Sermons

December 22, 2019Fourth Sunday of AdventMatthew 1:18-25 by Eric Anderson All the stories of Jesus’ birth have something in common: the unpredictability of it all, the intrusiveness of it all, the world-overturning plans-unmaking you-may-have-had-your-ideas-of-what-would-happen-but-I-am-God-and-I-will-get-my-way of it all. Consider Joseph. Unlike Luke, whose Gospel concentrates on Mary, Matthew tells the story of Jesus’ birth from Joseph’s…

December 8, 2019Second Sunday of Advent Isaiah 11:1-10 by David Popham, Hawai'i Conference Minister The text before us today is very familiar. No doubt, some of you can site it from memory. From the beginning of the church, we Christians have found in these verses an interpretation of who Jesus is as the Christ of…

December 1, 2019First Sunday of Advent Matthew 24:36-44 by Eric Anderson Welcome to another Advent season. We have enjoyed the Thanksgiving holiday without, I hope, too many disasters in the kitchen or too many conflicts around the table. Those who enjoy the excitement of the crowds have had the thrill of Black Friday. Here in…

November 24, 2019Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost: Reign of Christ Luke 23:33-43 by Eric Anderson The Church year is drawing to a close. This is its last Sunday. Next week, we begin a new year as the season of Advent begins. This last Sunday of the year is known as Reign of Christ Sunday, and the…

November 17, 2019Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost Isaiah 65:17-25 by Eric Anderson There are things I remember, and there are things I forget. I remember watching the final strike in 2004 as the Boston Red Sox won the World Series for the first time since 1915. I don’t remember anything about the rest of the game.…

November 10, 2019Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost Luke 20:27-38 by Eric Anderson I think the most comprehensible response of a modern Christian to this account of the conversation between the Sadducees and Jesus here in the 20th chapter of Luke is: “Huh?” There’s a whole lot of background to this passage that most of you were…

Reflection for the ‘Aha MokupuniHawai’i Island AssociationNovember 9, 2019Church of the Holy Cross UCC, Hilo Luke 18:9-14 by Eric Anderson In 1054, a group of ecclesiastical diplomats from Rome, representatives of Pope Leo IX, presented a letter to Archbishop Cerularius of Constantinople. To tell the truth, the contents of the letter were the same-old, same-old:…

November 3, 2019Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost Luke 19:1-10 by Eric Anderson You might remember that last week, we heard a story in which Jesus praised the prayer of a tax collector rather than the prayer of a deeply religious leader. That’s the beginning of chapter 18 of Luke’s gospel. Just after that, Luke told the…

October 27, 2019Twentieth Sunday after PentecostLuke 18:9-14 by Eric Anderson Let’s start with some honesty. The Pharisee in this story tends to reinforce Christian stereotypes about first century Pharisees and about modern Jews. The Pharisee in this story tends to reinforce our own prejudices about them: Arrogant, hypocritical, self-righteous, uncaring. If we dismiss the Pharisees…

October 20, 2019Nineteenth Sunday after PentecostLuke 18:1-8 by Eric Anderson This is one of those stories from the Bible where a sensible approach seems to be to put up a big sign that says, “This Is A Story.” It is intended as a commentary on real life, and it may reflect some realities of real…