Sermons   NEW! Listen to this Sermon  Cleansing Mud: Jesus’ teachings on purity and defilement Scripture Readings: John 9:1-41; Mark 7:1-8; 14-23         There was a bizarre 12th century Belgian saint named St. Christina the Astonishing. Already at 15 she was said to lose herself to contemplation of God, to the detriment of her body. Some accounts of her life say that she eventually starved to death. Her body was brought to the church for a…

  View Archived Sermons      New! Listen to this Sermon     #Hosanna  Palm Sunday – Matthew 21:1-11, Philippians 2:6-11 As I prepared for this sermon, I realized that I’ve preached on Palm Sunday at TUMC before. I thought it was “just the other day” but when I looked it up it turns out it was in 1997! Anyway, I was tempted to just repeat what I said, but I’m sure many of you still remember that sermon, so I…

View Archived Sermons   New: Listem to this Sermon  Jesus, Lonely Wells & 127 Hours – John 4:1-30 Introduction: Thank you so much for the privilege to share today’s sermon with you. My wife Claudia and I and our children want to say thanks to Marilyn and this community for being so hospitable, inclusive and encouraging. We’ve had a great experience worshipping with you and developing new friendships here at TUMC. Preaching this sermon today is a very unique experience…

View Archived Sermons     Shaped by Testing Our theme for Lent this year is Becoming Human:  Called and Shaped by Jesus.  And then the title for our first Sunday as given to us by our Leader materials, the resources we are using to guide our worship planning, is “Shaped by Testing,” Please note the top of your bulletin.Shaped by Jesus?  Shaped by Testing? This lack of alignment between Shaped by Jesus and shaped by testing caused me to wonder, “is…

    View Archived Sermons     Lent II.  During Lent this year, we have chosen to preach from this Lectern, instead of the pulpit and I must admit, it makes me feel a bit more exposed.  And for a time, maybe that’s a good thing.This sermon is going to feel a bit like that as well, as I choose to share that lately I’ve felt a bit more in the dark than I have in a while.  I share that…

    View Archived Sermons       New! Listen to this Sermon    The letter to the Ephesians: This has been our focus text as a church since Christmas and though there are many different ways to approach a series our approach to this text has not been systematic.  We didn’t exegete specific texts.  We didn’t divide it up into parts to be sure we focused on the entire letter.  We didn’t preach on it every Sunday – or five or…

    View Archived Sermons      NEW! Listen to this Sermon        Fred was a robust man who was everyone’s friend at church. Every Sunday morning after worship, he would greet me, a little boy, with a huge smile: “vel, Timoteus, how are ve?” A grandfather figure, he exuded warmth; I could feel that he cared about me, even when he teased me. He spoke with a German accent that was quite different from that of my rural…

      View Archived Sermons      New! Listen to this sermon Sermon #1: To What or Whom Do We Listen? – J .D. Penner – Feb. 6, 2011 Ephesians 4:14-16   The late Elmer Iseler was a man of few words. Some who may not have worked with him might have thought this strange, seeing as he was a conductor of great skill and ability. But for those who sang or played under him, one quickly realized that his…