Advent: Meet Mary

God does not function with whistles and sirens. God's strategy was not to blitz Rome, charging through the forum to the senate, with a warrior Messiah on a white stallion. No, as this Christmas sermon reminds us, God chose to come to the womb of a sensitive teenage girl who was willing to grow in her understanding of the things of God, who had a vision, at least partial, of what God was about.

Advent: This Child Was Different (Hebrews 1:1-2)

In Jesus, God has invaded humanity and things can never be the same again. God who had formerly spoken through the prophets has spoken to the world a final word in His Son. How different is that Word from any uttered before or since. This Christmas sermon lays out the ways that Jesus revealed God in a different and ultimate way.

Advent: No Good Reason …

This Christmas sermon takes a close look at the faith of Joseph, who had no good reason - other than a dream - to accept what was happening to him and Mary. If we act like Joseph, if we live as if it is all true,

Christmas: Home for Christmas (Text: Luke 2)

There's a deep sense of home that we feel during this season -- a sense of cosmic belonging -- as if, at this special time of the year, we come closer to eternity than at any other time. This Christmas sermon urges us to hear God calling us home at Christmas.

Glory of God: Glory (Isaiah 35:1-10)

This Christmas sermon looks at the angels' declaration: "Glory to God in the highest!" What can it mean? Glory does not come from piling up our accomplishments and then standing astride those achievements so all can see us. It comes from seeing the glory of God. Once you have seen it, you are never really the same again.

Advent: The Manger Child and the God of the Dung Hill

"The manger child and the God of the dung hill" feels repulsive to us because we are used to thinking about nice clean mangers with delicate porcelain figures that we neatly wrap in tissue and put away each year. But the more I experience the presence of this God in my life and ministry...

Advent: Preparing for Christmas … or Exmas?

There are really two different holidays celebrated on December 25. One holiday is celebrated by almost everyone in the United States; that is Exmas. The other is celebrated by followers of Jesus; it is called Christmas. This Christmas sermon contrasts the two and reminds us that, while we prepare for the festival that is "Exmas" we must also take time to prepare for the person who is Christmas.

Christmas: Emmanuel Text: Matthew 1:23

Emmanuel. God is with us. We must decide for ourselves if it is true. The grounds on which to dismiss it are not hard to find. Christmas is commercialism. It is a pain in the neck. It is sentimentality. It is wishful thinking. With its account of the shepherds, the star, the three wise men...

Advent: The Return to Paradise Text: Isaiah 11:1-10

According to this sermon, there is something about the past that attracts each one of us, a deep longing to return to a better time. No wonder that Christmas and Advent seem so marvelous to us. We are getting ready for the One who brings a new world. We are preparing for the One who recreates the old Paradise for all of us. When He is finished, when He is done with us, He has created in us a new innocence, a new peace, a new harmony.