All the Sermons

Scripture: Matthew 1:18-25, Fourth Sunday of Advent focuses on love. One inspiring illustration of what love really looks like is the response of Joseph when he found out that Mary, his betrothed bride to be, was pregnant and he knew that he was not the father! Since this is a human story, the most effective way to explore the issues is to let Joseph tell the story himself. So using some Holy Spirit inspired imagination to expand upon the available information, I am turning into Joseph. All I need is a bathrobe, a towel for my head and a beard! I am Joseph, and man do I have story to tell! It’s about my son, well my step son, but he’s mine since His birth and I am one proud papa! Well, I am now anyway. I wasn’t at first. But let me tell you the whole story from the beginning. You’ll see what I mean. First, you must know that I am no one special. Well, except that I am born of royal blood, a direct descendant of King David! But that had become a family joke really, because by right

Isaiah 35:1-10 Traditionally, the primary color of Advent is purple. It is a royal color because it used to be that only kings could afford the very expensive dye that made purple. But it is also the color of repentance. Purple is linked to repentance because of its appearance in painful bruises. We say we have a black and blue mark. But in the old days when these traditions were formed, bruises were seen as purple. I have seen purple in bruises. So, purple became the color the church used to stand for royalty and for repentance. In the earlier days of Christendom, when these traditions were formed, the Church used to encourage a season of repentant prayer and fasting to lead up to the joy of Christmas, much as we still have the season of Lent that leads up to the joy of the resurrection at Easter time. Before the legend of St. Nicholas overwhelmed the way we do Christmas, the Church had two seasons a year, Advent and Lent, in which to mourn and weep over sin and death before rejo

Isaiah 11:1-10 Second Sunday of Advent focuses on how Jesus, our hope, brings the kind of peace God calls shalom. Everybody wants to live a peaceful life. But what kind of peace? The dictionary says, peace is freedom from disturbance. Peace is quiet and tranquility. This is why so many people like to worship God in the great outdoors. They find it more peaceful to worship God in the great outdoors where all is quiet. Many of these folks don’t like organized religion because conflicts in the church so easily disturb the peace. But in the great outdoors it’s peaceful because there are not so many people around trying to get some work done together. Now I’m certainly not saying never get alone with God. Solitude is good for you. Just not all the time. We are created to be united in the body of Christ and in the Holy Spirit. Peace is also freedom from or the cessation of war or violence. We pray for peace. We don’t like conflict at all, especially not violent conflict, but we even shy