by Patricia Templeton | Feb 11, 2024 | Sermons, Tricia's Sermons
Today is the last Sunday of the season of Epiphany, those weeks between Christmas and the beginning of Lent. Epiphany ends every year with the reading we heard today, the story of the Transfiguration – the ultimate mountaintop experience where Jesus meets...
by Patricia Templeton | Feb 4, 2024 | Sermons, Tricia's Sermons
Today’s reading from the prophet Isaiah finds the people of Israel in deep despair, wondering if they’ve been abandoned by God. The land that God promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the land that God led them to after freeing them from slavery in Egypt;...
by Patricia Templeton | Jan 28, 2024 | Sermons, Tricia's Sermons
When I was in college someone gave me a button that I probably still have in a drawer somewhere. “Question Authority” it boldly proclaims. “Question authority” was a philosophy that suited a journalism student well. In fact, I spent my college years, and many years...
by Patricia Templeton | Jan 21, 2024 | Sermons, Tricia's Sermons
Our Old Testament reading opens today with the prophet Jonah on a beach in the Mediterranean. This is no beach vacation. Jonah looks stunned and confused. You would, too, if you had just spent three days in the belly of a giant fish, then were spewed out onto...
by Patricia Templeton | Jan 14, 2024 | Sermons, Tricia's Sermons
Have you ever wondered how the Bible came into being? Who wrote the many different books that we consider scripture, and who decided what to include in the official Bible and what to leave out? There is no clear-cut answer to those questions. With a few exceptions,...
by Patricia Templeton | Dec 24, 2023 | Sermons, Tricia's Sermons
It is good to be gathered here with you on this beautiful night, the night that we celebrate the birth of a baby who will change the world. Everything about this evening is special – the music that our choirs have practiced for so many hours; the beautiful flowers and...
by Patricia Templeton | Dec 24, 2023 | Sermons, Tricia's Sermons
Mary knew. Those are the words on a sign of a church I pass coming here every day. I imagine that some might wonder what these two words actually mean. If I texted that question to one of my younger friends, they might respond IYKYK. Or for those of us who still...
by Patricia Templeton | Dec 10, 2023 | Sermons, Tricia's Sermons
It happens every year at this time. The Christmas decorations are going up, the smell of fresh greenery is in the air, the red velvet bows are still crisp, the melodies of Christmas carols follow us everywhere we go – except in church, of course. There is a festive...
