Sermons 2003

Why I am a Christian(26 October 2003)

 To Serve and be Served (18 October 2003)

Midnight Pain - Sunrise of Grace (11October 2003)

Berkeley as Spiritual Soil (4 October 2003)

Born Again (28 September 2003)

The Ministry of Volunteers (7 September 2003)

The Power of Words (22 August 2003)

I Wonder (22 June 2003)

We are flesh and spirit, and that living truth is wondrous.

Forgiving (15 June 2003)

If we are to pray today that our debts be forgiven, we must forgive the debts of those unable to repay these loans.

Living Truth (8 June 2003)

Truth is known through living, truth is living, and truth requires living to be true.

God in Three Persons (25 May 2003)

The New Testament proclaims that love moves God to be human, and that love moves humans to embrace God. 

Scripture Fulfilled? (4 May 2003)

Crucified and resurrected truth means finding Christ in strangers and forgiving God for death.

Doubting Thomas (7 April 2003)

The way, the truth and the life of God are in the life, death and renewed life of Jesus, among those who knew him and remember him.

Sown like Seeds (20 April 2003)

In the church we should not promise that those who die and return to the earth as dust will some day be restored to physical life in some heavenly place. Our Easter faith is that death is not the end of life, for we are "sown like seeds" in the kingdom of God.

Death (30 March 2003)

Our faith is that all who turn to the Bible will find comfort in facing death with words such as these, at the end of Psalm 31: "Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the LORD."

When God is Silent (23 March 2003)

The cry of the psalmist and Jesus is now our cry, and the silence of God may lead us to despair. So, heed the witness of the church. Embrace our silent God with faith, hope, and love. 

"Perfect Strangers" (16 March 2003)

In a culture that wants to skip straight to Easter without passing through Good Friday, dedicate yourself to the cause and to the cross of Christ.

Deliver Us from Evil (9 March 2003)

In this moment of enormous peril, our prayer to God "to deliver us from evil" must not mean simply "deliver us from evildoers," but must include a prayer to deliver us and the world from the evil that we might do. 

Care of the Soul (2 March 2003)

Care of the soul is not a project of self-improvement nor a way of being released from the troubles and pains of human existence. 

Right and Wrong (23 February 2003)

The great divide now is between those who reason deductively from commandments they claim are revealed by God, and those who test the claims of revelation and all other claims through inductive reasoning.

The Greatest Story Never Told (16 February 2003)

Mark either describes or makes reference to nearly 40 miracles, easily more than any other book in the Canon.

The State of the Church (9 February 2003)

The state of the church is no better than the love and grace manifested in Christian living. 

Blessing Our Children and Grandchildren (2 February 2003)

God promises peace and prosperity for those who live justly and care for the earth. Jews and Christians are called now by their scriptures to embrace this precious promise.

To Follow Jesus (23 January 23)

What does it mean to follow Jesus? Throughout the centuries, there have been many ways of answering this question. Our calling is not to condemn, but to carry on.

King of the Jews (5 January 2003)

The gospel of Matthew appeals to Jews to accept Jesus as king of the Jews and Messiah, and condemns Jews who refuse to do so. Today, Christians do not think of Jesus Christ as "king of the Jews." So, we read the story of the wise men as a child’s story of the one called Emmanuel, who we know as "God with us."