Sermons & Worship Audio

View archived files   Listen to this Sermon    As Christmas quickly approaches, families gather together, sharing their stories and memories of Christmases past.  I would like to begin this morning with a Christmas story from my own family.  It’s a story with a sad beginning, but it’s also a story of unexpected joy.             On a December 18th, a little over 50 years ago, my grandfather Donald Metcalfe died tragically before his time.  Donald left behind a young wife,…

View archived files Listen to this Sermon   Advent III In our advent texts for today there has been a shift from a call to watchfulness and then repentance to joy.  We have moved from the key words hope and mercy to the key word – joy.   In Isaiah 61 and Psalm 126, the people represented there cannot contain their joy.  Those who have gone out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, have come home with shouts of joy,…

View Archived Sermons Listen to this Sermon    Advent II Isaiah 40:1-11 The passages read this morning both point to a new coming, or a coming again, of God to God’s people.  Isaiah foretells the coming of God to a demoralized, defeated people; and Mark points to John as the one who prepares the way for Jesus’ coming.  During advent it is also traditional to proclaim that Jesus will come to us yet again.  The editors of the lectionary we…

View Archived Sermons Listen to this Sermon    First Advent Mark 13: 24-37,  Isaiah 64:1-9   When I hear this passage in Mark, the second half of his mini-apocalypse, I find I have to unwrap several layers of questions, or interpretations or understandings in order to hear anything at all from the text.  I’ll begin descriptively and then we’ll ask some questions of the text.  Mark chapter 13 is different from the rest of the gospel because it is as…

View Archived Sermons   Listen to this Sermon (Part 1) Listen to this Sermon (Part 2)    Texts: Matthew 25:31-46; Ephesians 1:15-23 What’s past is prologue.  This phrase comes from William Shakespeare’s play The Tempest where Antonio says:  Wherof what’s past is prologue; what to come, In yours and my discharge. (Act 2, scene 1) Translated, it roughly means: “What’s already happened in the past merely sets the stage for the really important stuff to come – and it’s the…

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View Archived Sermons   Listen to this Sermon      No matter what, to preach a Peace Sunday sermon is of necessity to stride right into the middle of the debate about whether or not Peace is possible, or where or how it is possible.  Doug and Jane gave us a glimpse of that debate. Person A writes: “nonviolence”  Person B writes: “naive” A: faithfulness  B: effectiveness A: God’s peace  B: peace in the real world A: God’s peace is…

View Archived Sermons   Listen to this Sermon      It’s a beautiful day in early autumn, the warm light of the late-afternoon sun filtering through the yellowing leaves of mature trees. A bearded Jesus, wearing the white robe, sash and sandals in which he so often appears, sits beside a young person, one hand resting gently on the back of the park bench on which they both sit. On the ground beside the young person, a male in his…

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