Sermons
Each week, we post Sunday’s sermon by Rev. Eric Anderson. If you can’t join us on Sunday morning, try following #3tweetsermon on Twitter.
Sermon: Essentials and Opinions
September 17, 2017 Romans 14:1-12 Just Peace Sunday There’s a tempting way to describe the history of the Christian Church, and it goes like this: In the beginning, there was Jesus, and Jesus taught his disciples the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And there was morning, and there was evening, and…
Sermon: Fly on the Wings of the Morning
September 10, 2017 Psalm 139:7-12 Season of Creation: Land Sunday Many years ago, I proved how much I love my son. We were on vacation in Baltimore, Maryland, which was the setting for the UCC’s General Synod in July (and that has nothing to do with my story). Baltimore is home to one of the…
Sermon: The Known Unknown
September 3, 2017 Acts 17:22-28 Season of Creation: Forest Sunday In 2002, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was giving a briefing at the Pentagon. Rumsfeld was known for saying memorable things, and fifteen years later, this one still echoes with me. He said: “Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because…
Sermon: Institutional Rebels
August 27, 2017 Exodus 1:8-2:10 Matthew 16:13-20 There is a notion among Christians that we are good, solid citizens, law-abiding and tax-paying people, who don’t cause trouble and don’t break laws. The Apostle Paul even recommended it in his letter to the Romans. “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities,” he wrote in…
Sermon: Cleansing What Has Been Defiled
Cleansing What Has Been Defiled August 20, 2017 Matthew 15:10-28 Doctrine – you know about doctrine, right? Doctrine is those pronouncements about the spiritual realities of the world, about the realities in fact that go beyond the world that we can see, and they are supposed to be authoritative. That, in fact, is what doctrine…
Sermon: Foreign to the Heart and Mind of Christ
August 13, 2017 Matthew 14:22-33 Pastor's note: This sermon followed by just a day the racist march in Charlottesville, Virginia, on August 12, 2017. It was not written in advance, but improvised at the pulpit. This is a transcript (and the audio recording is below). Pastor Eric Anderson began with a prayer: Please pray with…
Sermon: It May Not Take Much, But It Might
August 6, 2017 Matthew 14:13-21 Let’s spend just a moment with our friend Jacob. He was on his way home. He’d done well. He had lots of livestock – and my apologies, because I misread how he got them from Laban and told you the wrong story last week. It was a trick involving selective…
Sermon: Deceived
July 30, 2017 Genesis 29:15-30 So… Let’s review the story so far. The story of Jacob, that is. First, Jacob was born, an accomplishment which he shares with all of us in the room. He was the younger son of Isaac and Rebekah, and he had ambitions to gain the wealth and the divine promise…
Sermon: Oil on Stone
July 23, 2017 Genesis 28:10-19 In 1861, a wholesale grocer named Wilmer McLean lived in Manassas, Virginia. As it happened, one of the first major battles of the Civil War would erupt nearly in his front yard. One of the Confederate Army commanders, General Beauregard, made Wilmer McLean’s house his headquarters during the battle. Beauregard…
Sermon: How Shall We Stand?
July 16, 2017 Genesis 25:19-34 Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 In 1791, King Kamehameha invited his cousin Keoua to attend the dedication of a new heiau at Kawaihae, dedicated to Ku, the god of war. A prophet had declared that when the temple was completed and consecrated with a sacrifice, it meant that Kamehameha would achieve undisputed…
440 W. Lanikaula Street