Weekly Sermons

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5 days ago
5 min

9 Pentecost - Matthew 14:13-21

Before there was a constitutional separation of church and state, there was Martin Luther's Two Kingdoms theory. Luther saw God active in...

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Jul 26
4 min

8 Pentecost - Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

The kingdom of heaven is like the coronavirus. Now, you before you call the bishop to report me, please consider: Friday is his last day....

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Jul 19
5 min

7 Pentecost - Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

Between the parable and the explanation are several verses, and footsteps, and years. Among the verses, Matthew repeats that Jesus only s...

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Jul 12
4 min

6 Pentecost - Matthew 13:1-9. 18-23

My dear, wise friend, the Rev. Arnie Pierson, has worshiped with us from Chicago, and he has shared some important feedback: Good service...

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Jul 5
5 min

5 Pentecost - Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

Perhaps the prophets were so memorable because their voices were so painfully off-key. Last week, we heard Jeremiah's screech doubts abou...

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Jun 28
4 min

4 Pentecost - Matthew 10:40-42

The glass is half both. You can be an optimist or a pessimist and be right, which could be why the debates in our polarized society never...

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Jun 22
5 min

3 Pentecost - Jeremiah 20:7-13; Matthew 10:24-39

Tony Campolo preached an infamous sermon you might not want your kids to hear. Luckily for you, the ancient dream has finally come true—i...

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Jun 14
5 min

2 Pentecost - Matthew 9:35-10:8

Please forgive me for beginning with a shameless plug. Next Sunday at 10:30am, also on Zoom, I will begin a seven week study of the book ...

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May 31
5 min

Day of Pentecost - Acts 2:1-21; John 20:19-23

One of the countless changes in plans this spring was the postponement of confirmation. Luke Helgager and Brendan Hillig were originally ...

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May 24
5 min

7 Easter - John 17:1-11

Toward the end of May, I recall a point lost in November of 1863. President Abraham Lincoln stood on a battle-field in Pennsylvania and s...

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May 17
4 min

6 Easter - John 14:15-21

We have been here before. Maybe each of us individually has not, but we the church have. Our wise spiritual parents, the Jews, pray and c...

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May 10
5 min

5 Easter - John 14:1-14

Southern Californians of a certain age will appreciate one of my mother's many areas of expertise. After dispatching cranes for three com...

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May 3
4 min

4 Easter - Psalm 23; John 10:1-10

I still hear his voice in my head almost twenty years later. Whenever I hear or read something about six feet, which happens a lot these ...

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Apr 26
4 min

3 Easter - Luke 24:13-35

But we had hoped... Yes indeed. Here at Shepherd of the Valley, we had hoped to baptize little Lauren today. We had hoped to celebrate Ja...

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Apr 22
5 min

2 Easter - John 20:19-31

Another week has gone by, and not much has changed. The doors that were locked are now merely shut. Thomas is with the disciples this tim...

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Apr 12
4 min

Resurrection of Our Lord - Matthew 28:1-10

How unusual are these times? The church is out ahead of the rest of the world. I can't ever remember that happening in my ministry before...

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Apr 9
4 min

Maundy Thursday - John 13:1-17, 31-35

Living in historic times amplifies the echoes of the past. I can't remember so much public interest in the spanish flu, or social media c...

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Apr 5
4 min

Palm Sunday - Matthew 21:1-17

600 years had passed, but the crowds on the road side remembered it still. The Babylonians stormed up this mountain road and captured Jer...

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Mar 22
4 min

4 Lent - John 9:1-41

The beauty of this holy story is how believably human it is. The first sentence identifies a problem. The second sentence describes the c...

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Mar 15
4 min

3 Lent - John 4:5-42

We're at the start of a long story. The coronavirus pandemic will disrupt life for much longer than anyone wants, which is to say, more t...

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