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Transfiguration of Our Lord / Last Sunday after Epiphany—February 14, 2021
Preacher: Intern Pastor Bree Lloyd
Lessons: 2 Kings 2:1–12 | Psalm 50:1–6 | 2 Corinthians 4:3–6 | Mark 9:2–9
Summary: In difficult and confusing times, we yearn for guidance. In our first lesson, Elisha longs for Elijah to stay longer. In the Gospel, the disciples see Jesus transfigured with historical leaders, and they long to hold on to them. Transfiguration is about changes observed from the outside. The voice in our Gospel is addressed to the disciples and tells them to listen to Jesus. As they descend the mountain, they reenter community that hears the voice of Jesus. We are called to a community that carries out the work of Jesus.
Fifth Sunday after Epiphany—February 7, 2021
Preacher: Pastor Jeff Lilley
Lessons: Isaiah 40:21–31 | Psalm 147:1–11, 20c | 1 Corinthians 9:16–23 | Mark 1:29–39
Summary: Our first lesson from Isaiah provides a grand vision of God in the midst of the confusion of God’s people. We see similar confusion among people today. Isaiah reminds the children of Israel that God is always present, and God promises us that our strength will be renewed. Just as Jesus in our Gospel reaches out to heal Simon Peter’s mother, may we reach out and be agents of healing in a broken world.
Fourth Sunday after Epiphany / Reconciling in Christ Sunday—January 31, 2021
Preacher: Intern Pastor Bree Lloyd
Lessons: Deuteronomy 18:15–20 | Psalm 111 | 1 Corinthians 8:1–13 | Mark 1:21–28
Summary: Speaking for God is a risky and presumptuous business, but these days many seem eager to do just that. Three witnesses help us tell who is authentically speaking for God: scripture, the community of faith, and the quiet voice of the Spirit. In our Gospel, Jesus silences the demon and liberates the man who has been possessed. May we remember the voice of Jesus who comes to set us free.
Third Sunday after Epiphany—January 24, 2021
Preacher: Pastor Jeff Lilley
Lessons: Jonah 3:1–5, 10 | Psalm 62:5–12 | 1 Corinthians 7:29–31 | Mark 1:14–20
Summary: On Tuesday, ELCA clergy had a presentation about the “Future Church” initiative, and my initial reaction was that it was the same old stuff. But, as I studied today’s Gospel of Jesus calling the first disciples, I had an epiphany. When Jesus called them to follow, they probably wanted none of it, but they answered the call, and everything changed. The movement to transform the ELCA calls us to return to the ministry Jesus called the disciples to. This is our ministry—to “Come, follow me”—a ministry that is wild and free, that knocks us off our feet, and that roots us in the mystery of God alive in this world.
Second Sunday after Epiphany / Martin Luther King, Jr., Day—January 17, 2021
Preacher: Pastor Jeff Lilley
Lessons: 1 Samuel 3:1–10, (11–20) | Psalm 139:1–6, 13–18 | 1 Corinthians 6:12–20 | John 1:43–51
Summary: At the time of the 1963 March on Washington, some voices said it was not the right time for change, and Martin Luther King replied that it is always the right time for justice, dignity, and human worth. Last week we experienced a different march and many different voices. Conflicting voices call to us, but not all should be listened to. In the first lesson, Samuel hears a voice that he eventually realizes is from God telling him that God will do a new thing. We need choose which voices to follow. The voice of God calls us to peace and love, to justice and mercy, and to freedom for all God’s children. Let us hear that voice and respond like Samuel, “Here I am, Lord.”
Baptism of Our Lord—January 10, 2021
Preacher: Intern Pastor Bree Lloyd
Lessons: Genesis 1:1–5 | Psalm 29 | Acts 19:1–7 | Mark 1:4–11
Summary: We look around and see a world consumed with control and power. A world in which Hobbs believed humans have a disposition to war with one another. In today’s readings, the breath of God—the Spirit—sweeps over the waters and something new is born. In our own baptisms, we are reminded that we are claimed by God and made new. We recall this in the shower, in the rain, or swimming in the ocean. These remembrances tell us that Hobbs’ view is not the final word on human nature and that we do not need to be victims of that view. God’s breath and the waters of baptism call us to rise anew.
Epiphany of Our Lord (transferred)—January 3, 2021
Preacher: Pastor Jeff Lilley
Lessons: Isaiah 60:1–6 | Psalm 72:1–7, 10–14 | Ephesians 3:1–12 | Matthew 2:1–12
Summary: The Epiphany story of the magi in today’s Gospel reveals more than just a child in a manger and kings bearing gifts. Christ’s birth changes the world and foreshadows his death; the magi return another way to find true life. We leave 2020 behind knowing that it changed both us and the world. We are called to go home another way—by the new road God has opened to us. We don’t know what 2021 will bring, but we have been put on the road for a purpose, and we will find our way.
First Sunday after Christmas—December 27, 2020
Lessons and Carols—no sermon
Christmas Day—December 25, 2020
Preacher: Intern Pastor Bree Lloyd
Lessons: Isaiah 62:6–12 | Psalm 98 | Titus 3:4–7 | Luke 2:1-20
Summary: We hold to hope, especially in the darkness. The birth of Christ shatters the boundary between earth and heaven, at the time of the solstice, the darkest day of the year. The year 2020 is like the oppressive night that surrounds us, and the light of Christ breaks into this darkness.
Christmas Eve—December 24, 2020
Preacher: Pastor Jeff Lilley
Lessons: Isaiah 9:2-7 | Psalm 96 | Titus 2:11-14 | Luke 2:1-14
Summary: Tonight’s Gospel tells us that there was no room for Mary and Joseph in the inn. There are so many people in this world for whom there is no place. God chooses to enter the world as a child, and no one expected this child to grow up to heal or bring sight to the blind, or sacrifice everything. In the holiness of this night, it’s easy to miss that fact that, although we are surrounded by death and misery, God comes to us. In that realization, we rediscover our love for each other and the world, and we are changed.
Advent IV—December 20, 2020
Preachers: Pastor Jeff Lilley and Intern Pastor Bree Lloyd
Lessons: 2 Samuel 7:1–11, 16 | Luke 1:46b–55 | Romans 16:25–27 | Luke 1:26–38
Summary: Today’s Gospel, the anglel telling to Mary she will bear Jesus, brings us to the final stage on our journey to Christmas. We tend to see this as a Norman Rockwell painting, but that masks the radical nature of this scene. Luke’s announcement that God is coming into the word is unsettling news that seems impossible. And so we either dismiss it or try to reshape it to be more comfortable, but we are called to live in a sense of God’s abiding presence in every person. Then the impossible becomes possible, and we ourselves can be the body of Christ in the world.
We expect this sermon to be available soon.
Advent III—December 13, 2020
Preachers: Pastor Jeff Lilley and Intern Pastor Bree Lloyd
Lessons: Isaiah 61:1–4, 8–11 | Psalm 126 | 1 Thessalonians 5:16–24 | John 1:6–8, 19–28
Summary: In both our lesson from Isaiah and our Gospel, we hear words of hope spoken to the children of Israel in times of devastation, suffering, and hopelessness. In our own time, we also experience hopelessness and darkness. But we know that seeds grow and life develops in the dark and dust. We are assured that God’s promise remains and is lifted up.
Advent II—December 6, 2020
Preachers: Pastor Jeff Lilley and Intern Pastor Bree Lloyd
Lessons: Isaiah 40:1–11 | Psalm 85:1–2, 8–13 | 2 Peter 3:8–15a | Mark 1:1–8
Summary: Our first lesson from Isaiah talks about comforting God’s people, while the Gospel focuses on wait for judgment, or more precisely on repenting/turning around. But both readings talk about a clear and prophetic voice calling in the wilderness. We have been in a wilderness ourselves over the last ten months. In our wilderness journey, we are still being shaped to understand God and one another more deeply, and we remember that we are called to repent even as were upheld by God’s grace.
Advent I—November 29, 2020
Preachers: Pastor Jeff Lilley and Intern Pastor Bree Lloyd
Lessons: Isaiah 64:1–9 | Psalm 80:1–7, 17–19 | 1 Corinthians 1:3–9 | Mark 13:24–37
Summary: In this dialog sermon, Pastor Jeff and Vicar Bree ask what it means to wait with expectation for the coming of Christ when so much of the world remains the same. We are not just watching and waiting for the babe in the manger; in this active waiting, we are part of the reign of God unfolding in justice, hope, peace, and love. We are experiencing cataclysmic changes in the world and the church; let us resolve to help each other keep awake as the kingdome unfolds through all of us.