University UMC Sermons

In preparing for this Sunday, Dr. Ham writes, “I will be connecting Ruth and Naomi’s story with my own experience of moving across different countries, cultures, and communities, and slowly learning what it means to find my people. I will reflect on the sacred gift of being known without having to explain every part of yourself. Ruth and Naomi remind us that community is sometimes formed through shared vulnerability: choosing companionship, making room for difference, and discovering kinship in unexpected places.”

It’s interesting that walking through the scriptures made their hearts burn but it was participation in a meal that opened their eyes to see the Risen One in their midst. I can’t help but think that’s the same invitation to us too. May you SEE your daily participation as a holy sacrament. – Scott Erickson

The stranger who is the Savior still meets us on the lonely road to Emmaus.  The guest who becomes our host still nourishes us with Presence, Word, and Bread. So keep walking.  Keep telling the story.  Keep honoring the stranger. Keep attending to your burning heart. Christ is risen. He is no less risen on the road to Emmaus than he is anywhere else.  So look for him.  Listen for him. — Debie Thomas

“We don’t always get a breakfast on the beach with the Giver of Existence, but we sometimes get the miracle of a change of perspective that leads us to question who we are going to be now. May you SEE that you are invited to be so much more than you have allowed yourself to be.” – Scott Erickson

“Doubt will be your constant companion on this journey. Doubt will be the consistent wall of understanding that you bump up against as you pursue the Endless Mystery. Doubt is the doorway to each new way of knowing, each new perspective. Doubt is the feeling of your heart expanding for a larger capacity of Love. May you SEE your doubt as the invitation to endless knowability.” – Scott Erickson

“Hallelujah that in spite of it all, there is love, there is singing, nature, laughing, mercy.” – Anne Lamott

Death cannot stop the good news. It is alive, unbound, and wild in the world. Like the mustard seed, it grows without limit. Like water turned into wine, it surprises us with joy. Like loaves of bread, it expands to feed each hungry soul. And now, even in the face of death, it will not be buried or silenced. Just as the angels in Advent, the angel at the empty tomb delivers good news: “Do not be afraid.” On the way to Galilee, Jesus greets the women with this same message, but adds: “Go and tell my brothers and sisters to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” As we celebrate the good news of Easter, let us also go out seeking Christ in the faces of neighbors and strangers, and in the good works that are alive in this world. – A Sanctified Art

“Revolutionary and subversive acts do not have to be grandiose or immediately altering. They can be small, seen but immediately unseen, loud and expected but bewilderingly unconventional. In that way, the powers that be cannot control, stop, or even anticipate the next revolutionary act. . . . So for the upcoming Palm Sunday, please try this revolutionary act. Disrupt the indifference, distract the oppressive. Perhaps someone out there is waiting for your invitation. Perhaps someone in your church is waiting for the church to become a source of positive change in the world.” – Dr. Dong Hyeon Jeong

"Two processions entered Jerusalem on a spring day in the year 30. . . One a peasant procession, the other an imperial procession. From the east, Jesus rode a donkey down the Mount of Olives, cheered by his followers. On the opposite side of the city, from the west, Pontius Pilate, entered Jerusalem at the head of a column of imperial cavalry and soldiers. Jesus' procession proclaimed the kingdom of God; Pilate's proclaimed the power of empire." – John Dominic Crossan & Marcus Borg
in “The Last Week”

“Our love and mercy are stronger than the hate that ignores the call to love neighbor and stranger…What we can do now is find our people; wrap our arms around the most vulnerable of us; have honest conversations; lean into mutual aid and kindness; and curate moments of joy and fierce love.” — Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis

“You shall not deprive a resident alien or an orphan of justice; you shall not take a widow’s garment in pledge. Remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this.” — Deuteronomy 24:17-18

Jesus models a way to be in community by coming together and sharing what we have, dispelling perceived impossibilities. The good news empowers us to believe in the miracles that can become possible through the power of community. — A Sanctified Art

“Whenever I wash the world’s feet, my hands immediately stop shaking.” - from a poem by John Roedel