Sermons
The Deep Blue Ocean
Speaker: Cynthia Lapp
This year the season of Lent might feel difficult to embrace. In a time when traditionally people give up things, I’ve heard at least one pastor say, “Haven’t we given up enough in the past year. It is like we never left Lent 2020. Do we really need to give up anything else?” (It might […]
What Are We To Do?
Speaker: Cynthia Lapp
BP – before Pandemic, I didn’t dream much. I mean I did dream a lot before kids but then I stopped, at least I stopped remembering my dreams. But now, DP, during pandemic, I have begun remembering more of my dreams. The other night I dreamed that I ran into a high school friend at […]
Astonished & Amazed
Speaker: Michelle Burkholder
We are still in the season of Epiphany. It is a season that invites us to explore how Christ is revealed in the world. Christ is revealed in the world in a myriad of ways. One of the ways we learn about what it looks like to be Christ in the world is through the […]
State of the Congregation
Speaker: Cynthia Lapp
Here in this political season, in this ever political city, it is once again time for that occasional address, the state of the congregation. I so wish I could parade down the center aisle (like I did one time) while you all stand and cheer from the left and the right, or perhaps mostly from […]
Gifts of Epiphany
Speaker: Cynthia Lapp
As the Christmas season draws to a close for another year, and we sing carols that weave together the birth stories, I feel that preacherly responsibility to pick apart and untangle the two very different gospel stories of Jesus birth. During advent and on Christmas Eve we heard the story from Luke. It comes (sort […]
Lessons from the Desert
Speaker: Jay Forth
I am honored to worship with you this morning. Throughout my undergraduate studies at Messiah College and graduate school, I’ve been gratefully immersed and influenced by Anabaptist traditions. And so, I’m thankful to return to a somewhat familiar space and for us to be together. However, we aren’t quite together, are we? Right now, I’m […]
Anticipating | Incarnating
Speaker: Cynthia Lapp
2020, the most apocalyptic of years, is finally winding down. This means that we are starting a new liturgical year, which always begins with – wait for it – apocalyptic biblical texts. In the beginning of the liturgical year, we are invited to start all over again, waiting for God, watching for the presence of […]
In The Round
Speaker: Michelle Burkholder
Intro – No Slide 2003 – Becky & I moved to MN – I was excited about seminary and really excited about living close to this sculpture: Slide I – Spoonbridge and Cherry (Spoonbridge and Cherry by Claes Oldenburg & Coosje van Bruggen – Minneapolis, MN) This is a sculpture entitled Spoonbridge and Cherry Walker […]
Waiting For Justice
Speaker: Cynthia Lapp
There is a certain irony that in a week that involved so much anxious waiting we have this parable about waiting, waiting late into the night, waiting so long you run out of energy. It seems strange to talk about waiting today, since the wait for election results is ostensibly over. The joy in my […]
It All Comes Back To This
Speaker: Michelle Burkholder
It is a season of questions, debates, and expressions of opinions. I suppose if we are honest, all of life is that season – it is part of being human and in relationship to share our ideas and feelings with each other. Debates, in theory, help us test the waters of what we believe and […]