This sermon was first preached for the July 19, 2020 online worship service at Kalamazoo First Congregational Church. The full worship playlist can be viewed here. The sermon text is Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43.
The Better Way
This sermon was first preached at Kalamazoo First Congregational Church on July 21st, 2019. You can listen here. Scripture: Luke 10:38-42 An open letter to Jesus, as I grapple with disappointment over how he handled this disagreement between two sisters. Dear Jesus, I am weary of women being pitted against each other. In television,…
Building the Beloved Community: The Church of Gifted Learners
This sermon was first preached at Kalamazoo First Congregational Church on March 24, 2019. You can listen to the audio here. Text: I Corinthians 13:1-13 When I was in seminary, the church where I did my internship began using the Young Children in Worship curriculum for Sunday School. This is the same curriculum we use…
Access to Living Water
This sermon was first preached at Kalamazoo First Congregational Church on February 24, 2019. You can listen to the recording here. Text: John 4:7-15 This month, Pastor Nathan and I have both chosen to write our sermons in conversation with African American theologians and this week, I have focused on learning from the Rev. Dr….
Finding God in the Wilderness with Hagar and Delores S. Williams
This sermon was first preached at Kalamazoo First Congregational Church on February 10, 2019. You can listen here. Text: Genesis 16:1-16 Throughout the month of February, Pastor Nathan and I will be preaching in dialogue with significant African American theologians and biblical scholars. In preparation for this morning, I’ve had the chance to read and…
Called Out of Comfort
This sermon was given at First Congregational Church in Kalamazoo on January 27, 2019. You can listen here. Text: Luke 4:16-30 The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside still waters. He restoreth my soul. Aren’t there sometimes words or songs…
The Home of God is Among Mortals
This sermon was originally preached at First Congregational Church in Kalamazoo on November 4, 2018. You can listen here. Revelation 21:1-6 Yesterday would have been my grandfather’s 90th birthday. He died almost 14 years ago—a few months after my wedding, which was the last time I saw him. Bob Ingram was the child of two…
Following Home
This sermon was first preached at the First Congregational Church in Kalamazoo, MI on October 28, 2018. You can listen to the recording here. Mark 10:46-52 When I moved to Vancouver to attend seminary, I began what I assumed would be a long process of finding a church to attend regularly. I did research and…
Give Me Jesus
This sermon was first preached on October 21, 2018 at First Congregational Church, Kalamazoo MI. Listen here Mark 10:35-45 One of my pet peeves is when Christians use Jesus to try to control or manipulate other people. This is a trap that preachers especially can fall into, and it’s one of the reasons I fully…
Rehumanizing Ethics
This sermon was first preached on October 23rd, 2017 at the First Congregational Church in Kalamazoo. (catching up on some old material, folks!) Listen here Matthew 22:23-33 There are not many things I hate in this world. There’s plenty I don’t like, but I tend to have a pretty positive outlook and be patient and…
Religare
Religare I enter a vacant room through which energy flows in a web around an empty earthly hemisphere a cathedral without walls or roof a room humming with anticipation and I ask to the emptiness, What is about to happen here? And the flagstones rumble with laughter and the light moving…
the beautiful changes... 