This sermon was preached for Sunday, November 17, 2024. The texts for this sermon were: 1 Samuel 1:4-20, 1 Samuel 2:1-10, Hebrews 10:11-14 (15-18) 19-25, and Mark 13:1-8. I started learning to play viola in fourth grade and remained an absolutely mediocre player up through high school. My poor parents endured a lot trying to support our learning. I remember one particular elementary school orchestra concert, one of my first, one of those late evening concerts when they turned the lunch room into an auditorium and made all the parents sit in rows of folding chairs. At one point in one of our songs, I looked over at my dad’s face in the audience to see his eyes closed, his mouth turned down in a deep frown. I remember feeling awful in that moment, sure that my father was either terribly disappointed in my playing or totally bored to the point of nodding off. When I asked him about it later, my father, God bless his soul, explained that he was just concentrating on listening - that the
This sermon was preached for Sunday, November 10, 2024 at St. Andrew's, Ayer. The texts for this sermon were: Ruth 3:1-5; 4:13-17, Psalm 127, Hebrews 9:24-28 and Mark 12:38-44. There are many reasons why you may have chosen to come to church today. Perhaps it is simply what you do each Sunday, or maybe you had a role to play in the service. Perhaps this is where you have found God before and this is where you most trust God to show up again. Some of you have told me you needed to be here today because you are looking for a reason to hope. Others of you have told me you want to know you're not alone in your fear, anger, and sense of betrayal this week. I know others of you are here seeking solace in the midst of a grief that has nothing to do with big national events but everything to do with faith and hope and love. It is also quite possible that you don’t know why you are here or what you need. Or whether you and God are on speaking terms right now. There are three things