Sermons from January 2023

4 Epiphany – January 29, 2023 Matthew 5:1-12          See if you can finish this sentence: “I’ll be happy when….” There must be a thousand possible endings for that sentence. “I’ll be happy when….” o I’ll be happy when I grow up and move away from home. o I’ll be happy when summer comes and I don’t have to go to school. o I’ll be happy when I fall in love and get married. o I’ll be happy when I…

3 Epiphany – January 22, 2023 Matthew 4:12-23          This is a rather eventful passage from Matthew this morning. It starts out a bit ominously, with John in prison and Jesus withdrawing to what was considered the backwaters of Capernaum in Galilee – it was Gentile territory.  This means that Jesus, beginning his ministry, does not go to some holy place, to some religious center. Instead, he withdraws to Galilee, heathen Galilee, a place where, according to Jewish belief, pure…

2 Epiphany – January 15, 2023 John 1:29-42          Our gospel lesson today makes some striking claims about who Jesus is and how his disciples, and therefore us, can relate to him. The first question Jesus asks in John’s gospel is “What are you looking for?”.  And then he invites his new disciples into relationship with him. He invites them to follow him further to find what they are looking for.  “Come and see” he says. Looking.  Seeing.  Finding.  Our…

Epiphany – January 8, 2023 Matthew 2:1-12          Jan Richardson is an artist, writer and United Methodist Minister. She published a retreat for Christmas and Epiphany and I was struck, as often happens with Jan Richardson, by some of her writings. I’ll share some of those with you today. She speaks of artist friends who have a special practice at the beginning of a new painting. “They take a few quiet moments with the canvas. Before reaching for a paintbrush,…