Sermons from December 2020

Sermons from December 2020

The Grace of God Appeared

Titus 2:11-14        In the timeless holiday classic, A Charlie Brown Christmas, there’s a scene where Charlie Brown, frustrated by all the commercialism of Christmas that all his friends, and even his dog Snoopy, seem to have embraced, throws up his hands and cries, “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?!” His pal, Linus answers Charlie Brown’s plea by reciting words from the Gospel of Luke. Words that we have heard, over and over until we know the…

Magnify the Lord

Luke 1:39-56 “My soul magnifies the Lord.” With those words Mary begins the wonderful song of faith and praise, that has come to be known as the Magnificat, which is the Latin word for magnify. My soul magnifies the Lord. What do you suppose it means though to magnify the Lord in your soul? One definition of magnify is to praise someone or declare the greatness of someone. So, to magnify the Lord with our soul means that we declare…

No Peace Without Peace Within

Luke 1:26-38 and Isaiah 40:1-11 An article in the NY Times caught my eye last week. It was titled: Pandemic-Proof Your Habits. The article was more psychological than spiritual in tone. But it had a lot to do with the topic of peace. The gist of the Times article was that human beings have a brain that is genetically wired to pursue that which gives us a sense of peace and security. We develop routines in life that make us…