Feasting Even in Exile

Sermon for February 24, 2019 

Read Psalm 98 and Isaiah 55:1-13

We find the Israelites in the middle of their Babylonian exile in this passage today. They had been violently removed from their homeland by the Babylonians 40 years earlier and here comes Isaiah to invite them back to the homeland. Back to goodness and plenty.

But it has been forty years. Forty. Most of the Israelites alive now barely remember Israel. Babylon is what they've known. Exile has become their home. After seeing their beloved city destroyed; families torn apart; houses demolished; their country lost, it was not surprising that members of the prophet's audience were not so sure anymore whether they still believed in the God of their ancestors. And yet here comes the prophet telling them to uproot everything and return to the land that God has given them.

Loving Our Enemies

Sermon for February 17, 2019 

Read Psalm 103:1-13 and Luke 6:27-38

Who are your enemies? That’s always the first question that springs to mind when I come across this passage. Who is my enemy?

Now, very few people have real enemies: dark hatted villains with curling mustaches that cackle and unleash dastardly schemes.  Instead you have the people who disagree with you. The people who cut you off in traffic. The people who are on the other side of the political spectrum and love to argue about it. The person who just rubs you the wrong way. Or maybe it's the person you thought you could trust and instead they betrayed you. We can all think of someone we have less than fond feelings for. The question is, how do we deal with them?

What is Love?

Sermon for February 10, 2019 

Read Psalm 138 and 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

I want to talk a bit about love over the next two weeks, and we’re going to begin with one of the most commonly used texts in the Bible. After the 23rd psalm, I’m willing to bet that this text is the one most heard by people who have nothing to do with the church. 

Calling

Sermon for February 3, 2019 

Read Psalm 71:1-6 and Jeremiah 1:4-10

It can be easy to look at this story of Jeremiah’s call and think that it has nothing to do with our own lives. 

I mean, Jeremiah is one of the great prophets of the Bible, so of course God comes to him and tells him of his call directly. It makes a great story! It has drama and faith and all of the things we want in a Bible story. But it’s not something that we immediately relate to our own lives. 

One Body

Sermon for January 27, 2019 

Read Psalm 19 and 1 Corinthians12:12-31 

Have you ever stopped to consider how amazing the human body is?

The human body is a remarkable creation, with 60 million cells. Our heart beats 36 million times every year. We produce 300 billion red cells every day. A multitude of complex processes are carried out by our bodies every minute without our even having to think about it. We don't have to tell our heart to beat, or our eyes to blink, or our lungs to fill with air. It just does it on our own. Humans are really remarkable creations.

And we are a particularly apt metaphor for Christ at work in the world today.

Called By Name

Sermon for January 13, 2019 

Read Isaiah 43:1-7       and Luke 3:15-17, 21-22   

What is your name? When asked that question, how do you respond?

My full legal name with titles is Rev. Cara Sutton Milne. Sutton is my mother's maiden name. But I don't think I've ever responded with all of that when asked my name. For me, my name is Cara. That is who I am. The rest are titles attached to my name, important titles, but titles nonetheless.

Gifts

Sermon for January 6, 2019 

Read Isaiah 60:1-9    and Matthew 2:1-12           

While for most of us, the season of gift giving is past, wrapping paper and decorations have been stored away for another year, for the church, today is the day we talk about gifts. It is Epiphany, the twelfth of the twelve days of Christmas and the day we celebrate the coming of those wise men to Jesus and the gifts they bear. 

So, what makes something a good gift? What’s the sort of thing you were excited to get over the holidays?