Sermon Text: Mark 1:29-39

When we participate in intercessory prayer, what is it that we do?  In our reading today, Jesus shows us how he interacts with the sick and suffering.  Not only was Simon's mother-in-law cured, but she was restored to her vocation.  In this way, we see a difference between curing and healing.  And when we understand the difference, our eyes can be opened to new ways of seeing the work of God in the lives of others.

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Sermon Text: 1 Corinthians 8:1-18

Last week, Mary told us to "do whatever he tells you." This is the path of discipleship. Faith is less about what we think, and more about what we do. Apply this to a unique situation of meal being sacrificed to idols - what should we do? The answer? Always prioritize the needs of others. Don't let anything come between them and their Savior.

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Sermon Text: John 2:1-11

In all of scripture, Mary is our most faithful guide for following Jesus, and helps us understand what we are called to be as the church. In the story of the wedding at Cana, she gives us the most basic instruction of discipleship, "Do whatever he tells you." And in this step, Jesus turns the regular water of our lives into the wine of life and purpose and meaning. To make it even more clear, we took a look at a religious icon to show us in color what being the church is all about - point them to Jesus.

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Sermon Text: Mark 1:4-11

In Noah's flood, a dove announced dry land, a new world is here! Except it wasn't. But in Christ, a dove announces that new world is here, and it lands upon Christ, who has given us a new identity - the Beloved. As we welcome our new consistory, they too receive a new identity, to lead this "ark" not to keep people out, but to bring people on board.

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Sermon Text: Matthew 2:1-12

The Magi came to worship, and so we are invited in this final Christmas story to worship Christ. In worship, God and his story is made present to us, in a deeply personal way. God is nearer to you at this very moment than your own breath. Worship is simple, but it is a choice to make ourselves fully and personally present to God. And when we fix the life and person of Christ as our star, and we worship with body and soul and spirit, we find a central point to follow on the vast journey of life.

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Sermon Text: Psalm 119

Today we celebrate the hiring of our new program leader for children, youth, and families, as well as bless our 2023-34 confirmation class! Psalm 119, an extended treatise on the "law of God," says they are "happy" who follow in the way of God. Happiness is what we all seek, but our young people are as unhappy as any generation we've seen. The world has promised that all sorts of things can ease that unhappiness, and yet the call to follow Christ promises to remove us from the highway of noise and information and help us walk on water when we keep our eyes fixed on Christ.

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Sermon Text: Revelation 7

Today we celebrate All Saints Sunday, and we are brought face to face with the reality of death. And while death is all around us, and can make us lose hope, we don't have to. Even Christ died, and so there is no place we can go where Christ has not already gone. And Revelation shows us, in images and suggestions, how we can draw hope for our lives from the lives of those who have walked the way of Christ.

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Sermon Text:  Ezekiel 36

We usually think of the "Protestant Reformation," but reformation is required anytime people ask other things - church, other people, celebrities - to carry our faith for us. Why? Because our God is intensely personal, and that means faith's beauty and power only comes to full bloom when we carry that faith inside ourselves and live it out in our lives. Perhaps reformation is needed in our lives and in the Church's life once more.

Sermon Text: Mark 1

When are we saved? Is it at baptism? Is it at confirmation? When we say a prayer? Or are we bound to guess for our entire life, hoping to attain heaven one day? In baptism, Christ comes to us, and the powerful voice of God says, "You are my beloved child." Is that not salvation? A good word today as we celebrated the baptism of Bryce!

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Sermon Text:  Ephesians 2

What is the role of the church?  What are we supposed to do?  In Ephesians, Paul identifies the problem - "sin," as he calls it; identifies the solution - God's amazing love, and our path forward - a new way of being human.  That is what Christ called us to be.  And the role of the church is to live as that new humanity, and in doing so, become the "poem" God intends us to be.

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