Sermons

Environmental sustainability is a spiritual issue

Sermon for April 19, 2015 (Third Sunday of Easter)
Rev. Amy Welin:
The collect for the Third Sunday of Easter is well-suited to the Sunday that we read the story of the miracle on the road to Emmaus, when the risen Christ reveals himself in the breaking of bread. In today’s gospel reading, using a passage later in Luke, Jesus also reveals himself in Jerusalem, first by eating a bit of fish and then by breaking open the Scriptures that his followers might understand. The intersection of the Collect and lessons this week is this: we can encounter the Risen Christ in the bread and wine because of the way that Jesus has been revealed in all the Scriptures. Read More Read more • Leer más → “Environmental sustainability is a spiritual issue”
Sermons

Is doubt the enemy of faith?

Sermon for April 12, 2015 (Second Sunday of Easter)
Rev. Amy Welin:
What do you think: Is doubt the enemy of faith? Is doubt a spiritually destructive force that separates us from God? Were you taught that doubting is a personal spiritual failure? (I was.)
 
To have doubts and questions about faith is unsettling, isn’t it? We can wonder if something is wrong with us - are we just faking it? are we foolish? do we need remedial Sunday School? or just to pray harder? In my years as a church leader, I have noticed that people who live with doubts about Jesus and the resurrection can live in a silent desperation, because doubt in the church is treated almost like a leprosy of the soul. Read More Read more • Leer más → “Is doubt the enemy of faith?”
Sermons

Are you looking for Jesus of Nazareth?

Sermon for April 5, 2015 (Easter Sunday)
Rev. Amy Welin:
We have known for weeks that spring has been coming, not because the weather has cooperated, but because the peeps and chocolate candy and butterfly toys have arrived in the stores. We have had to trust in the coming of spring, without a lot of observable evidence. Sometimes we realize that the boundary between the dead of winter and the new life of spring is very thin. Read More Read more • Leer más → “Are you looking for Jesus of Nazareth?”
Sermónes / Sermons

By your holy cross, you have saved the world • Por tu santa cruz redimiste al mundo

Sermon for April 3, 2015 (Good Friday)
Sermón de 3 de abril 2015 (Viernes Santo)
Rev. Amy Welin:
In the cross, I do not see a vindictive God who is satisfied by the blood of the pure sacrifice. I see a God who willingly sacrifices all of himself, in opposition to the violence which we demand. I see a God who chooses to be among the godforsaken. En la cruz, no veo un Dios vengativo que está satisfecha con la sangre del sacrificio puro. Veo un Dios que voluntariamente sacrifica todo de sí mismo, en oposición a la violencia que exigimos. Veo un Dios que elige para estar entre los olvidado por Dios. Read More • Lea más Read more • Leer más → “By your holy cross, you have saved the world • Por tu santa cruz redimiste al mundo”
Sermónes / Sermons

Jesus said: Unless I wash you, you have no share with me • Jesus le dijo Si no te los lavo, no podrás ser de los míos

Sermon for April 2, 2015 (Maundy Thursday)
Sermón de 2 de abril 2015 (Jueves Santo)
Rev. Amy Welin:
What would we do if we knew that our life would end in less than a week? ¿Qué haríamos si sabíamos que nuestra vida terminaría en menos de una semana? Read More • Lea más Read more • Leer más → “Jesus said: Unless I wash you, you have no share with me • Jesus le dijo Si no te los lavo, no podrás ser de los míos”
Sermons

And Jesus said, “I am.”

Sermon for March 29, 2015 (Palm Sunday)
Rev. Amy Welin:
The distance we cover during our procession with the palms is not a long one, at least not physically. And it really is rather fun, to walk out of the parish hall and into the church, waving our palm branches in the air and then beginning to sing our hosannas. On a Sunday morning, it is so good to be with the parish community and to celebrate the joy of a new day. Our palms smell fresh and cool and green, like spring. At the same time, we remember the wonderful, exuberant greeting the people of Jerusalem gave to Jesus when he arrived at the city gates so long ago. They cheered and shouted “hosanna” or “save us now, Lord.” They threw their cloaks and palm branches across his path so the dust would not get churned up and cover him. It was a royal welcome. They were hoping for a new day in a political sense, and they wanted their Messiah, Jesus, to be their king. When we go home, we remember that we, too, were a part of this royal welcome. Read More  Listen to this sermon Read more • Leer más → “And Jesus said, “I am.””
Sermons

We want to see Jesus

Sermon for March 22, 2015 (Fifth Sunday in Lent)
Rev. Amy Welin: Late last week, my son noticed that as the snow melted, the remnant of the lawn beneath it looked dead. He did not believe me when I suggested that all the snow was nature’s fertilizer. He could see the wilted, yellowed grass. Really, mom, it looks dead. If the small glacier on our front yard ever melts completely, I trust that the lawn will return to something green and living. That is the pattern of creation. Some gospels are easier to work with than others. Did you notice the disconnect between the inquiry of the Greeks and Jesus’ response in today’s gospel passage? Part of me hopes that the editor left out a couple of sentences. Sir we want to see Jesus. On most Sundays, we also might be ready to say that along with the Greeks. We want help. We want to be healed. We long for the presence of God. Is Jesus at home? We need to see him. Read More  Listen to this sermon Read more • Leer más → “We want to see Jesus”
Sermons

Sermon for March 15, 2015 (Fourth Sunday in Lent)

Sermon for March 15, 2015 (Fourth Sunday in Lent)
Mr. Stephen Nagy, Seminarian (4 Lent): John 3:16 is one of the most famous verses in Scripture. Quoted across pop culture from the rapper Wyclef Jean to the wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin, from the fastfood chain In-N-Out Burger to quarterback Tim Tebow. You can probably find it up on more billboards than all the personal injury lawyers strung together. And for good reason, for it could be called the Gospel in a soundbite:
    "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life." (John 3:16)
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Sermons

Then God spoke all these words…

Sermon for March 8, 2015 (Third Sunday in Lent)
Rev. Amy Welin:
Do you ever wonder why we do what we do? On Sundays in Lent, we recite the Decalogue as part of the Penitential Rite. We often hear them as a list of obligations to fulfill or action to avoid. Like the fashion Dos and Don’ts in magazine, only more serious. In fact, the Ten Commandments are a gift from the Almighty to shape the common life of a chosen people. They are not a code of law. They are markers of a covenant relationship. Read More Read more • Leer más → “Then God spoke all these words…”
Sermons

To make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.

Sermon for March 1, 2015 (Second Sunday in Lent)
Rev. Amy Welin:
To make an end is to make a beginning. We mark the end of one musical era and the beginning of the next. We mark the end of one way of being church and the beginning of a new way. We may or we may not be ready for either. The end is where we start from. Read More Read more • Leer más → “To make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.”