Sermons

Terrified in Jerusalem

Mar 29, 2026MichaelSermonsFear, Hatred, Identity, Judgment, Palm Sunday, Passion

This morning, we celebrate the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. This is the story we heard at the beginning of the service, in which Jesus rides into the city on a donkey, while people lay down palms before him, and shout “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!”

And now, we are about to read the passion of Jesus, broken into parts for a more dramatic reading. You yourselves have the parts, at times, of the soldiers, the crowds, or the bystanders. There are actually two readings that we can choose for the passion reading – and one of them is a little over twice the size of what we will be reading. We are reading just a portion of the larger reading.

Blinded

Mar 15, 2026MichaelSermonsBlindness, Discrimination, Evangelism, Fear, Growth, Jesus, Judging, Love, Self-Awareness, Sin, Spiritual Growth, Transformation

I know everyone is familiar with Superman, and his alter ego, Clark Kent. One of the late night television shows did a spoof on this once. Clark Kent is sitting at his desk at the Daily Planet, and he takes his glasses off to rub his eyes, and someone yells out, “Superman! Wow! When did you get here!” And Clark puts his glasses back on to look around for Superman, and the person goes, “Huh? Where did he go? He was just here!” Clark gets wise, and pulls his glasses off again, and the person yells, “Oh! There you are!” What follows is Clark Kent taking his glasses off and on, with people seeing Superman, and then suddenly blinded to his presence the moment Clark puts his glasses back on. They thought Clark kind of looked like that Superman guy, but obviously, Superman didn’t need glasses, so it couldn’t possibly be him. They doubted what was right in front of them, and so they were blinded to reality.

If God Gives You Something Good

Mar 8, 2026MichaelSermonsEvangelism, Faith in Action, Fear, Gospel, Gospel of John, Hatred, Love, Loving God, Loving Neighbor, Self-Acceptance, Sin, Worship

But, before we can continue with this storyline, we need to talk about the disciples, who come back at the most awkward moment. They’d been buying food, you see, and now when they show up, they have the shock of their lives. Just like the woman was shocked that Jesus would speak to her, the disciples are equally shocked. What on earth is Jesus doing, talking to this woman?

The Proof Is In The Pudding

Mar 1, 2026MichaelSermonsBorn Again, Born From Above, Faith in Action, God, Gospel of John, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Nicodemus, Self-Acceptance, Self-Examination, Sin

Now, I know you might be wondering why I’m talking about sausages and phrases that started out in the 1600s but evolved into something else over time. After all, isn’t the Gospel today about this famous conversation with Nicodemus about being “born again?” Doesn’t it include the famous line, “For God so loved the world?” What’s this about pudding?

What We Have Now

Feb 22, 2026MichaelSermonsDevil, Grace, Hope, Jesus, Lent, Satan, Self-Acceptance, Self-Awareness, Self-Examination, Spiritual Growth, Temptation

Imagine for a moment that you are in a desert. Not just what we experience outside of this town we live in, but an emotional and spiritual desert in which you feel isolated from others. Where you feel that you are alone, with no one to talk to, and nothing that feeds your soul with freshness or joy. Imagine that you are in this place, and now think of what would be your biggest desire.

For most of us, it would likely be that we would want to be anywhere else but that desolate space. We would believe that what we are experiencing now is not what we should be experiencing. That anyplace other than this desolate wilderness is better than where we are now.

Three Men on a Mountain

Feb 15, 2026MichaelSermonsComfort, Disciples, Fear, God, God's Purpose, Identity, Jesus, Light of the World, Miracles, Peace, Transfiguration, Transformation

And so, back to today’s passage: Jesus is standing here with Moses and Elijah. A cloud comes down from heaven, and this cloud overshadows them and a voice from the cloud says, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” And the disciples got scared and fell to the ground. Three terrified men on a mountain. When they finally looked up, Moses and Elijah were gone. Only Jesus remained.

A Little Light, Please?

Feb 8, 2026MichaelSermonsFaith in Action, God, Jesus, Law, Light of the World, Love, Prophecy, Prophets

New. And revolutionary. In today’s Gospel, Jesus comes along and says, “I’m not here being avant-garde. I don’t have anything new to give you. Instead, I’m here to fulfill the law and the prophets, not get rid of them.”

Blessed Are the Arrogant

Feb 1, 2026MichaelSermonsBeatitudes, Beloved Community, Epiphany, Jesus, Judgment, Love, Righteousness, Self-Awareness, Self-Examination, Sermon on the Mount, Sin

Jesus preached hope, compassion, and living simply and generously. The fact that some people want to reject these words of Christ and try to rewrite them into something they find more acceptable should make all of us question what is going on with the state of our union as followers of Christ.

What Does That Even Mean?

Jan 25, 2026MichaelSermonsDisciples, Discipleship, Epiphany, Evangelism, Faith, Faith in Action, Mission, Paradigm Shift

Have you ever had a moment in your life where everything all came crashing in at once? Not in a bad way. Not like things in your life were falling apart. But that things all came together in one single moment, and everything made so much sense – a true sense of clarity – that you could no longer understand or look at things the same way again.

Why Are You Following Me?

Jan 18, 2026MichaelSermonsDisciples, Discipleship, Faith in Action, Identity, Jesus, John The Baptist, Understanding

John is standing there with his own disciples, and as Jesus passes by, he says to those disciples, “This is the Lamb of God who takes away all the sin of the world.”…

The two disciples heard John say this, and started following Jesus.

Apparently, though, they were following behind him from a distance, because when Jesus noticed that they were following him, he turned around, and said, “Hey! Guys. Why are you following me?”