SSJE Sermons

We have partnered with TryTank – the experimental laboratory for church growth and innovation – to produce a new preaching resource aimed particularly at smaller congregations (those with an average Sunday attendance of 29 or fewer). That said, any congregation can use it. We have also paired it with an adult forum curriculum. From Christ the King Sunday to Christmas Day, we have six…

“I think one of the most revealing questions to ask is ‘What is your image of God? How do you picture God?’.” Br. Geoffrey Tristram encourages us to revisit our images for God and consider which ones might need to be smashed, so that God can be born in us anew.

“With each new dawn God’s calls us and equips us to be God’s own missionaries, and in ways which only we, personally, can do. Our missionary field may be as expansive as Cape Breton in northern Canada, or as focused as the neighbor next door, the clerk at the checkout counter, the person we encounter on the street. We are missionaries, all of us. That is why we are still alive.” Looking to the extraordinary life of Simon Gibbons, Br. Curtis Almquist find inspiration for all of us in our widely varied missionary fields.

“Perhaps you’re short on hope today.  It may be that your life is complicated, and that you’re facing insurmountable obstacles.  It may be that your world is a tangled mess.  There is no denying the suffering and pain that are part of our human condition. But today we are given reason to hope even in the face of difficulties.  Today we are encouraged not only to bear our sufferings, but to give thanks in the midst of them.  Today, we are exhorted to 'rejoice in the Lord always.'” Br. David Vryhof dares us to hope, to rejoice even, because we have an unshakeable confidence that in the end the purposes of God will prevail.

We have partnered with TryTank – the experimental laboratory for church growth and innovation – to produce a new preaching resource aimed particularly at smaller congregations (those with an average Sunday attendance of 29 or fewer). That said, any congregation can use it. We have also paired it with an adult forum curriculum. From Christ the King Sunday to Christmas Day, we have six…

“We may cringe at the thought of dependence but we too are creatures who were always meant to exist in connection with the source of our life.  Holy Scripture, the story of God people, is all about that human propensity to wander and God’s calling us to return.” Br. Todd Blackham encourages us to turn and entrust ourselves to the losing attention of our Shepherd.

We have partnered with TryTank – the experimental laboratory for church growth and innovation – to produce a new preaching resource aimed particularly at smaller congregations (those with an average Sunday attendance of 29 or fewer). That said, any congregation can use it. We have also paired it with an adult forum curriculum. From Christ the King Sunday to Christmas Day, we have six…

“What is your own story, your own experience, of being forgiven? What is the invitation now? Our repentance is always in response to God. Seeing the obstacle, hearing the pain, and whatever desire we have to confess comes from God. That is God already at work in you, preparing, sending messengers with saving invitations.” Br. Luke Ditewig marvels at God's forgiveness and at our need and capacity for repentance: the ability to see things afresh, break free from old patterns, and set out on a new path.

“Mercy, grace, and loving kindness are the essence of God, and Jesus is the face of God in our midst. If we recognize this as the blind men did in Matthew’s gospel, the recognition of God’s essence will make us bold to approach Jesus in our need in faith that He will provide for us, heal us, and love us, giving us the capacity to see in ourselves these same attributes.” Br. Jim Woodrum urges us to be bold to approach God in humility and faith, confident that Jesus has provided, healed, and loved us to wholeness.

“Gazing not at Christ’s first coming in our midst but straining toward the horizon for his second coming we enter into this season of preparation. But, Advent preparation is not just about planning a party towards the end of December. The expectant waiting and preparation of Advent is time to do the soul’s work of conditioning for ultimate things, because eternity is on the horizon.” As we crest into Advent, Br. Todd Blackham urges us to accept the reality of our radical dependence on the love of God, the only foundation that will endure.