Sun. Dec. 29, 2013 (Andre Pekovich)

Between sets of hymn singing, Andre Pekovich shared his thoughts from Robert Farrar Capon about "Hospitality and Food" based on the book, The Supper of the Lamb: A Culinary Reflection.

Please note that the audio recording is not available for download.

Sun. Dec. 15, 2013 (Thomas Bergen)

Thomas Bergen captured several of the infancy narratives of Jesus in a wide-ranging message that acknowledged our heart-felt appreciation of children’s plays, while extending our understanding of the gospel as an exploration of the identity of Christ - so much more than a baby in a manger.  The infancy narratives fulfill many other parts of the bible, particularly OT prophecy, and recognized that the gospel-writers were not historians, but theologians who sought to give us a sense of the identity of Christ. More than his genealogy (as Matthew wrote), and more than our career (as we identify ourselves today) Jesus is identified as the summa of history and tradition in Israel through the lists of its heroes, and yet providing the necessary bridge to the rest of the world through gentiles.  We are invited to identify with Jesus in countless ways: The scandalous unions throughout the bible are echoed in Jesus’ own birth to Mary, allowing him to share in the shaming meaning by which many come into the world.  Parallels abound - the struggle of Joseph, Moses and Pharaoh is echoed in Joseph, Jesus and Herod; the forty days of temptation echoes the 40 years of wandering, and Jesus as Caesar supreme even over Augustus, whose own godhead was thrown into question early on. The good news of God’s peace was brought by Jesus, not Augustus, and the longevity of his message, though important, isn’t half so critical as the relationship he still offers us all today.  Read about his story, but live his message with him in this Christmas season.  [AP]

Listen to the sermon audio MP3 recording from Sunday, December 15th, 2013 using your browser's preferred media player.

Sun. Dec. 8, 2013 (John Friesen)

John Friesen, in “Experiencing God”, examined the historical period we worship in today with its diversity, and related our experience to the Christmas season. The post-modern age we worship in is notable for its insecurity and anxiety despite great wealth and lack of want for the vast majority. Our worship darts in many different directions, from relating sustainable agriculture to the church, dreaming dreams, to reinterpreting scripture in service of new paradigms. Our thirst for God has developed a different shape in a “century without God”, one that demanded rational explanations for belief, yet now turns to feelings and emotions for validation. Diana Butler Bass’s book “Christianity after Religion” asks us to consider our estrangement from God and turn our hearts toward Him. Reasons for our estrangement may include lack of purpose in life, fear of others, guilt, resentment, striving for riches and need for approval. John suggests that our inability to sense God with us at all times may emphasize our separateness, and comments from Philip Yancey that “Any relationship involves times of closeness and times of distance... the pendulum will swing from one side to the other”. Thus does the faith of the mystics model for us the way in which our journey should go. A mystical experience of John’s, when young, was foundational to his trust that God would always be with him. Thus the message of Luke’s Christmas story (2:10-12) is as current today as two thousand years ago, as theologians as prominent as Barth acknowledge - because “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so”. [AP]

NOTE: there was no audio recording of this sermon.