Sermons (Page 9)

June 13 2021 “Unexpected”

Our guest preacher this Sunday, Cassie Carroll, recently graduated from The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology, and has been certified by the Presbyterian Church as a candidate for her first call. In this sermon, she finds Jesus’ familiar lesson comparing little children and rich men as candidates for Heaven (Mark 10:13–23) a fitting metaphor…

June 6 2021 “Pray For Life”

Pastor Jeffrey looks at several Bible passages where Jesus discusses the nature of prayer, especially the story of the tax collector (in Luke 18:9-14) desperately praying for God’s absolution. Jeffrey suggests that this kind of openness, this reaching out – perhaps without even saying a word – is the essence of prayer. We are living…

May 23 2021 “Blowin’ Away”

For Pentecost Sunday, the Church’s Birthday, Pastor Jeffrey re-visits that first congregation being touched by tongues of fire, but then he turns to the bigger question: where in today’s world is that kind of inspired fire needed?  How can we summon, personally,  the kind of energy and passion that built the early church. May God…

May 16 2021 “Thin Places”

In this very personal sermon, Pastor Jeffrey explores those moments when we feel much closer to the Divine.  Often, they are physical settings that touch our souls – in Jeffrey’s case the retreat center on the Scottish island of Iona.  With more experience, however, we learn that this unique experience is driven more by what’s…

April 18 2021 “He Opened Their Minds”

Scripture: Luke 24: 36–48   In this sermon, Pastor Jeffrey continues the exploration started last week of the idea that the Disciples’ belief in the resurrection took time – – at least four different episodes in the Gospels.  For the Disciples, and for us today, faith comes through repeated exposure to challenging ideas and the sharing…

April 11 2021 “A God of Second Chances”

On the first Sunday after Easter, Pastor Jeffrey looks at the Apostle most like we modern humans: Doubting Thomas.  In accepting Thomas’s doubts and and offering the tangible proof the others didn’t demand, Jesus established the critical idea that faith may come slowly, in steps, and that second chances are always available. Permission to stream…