A pandemic can do lots of things: it can cancel flights and disrupt gatherings and dampen spirits and leave us bereft and grieving in many ways. But here’s what a pandemic cannot do: it cannot drown out the song of the angels.

It’s a new world Mary sees, and here’s how it’s coming about: not with swords, but with women embracing in a no-name town, with hearts made joyful, with a song sung in faith.

A sermon by Rev. Dr. Chad Rimmer about turtles and prophets for the third week of Advent. What is distinctive about a prophet is not just what they say, but what they see.

It's no accident that John the Baptist is preaching and baptizing out in the desert, because in the Bible, the road to new life always passes through the wilderness.

We’re meant to be people who hope—not just in the times when hope comes easily, but also in times when it’s difficult, in times when fearful and foreboding signs are all around.

That’s where our hope begins: not with our circumstances or our achievements or our merits, but with the God of today, yesterday, and tomorrow, the One who comes to us.

"No," we’re meant to say, when fear and hopelessness seem final and everlasting. "God has promised how the story ends, and this is not it. It doesn’t end with one great mess; it ends with life."

Maybe that’s how God’s commanding, God’s calling, works much of the time. Without a booming voice from the heavens—just a need in front of us, just the voice of another person. A sermon on 1 Kings 17:8-16.

In this whole complex tradition, with all its stories and practices and ideas, what is most important for you? What is at the center? A sermon for confirmation Sunday, with contributions from the confirmands.

A sermon by Rev. Dr. Elaine Neuenfeldt on Mark 10:46-52, preached on 24 October 2021.