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: Beyond Us
September 16, 2018 Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost Season of Creation: Sky Sunday Jeremiah 4:23-28, Psalm 19:1-6 On January 8, 1902, a New York Central Railroad train entered the Park Avenue tunnel on Manhattan Island. The engine burned coal, which heated water to steam, which entered pistons and turned the wheels. Coal smoke and steam then…
Sermon: Dominion
September 9, 2018 Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost Season of Creation: Humanity Sunday Genesis 1:26-28, Mark 7:24-37 There once lived an exceedingly arrogant man. Well, truthfully, there have been a lot of arrogant men living over time. You can probably think of one or two… hundred… if you give yourself a minute. We’ll call this arrogant…
Sermon: Oh My Goodness
September 2, 2018 Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost Season of Creation: Planet Earth Sunday Genesis 1:1-25 I love playing with words. You may have noticed this, despite my friend Paul’s friendly warning to me during his Charge to the Pastor two years ago that I shouldn’t begin my sermons with a pun. As I think you’ve…
Sermon: Is It Too Easy?
August 26, 2018 Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost John 6:56-69 This section of John’s Gospel deserves more attention than it receives. It’s the first recorded moment in the history of the Christian Church – before it even had the names of “Christian” or “Church” – when a theological controversy caused it to fracture. To split. It’s…
Sermon: This May Need a Song
August 19, 2018 Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost Ephesians 5:15-20 We’ve got a little more good advice this week, both from the letter to the Ephesians and from the story of King Solomon. Seek wisdom, we’re told. Be wise. In the case of Solomon, wisdom means to govern for the well-being of your people. In Ephesians,…
Sermon: Just Plain Good Advice
August 12, 2018 Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost Ephesians 4:25-5:2 Have you ever noticed that people sometimes resist good advice? Yesterday at the airport waiting for my flight back to Hilo I watched a young mother follow her toddler around the seats in the waiting area. The child was clearly new to walking and also clearly…
Sermon: One Bread, One Body
August 5, 2018 Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost John 6:24-35, Ephesians 4:1-16 This was also the day of Church of the Holy Cross' annual picnic, and we were joined in worship by members of the Congregational Christian Church of American Samoa of Hilo. Of all the metaphors for the life of faith, I turn most often…
Sermon: Helping Hands
July 29, 2018 Tenth Sunday after Pentecost John 6:1-21 There is an old story about a poor traveler – a bum, a hobo, if you will – who visited a village and went door to door asking for help: a little bread, a bowl of porridge, a cup of soup. Each house, however, though it…
Sermon: Stone by Stone
July 22, 2018 Ninth Sunday after Pentecost Ephesians 2:11-22 British author L. P. Hartley opened his novel The Go-Between with these words: “The past is a foreign country. They do things differently there.” And I would guess that you had some sense of the foreignness of the first century as Gloria read these words from…
Sermon: Stretch Out, Now
July 1, 2018 Sixth Sunday after Pentecost Mark 5:21-43 If there is one thing I could use in my life right now, it’s healing. To start with the most trivial, I’m pleased to say that I’m getting over this cough I’ve had, but this has been one stubborn little virus, and I know a number…
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