Sermons

Are You the One?

We know that Jesus wants us to follow in his example. We may not be able to miraculously restore sight to the blind, but we can restore communities! We can bring good news of liberation to people who are poor in money and those who are poor in love and acceptance. We can recognize the places we are poor in compassion and generosity and learn from those who would teach us a better way.

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Where Are You in the Story?

Maria Stewart never let being told NO keep her from getting to YES. CAN’T did not seem a part of her vocabulary. She knew she was a servant of the Lord with a story to tell, with a contribution to make, and would allow nothing to stand in her way. Imagine the physical, emotional, and mental toll she endured during those dark and lonely times. I wonder how the stress manifested in her body and mind. I’m sure prayer was her constant companion.

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Sermon for W.E.B. DuBois Feast Day

Too often churches, non profits, and even radical organizations make the fatal mistake of not recognizing the essential agency of those most affected by the issue. We, the free individuals and allies of our time, are not what will bring forth the great social transformation that we desire on our own. Whether you believe in change through a ballot box or revolution, no matter how much organizing and planning you do, the impetus for social transformation is in the so-called nameless masses, those on the margins, whose bodies, created in the image of God make change happen.

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Earth Day Sermon

Finding our climate stories is how we sustain ourselves in the movement towards climate justice. Climate stories identify where our heart connects to the environment. Often a cherished memory from childhood, it could be from summer cabins running through the woods or gardening with a grandparent.

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Good Friday Sermon

A sermon by Dr. John E. (Jay) Phelan:
When I was a kid, we didn’t do Good Friday. It wasn’t that the church I attended didn’t talk about the death of Jesus. It did; often and in some detail. It was just that like many churches when Easter season rolled around it was as if daffodils, pastel dresses, and white shoes overshadowed the gloom of Good Friday. It was Jesus resurrected we were eager to see, not Jesus executed and entombed.

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The Parable of the Lost Sons

A sermon by Dr. John E. (Jay) Phelan:
Any first century Jew who heard a story that began, “A man had two sons . . . would think, Uh oh. Any story starting this way will only lead to trouble. The Torah is simply full of sibling rivalry. Consider the case of the first siblings—Cain and his younger brother Abel. Here we find not only the first murder, but the first worship war. Cain is infuriated that for some reason his way of worship is deemed inferior to that of Abel and kills him, When God confronts him, he responds with a line that is with us to this day: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The human family does not get off to a very good start. But it continues.

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A Deepening Faith, or Recalling Our God Consciousness

What does it mean to fight for freedom? What does it mean to struggle against oppression? For Black people, descendants of Africans who were enslaved, that struggle for freedom has often coincided with our faith in something bigger than ourselves, our faith in the Divine creator of the universe. Against all odds, we have relied on the power of the Divine to help pull us through no matter how bleak the situation we were in may have been.

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