Sermons from 2014

By The Rev. Sherry Deets Christmas Eve 2014 Luke 2:1-20 It’s Christmas Eve and frankly, the world just now seems a little dark, even hostile, to me. It might be the pall that seems to have hung over the national mood since the events in Ferguson and New York. Or maybe it’s the number of global “hotspots” there are in the Middle East, the Ukraine, and more. Or maybe is the number of deaths caused from Ebola and the fear…

By The Rev. Sherry Deets 3 Advent – December 13, 2014 John 1:6-8, 19-28 Today’s gospel reading is about the John the Baptist from the perspective of the Apostle John. Last week we heard the story from Mark’s perspective. If you will recall, Mark’s story was more concerned with the baptism of repentance, while John’s telling of it is more concerned with the testimony, or the witness, of John the Baptist. Rather than placing a focus on the character of…

By The Rev. Sherry Deets 2 Advent – December 7, 2014 Mark 1:1-8 It’s the second Sunday in Advent and today we hear about John the Baptist proclaiming the coming of Christ and most importantly, note how our gospel from Mark begins: “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God”. Notice that Mark doesn’t call his book, “The Good News (Gospel) of Jesus.” Rather, he titles it “The Beginning of the Good News….” Which means…

By The Rev. Sherry Deets 1 Advent – November 30, 2014 Mark 13:24-37 “Keep awake!” “Stay alert” Keep awake. We hear this every year in Advent – this church season before Christmas in which we anticipate, we wait and prepare for the coming of Christ. We wait. Consider the different ways in which we wait. Is there a difference between waiting for Christmas and waiting for Christ? Obviously, we know when Christmas will arrive and mostly what it will be…

By The Rev. Sherry Deets 20 Pentecost, Proper 25 – October 26, 2014 Matthew 22:34-46 So, we hear in today’s gospel reading that a lawyer asked a question to test Jesus. He asked, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” And there is nothing new in Jesus’ answer. It is not something original. In Jewish writings long before Jesus’ time, these two commandments summarized the whole of the law. In fact, Luke’s Gospel attributes this summary not to…

By The Rev. Sherry Deets 17 Pentecost, Proper 22 – October 5, 2014 Matthew 21:33-46 He was, by all accounts, a successful man. This builder of fine homes in an upscale American suburb was known to all as a creative craftsman, a shrewd businessman, a fair-minded employer, and a generous benefactor. But he was aging now, and before he set out for Florida for the winter, he approached his top superintendent and told him that he was retiring. “I want…

By The Rev. Sherry Deets 16 Pentecost, Proper 21 – September 28, 2014 Matthew 21:23-32 On the surface today’s gospel may seem pretty straightforward. Which son did the will of the father? Actually, neither did – the first son blatantly disobeyed his father, and right to his face. The second son sucked up to his father – he even called him “sir” – but he failed to follow through. Which one did the father’s will? Neither one. David Lose, now…

By The Rev. Sherry Deets 14 Pentecost, Proper 19 – September 14, 2014 Matthew 18:21-35 You may have heard the story of the woman who spent the first day after her divorce sadly packing her belongings into boxes, crates and suitcases.(1) On the second day, she had the movers come and collect her things. On the third day, she sat down on the floor in the dining room by candlelight, put on some soft background music, and feasted on a…

By The Rev. Sherry Deets 13 Pentecost, Proper 18 – September 7, 2014 Matthew 18:15-20 Community and connections. Today’s gospel reading from Matthew has everything to do with community and connections. And community and connections are all about truth-telling and reconciliation. Community and connections demand both accountability and autonomy, both responsibility and individuality, both answerability and self-identity. We, as human beings, make mistakes. We mess up. We wind up hurting others. Who hasn’t been hurt or wound up hurting someone…

By The Rev. Sherry Deets 12 Pentecost, Proper 17 – August 31, 2014 Matthew 16:21-28 So, this is a tough passage from Matthew for many of us – at least I think so. And the really tough piece of it for me is “take us your cross and follow me”. It’s tough because, what does that really mean, to ‘take up your cross’? How does Jesus’ cross have anything to do with life today? Sure, there are necklaces, rings, pendants,…

By The Rev. Sherry Deets 11 Pentecost, Proper 16 – August 24, 2014 Matthew 16:13-20 “But who do you say that I am?” This question is posed to Jesus’ disciples, but it is a powerful question for us today. Who do you say that Jesus is? Gathered in Caesarea Philippi, Jesus wonders aloud what the crowds are saying about him but more importantly what the disciples think. It’s another way of saying, “Why are you following me? Why have you…

By The Rev. Sherry Deets 9 Pentecost, Proper 14 – August 10, 2014 Matthew 14:22-33 and Genesis 37:1-4,12-28 My friend Karoline took a trip to the Holy Land and she stayed at a kibbutz on the east side of the Sea of Galilee. They could see Tiberius from the shore. From that location she traveled to various places where Jesus “could have” fed the 5,000, the Church of the Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes; where Jesus “possibly” preached the Sermon…