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Hungry for Healing

Scripture: Luke 18:35-43

With our lives disrupted by this pandemic called COVID-19, many of us are watching with anticipation for a vaccine that could potentially save lives and return us to some kind of normal. Wouldn’t it be nice to get a shot so we can return to something of the life we used to know? Wouldn’t it be great to go grocery shopping without having to duck and weave around people? Wouldn’t it be awesome to be able to drop our kids off at school again, away from home, for several hours each day? According to a website called the History of Vaccines,...

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(posted 10/20/20)

Hungry for Daily Bread

Scripture: John 6:1-14

Back in January, pre-COVID-19, which now seems like such a long time ago, I stood in the Church of the Multiplication by the Sea of Galilee in Israel/Palestine, the very spot where it is believed that Jesus fed more than five thousand people with just a few loaves and fish as we heard in our scripture passage today. On the chapel floor, right in front of the communion table, is a beautiful mosaic - intricately laid tile by tile - which reveals a basket of four loaves of bread and two fish. I have this same pattern on my communion...

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(posted 9/21/20)

Oh, no! Not again! Yes, again.

Here we are again having to make a statement regarding unarmed African American men being shot and killed by police.  Two more incidents have surfaced for the world to see our behavior.  Saturday August 22nd, Trayford Pellerin was shot eleven times and killed in Lafyette, LA.  Jacob Blake was shot seven times in the back at point blank range Sunday, August 23rd, and is paralyzed in Kenosha, WI.  Peaceful protests took place, only to be interrupted by violence and fires, and a shooter leaving two protestors dead and another seriously wounded. “How long, Lord, how long?”  Four hundred years is a...

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(posted 9/1/20)

Ready to Go

Scripture: Genesis 18:1-15

In the movie Just Mercy, based on the book of attorney Bryan Stevenson and his fight for justice for many wrongly imprisoned, there’s a scene that captures a little bit of the Southern hospitality that folks down in Georgia and Alabama pride themselves on. Bryan goes to the meet the family of one of his clients, Johnny D, who is sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit. When he shows up to meet the family, it’s not just Johnny D’s wife and kids there - it’s neighbors and cousins and aunts and uncles who show up to...

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(posted 6/23/20)

Who Is This?

Scripture: Matthew 21:1-11

By Rev. Nathan Hill I want to begin by repeating the question you just heard asked of the crowds: “Who is this?” “Who is this?” This is the question asked by the crowds today as Jesus and his ragtag band of disciples made their grand entrance into Jerusalem. As the city got overflowed visitors from all over with anticipation for the high holy celebration of Passover, the people had heard rumors and caught glimpses of what Jesus had done throughout his ministry. There was excitement building - excitement among some that Jesus was their long awaited Messiah, come to deliver them from oppression. So, when Jesus...

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(posted 4/6/20)

Do you believe this?

Scripture: John 11:1-45

Today, in our scripture passage, one that I invite you to return to over the course of the week because of its power and relevance to our time, Jesus asks Martha a question. In the past few weeks of our Lent series called Questions Welcome, we have explored questions that were asked to Jesus and about Jesus. But today, Jesus gets to ask the question of Martha and of us. "Do you believe this?" The word believe can be a problematic word in our faith and in our culture. Going back to its Gaelic or Germanic roots, belief is defined as placing confidence...

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(posted 4/1/20)

How were your eyes opened?

Scripture: John 9:1-41

In this past week, as we have continued to grapple with our life disrupted by COVID-19, as we have refreshed our social media foods and watched TV, there has been too much to digest. So many questions. So many perspectives. So much information. And mixed in, of course, are a lot of bad takes. A lot of bad ideas. A lot of bad information. - We’ve seen images of young Spring Break partiers shrugging off their concerns over getting sick. - We’ve seen fear and anxiety over this virus get placed on the shoulders of an entire group of people - Asian Americans...

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(posted 3/24/20)

Where do you get that living water?

Scripture: John 4:5-14

This has been an unusual and hectic week. On Thursday afternoon, I was still planning to gather with you here in our sanctuary and welcome those of you who felt brave enough to do so. Less than two hours later as I drove home, the news broke that the State of Maryland as a whole would go into emergency mode. It became clear that we would need to be good neighbors to one another and to our community and follow the advice of the experts - and keep some social distance and do worship online. Though I don’t always get it right,...

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(posted 3/17/20)

Presence Matters - Sermon from Feb. 23, 2019

Scripture: Matthew 17:1-9

One of the viral images that has been all over social media because of the movie, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, about Fred Rogers was this one: Francois Clemmons was a Broadway performer, singer, and actor who was invited by Fred Rogers on his PBS kids show in 1969 to play the part of a neighborhood police officer. Together, the two, on what was a hot day in the neighborhood, in a show that broadcast to millions of families, made a statement. Clemmons put it this way - “He invited me to come over and...

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(posted 2/23/20)

Salt & Light

Scripture: Matthew 5:13-20

On my recent trip to Israel and Palestine, one of those most transcendent and grounded moments was a short hike we undertook along the Abraham trail. This is a trail developed by Palestinian leaders and others in the region that, like the Appalachian trail, connects together a long route that can take you from present day Turkey to Egypt, tracing the path that Abraham might have taken in the Book of Genesis when God said, “Get up and go to a land that I will show you.” This leg was what travelers for thousands of years would have walked going...

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(posted 2/9/20)

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