While sermons are best enjoyed live and in-person, you can view our archive here. Clicking the Facebook or YouTube links at the top of the site will also allow you to watch a recording of many of them.
What Does the Kingdom Look Like?
By The Rev. Sherry Crompton January 23, 2011 Read: Matthew 4:12-23 There was an episode of Mutual of Omaha’s “Wild Kingdom” that was about the elephant seals of Argentina. The show focused on a mother and her seal pup, who had just been born. Soon after birthing her baby, the mother, now famished, abandoned the pup on the shore so she could go feed in the rich waters off the coast. After feeding, she returned to a different part of…
The Law of the Garbage Truck
By The Rev. Sherry Crompton January 16, 2011Read: John 1:29-42 I received one of those email forwards, you know those stories that get passed around on the internet, that was entitled, the Law of the Garbage Truck and it goes like this: One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My…
Ready for Christmas
By The Rev. Sherry Crompton December 5, 2010 Read: Matthew 3:1-12 You are ready for Christmas. Your lights are on outside, the best in the neighborhood. Maybe best in town. The presents are bought and wrapped, the goodies are baked, the Family Christmas Letter is written, run off, stuffed, sealed and mailed. Best of all, your tree is up. It’s straight this year. It’s even. It is decorated to absolute perfection. You sit down in the most comfortable chair with…
There’s a Train a Comin’
By The Rev. Sherry Crompton[Date]Read: 1 Advent – November 28, 2010Matthew 24:36-44, Romans 13:11-14 and Isaiah 2:1-5 Wake up! Keep awake! Be ready! We hear over and over again in our scripture readings for today about being aware, waking up, being ready. And Jesus, in Matthew’s gospel, takes us back to Noah and the days of the great flood, when people were going about their usual activities – eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage – and then their…
Remember Me, Lord
By The Rev. Sherry Crompton November 21, 2010 Read: Luke 23:33-43 Well, it’s the last Sunday in the season of Pentecost and next week we begin the season of Advent. Advent is the beginning of the church calendar year. Today is a Sunday of endings and new beginnings. Today is also traditionally known as Christ the King Sunday. Christ the King – another contrast. A contrast between what we tend to view as an exalted position – that of king;…
Endurance
By The Rev. Sherry Crompton November 14, 2010 Read: Luke 21:5-19 There is a story told about the monk who once approached Buddhaand asked: Do the souls of the righteous survive death? Characteristically the Buddha gave him no reply. But the monk persisted. Each day he would repeat the question and each day he would get silence for an answer, till he could take it no longer. He threatened to abandon the path to enlightenment unless this crucial question was…
The Third Way
By The Rev. Sherry Crompton November 6, 2010 (All Saints Sunday) Read: Luke 6:20-31 Today’s scripture reading from Luke is referred to as the Sermon on the Plain – there is a similar version in Matthew but that takes place on the mountain- the sermon on the mount – and Matthew doesn’t include the woes. This reading, today, has a way of making us uncomfortable. While it offers comfort to the poor, the hungry and those who weep, the woes…
Zacchaeus Is a Changed Man
By The Rev. Sherry Crompton October 31, 2010 Read: Luke 19:1-10 Spiritual writer Edward Hays shares a story from the desert fathers and mothers, in which a young man goes to visit a wise hermit. He finds the monk sitting outside his cave, enjoying the sun, his dog lying lazily at his side. The seeker asks, “Why is it, Abba, that some who seek God come to the desert and are zealous in prayers, but leave after a year or…
Walk in Another’s Moccasins
By The Rev. Sherry Crompton October 24, 2010 Read: Luke 18:9-14 At first glance, this parable from Luke’s gospel is a simple story about prayer. One man prays an arrogant prayer and is blamed for his attitudes. The other prays humbly and is praised for so doing. Too often the unconscious response becomes ‘Thank God, we’re not like that Pharisee!’ But such a reaction demonstrates that we are indeed like him! The twist of the parable is that, in condemning…
The Captain of That Boat is My Father
By The Rev. Sherry Crompton October 17, 2010 Read: Luke 18:1-8 Jesus tells us, in Luke’s gospel for today, about a woman who stands knocking at someone’s door: knocking and waiting, knocking and waiting, wondering whether anyone will ever answer. The door in question belongs to a judge. Luke doesn’t tell us the woman is literally knocking on his door – but he does tell us she “kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’” This…
The Heart of a Grateful Man
By The Rev. Sherry Crompton October 10, 2010 Read: Luke 17:11-19 Jesus and company are walking to Jerusalem in “the region between Samaria and Galilee”. The word Samaria is itself a red flag. Observant Jews, in that time in history, did not go anywhere near Samaria or Samaritans. Samaritans were a despised group, culturally inferior. So, on the way to Jerusalem, Jesus encounters ten men with leprosy. It would be difficult to exaggerate the social alienation and isolation of these…
You Either Have Faith or You Don’t
By The Rev. Sherry Crompton October 3, 2010 Read: Luke 17:5-10 Who among us does not want more faith? Most of us are not surprised at the disciples’ plea that Jesus give them more. But then, Jesus replies with what is called hyperbole, it’s an intentional exaggeration for emphasis. Some hear this as a kind of scolding, but I don’t think that is Jesus’ tone here. Perhaps Jesus is encouraging us. He goes on to tell a story about slaves,…