“Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”
She struck the angel Gabriel as hardly old enough to have a child at all, let alone this child, but he’d been entrusted with a message to give her, and he gave it. He told her what the child was to be named and who he was to be, something about the mystery that was […]
The One Who Calls You is Faithful
The LORD has done great things for us, * and we are glad indeed. Restore our fortunes, O LORD, * like the watercourses of the Negev. Those who sowed with tears * will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying the seed, * will come again with joy, shouldering their sheaves. […]
God is coming to your wilderness
Advent 2, Year B Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. I will listen to what the Lord God is saying, for he is speaking peace to his faithful people and to those who turn their hearts to him. (Psalm 85: 8) One of my favorite movies of all times is “Trip to Bountiful.” One […]
Now consider, we are all your people
Isaiah 64: 1-9, Advent 1 B Barbara Brown Taylor tells of visiting a friend at his church. He showed her through the newly built fellowship hall and then took her into the sanctuary where she saw a “curious thing sitting on the altar. It was a fat white candle, sitting in a deep dish with […]
The fullness of him who fills all in all
The Reign of Christ Sunday A November 23, 2014 I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to […]
Enter Into the Joy of Your Master
Since August 9, the Rev. F. Willis Johnson, a United Methodist pastor in Ferguson Missouri has devoted his ministry to fostering a peaceful response to the police shooting of an unarmed black teenager and the resulting violent turmoil that followed. The shooting of 18 year old Michael Brown led to four days of conflict between […]
We Should Be Called Children of God
Beloved we are God’s children now A little boy and his father had gone down into town to watch a parade. As the time of the parade got closer more and more people gathered around, each of them trying to find the best place to watch. Before long the little boy was standing in the […]
Sermon preached by The Rev. Peter Elvin, October 26, 2014
At A Celebration of New Ministry for The Rev. Dr. Janet Zimmerman Holy One, fill the hollow of words and hearing. By your Spirit, make fit both speaking and listening. Fit us for your service, Creator, Redeemer, Guide. Janet, just being asked to preach today is a deep honor. When I told the Vestry where proposed […]
Give to God the things that are God’s
October 19, 2014 by The Rev. Dr. Janet W. Zimmerman The Pharisees send their disciples along with the Herodians to try to “entrap” Jesus. This group makes a strange team. On the one hand you have the Pharisees who are the leaders of the temple. They are the people charged with interpreting and teaching about […]
Where do we find God?
Sermon preached October 12, 2014 by The Rev. Janet Zimmerman, PhD Most of us can remember where we were on September 11. Some of us may have been in New York City on that horrible day when men flew planes into the World Trade Center to strike terror into the heart of our people in […]