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: Dry, Dry Bones
March 26, 2023 Ezekiel 37:1-14John 11:1-45 by Eric Anderson In 597 BCE, the Babylonian army surrounded the city of Jerusalem. Unable to resist, King Jehoiachin, who’d been on the throne in the nation of Judah for just three months, surrendered to the Emperor Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar followed a pretty common practice for setting up a conquered…
Sermon: Fault
March 19, 2023 Ephesians 5:8-14John 9:1-41 by Eric Anderson In the second act of the 1989 musical Into the Woods, written by James Lapine with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, the main characters find themselves threatened by a force beyond their powers. The result is a series of accusations – musical accusations – from…
Sermon: I’ve Got Questions
March 5, 2023 Romans 4:1-5, 13-17John 3:1-17 by Eric Anderson Imagine this: someone you’ve heard a lot about has come to town. They haven’t been famous for very long, but already you’re curious. A day or two or three before, they’d done something big: clearing out a major annoyance in a very special place in…
Sermon: Temptation
February 26, 2023 Psalm 32Matthew 4:1-11 by Eric Anderson We live in a culture of temptation. We have an entire academic discipline to study and teach temptation – we call it “Marketing” – and we have a sizable industry to enact temptation – we call it “Advertising.” How big? Well, “advertising contributed $3.4 trillion to…
Sermon: The Words on the Mountain
February 19, 2023 Exodus 24:12-18Matthew 17:1-9 by Eric Anderson Kathryn Schifferdecker writes at Working Preacher, “There are lots of mountains in the Gospel of Matthew. Jesus is tempted by Satan on one mountain (Matthew 4:8); he teaches from another, which is why we call that particular discourse ‘the Sermon on the Mount’ (Matthew 5:1). He…
Sermon: Milk
February 12, 2023 1 Corinthians 3:1-9Matthew 5:21-37 by Eric Anderson Milk is a miraculous thing. It wraps up nutrition and hydration into a single substance, one that will keep an infant not just going but growing at about an inch a month for the first six months. It’s gentle on upset stomachs and, at least…
Sermon: Not So Simple
February 5, 2023 Isaiah 58:1-12Matthew 5:13-20 by Eric Anderson Last week, looking at Micah 6 and at the Beatitudes at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount here in Matthew, I tried to make the case that, while living the life and doing the work of Christian discipleship is challenging, the standards for that…
Sermon: It Sounds So Simple
January 29, 2023 Micah 6:1-8Matthew 5:1-12 by Eric Anderson Micah 6 describes a… frustrated deity. Terence E. Fretheim writes at Working Preacher, “God’s rhetoric suggests that the people have been complaining about God’s expectations of them. God’s basic reply is: make your case; let’s put the issue on the table: ‘What have I done that…
Sermon: It’s the Same Boat
January 22, 2023 1 Corinthians 1:10-18Matthew 4:12-23 by Eric Anderson One of my favorite moments in the 2016 movie Moana is Maui’s introduction of himself to Moana. “’Maui, shapeshifter, demigod of the wind and sea, hero of men…’ Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. ‘And women. Men and women.’ Both. All. Not a ‘guy/girl’ thing. You know.…
Sermon: Lamb of God
January 15, 2023 Psalm 40:1-11John 1:29-42 by Eric Anderson In the years since I first heard the phrase, “the Lamb of God,” I don’t think I’ve ever thought twice about it. It’s got a lovely Latin translation – agnus dei – with a soft “gn” that just rolls delightfully through the mouth. The Hawaiian has…
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