Sermons

Hope is scary. It is risky. It can seem irresponsible and it definitely is not rational. Hope may lead to good and great things but it may also result in disappointment, loss and heartbreak. Today's text: John 11.1-44 Reflection by Christa J Fisher, Chaplain, Dane County Jail  Good Morning. Thank you for the invitation to join you in worship this morning. It is my privilege to be here, sharing the Word of God with you – a Word which has the power to restore and transform lives. As the Chaplain to the men of the Dane County Jail I see God’s powerful Word at work each day, and I am hope...
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On this first Sunday of a new year, in the beginning of 2016, we have a chance to think about where we are in the much bigger story, about who we are as a community of followers of Jesus ...and who we hope to be.  Today's texts: Jeremiah 31:7-14 and John 1: 1-18 In the beginning. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth… In the beginning was the Word… In the beginning, we were born with the spark of life and the image of God infused into our beings. In the beginning, 64 Swiss immigrants and descendants of Swiss immigrants assembled on June 10, 1917, in the ...
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Here are a few ideas for 2016 – compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forgiveness, gratitude and learning. Oh yes, and love. Always love. Today's texts - Colossians 3:12-17 and Luke 2:41-52 I am pretty sure that mostly what you would like today is sing some Christmas carols, so I won’t talk long. But I do want to pick up an idea from those two scripture readings that we heard today. This is the week when lots of folks formulate resolutions for the new year. I’ll exercise more, eat less, write to friends more often, spend more time with the ones I love. Sometime we wr...
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How can we keep Christ at the center of our lives without giving into the intolerance of other faiths that is so tempting these days? By Rev. Jerry Hancock I am so happy to be at Memorial this morning. This church and you all have been supportive of the Prison Ministry Project and my call to ministry since before the beginning. Phill and Bonnie were my best and truest guides in leading me away from being a lawyer and beginning my attornment by going to prison. This morning, I want to talk about four of my favorite things; the Bible, Christmas, donuts and Mt Rainier. But those are ...
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Two stories were written in times of chaos, both holding out hope to the beleaguered people of their times. Today's texts: Daniel 7: 9-10, 13-14 and Revelation 1: 4-8 For about the last hundred years, many Christian churches have celebrated the last Sunday on the liturgical calendar, the Sunday before the beginning of Advent, as the feast of Christ the King, or, more recently and less archaically, as the feast of the realm of Christ. But not in Sweden. Since 1921, the Church of Sweden, with its roots in the Lutheran tradition, has celebrated this as the Sunday of Doom. That see...
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The occurrence of change is probably the only thing in life that is constant. The universe is an inherently chaotic place.  Today's Texts: Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8 and John 8: 1-8 By Marty Smith Lives can change in an instant. Just ask the people of Paris. At least 129 innocent people killed; 352 injured. People who were just going about the business of living their ordinary lives. The city is essentially shut down; the county’s borders are closed. Everyone’s life is disrupted. The restaurant and concert hall attacks occurred in an area of Paris I visited a couple of years ago – the Pla...
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We can feel in exile in our neighborhoods. Small acts in response can make a difference. So can confronting the larger forces in our world that exile us from each other. Today's texts: Jeremiah 29 selections and Mark 12: 38-44 Our parish nurse, Mary Icrink, told a story this week that I think captures the spirit of both scripture readings that we heard today – the call of Jeremiah for exiles to make a home in the midst of their displacement, the image of Jesus sitting in the temple watching how people were using their resources. Mary lives in one of the neighborhoods off of Raymon...
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The disciples - they were serious followers of Jesus, the ones who made big changes in their lives, the ones who would be the foundations for the Jesus movement. And how do we fit into that vision? Today's texts: Deuteronomy 6:1-9 and Mark 12:28-34 It was in China in 1989 that the world watched in horror as tanks rolled over protesting students in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, as soldiers fired on the protesting students in Beijing and elsewhere in the country, as people fled for their lives after weeks of protests. The death toll for the protesters is not clear. It varies widely f...
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Fear can be incredibly destructive if we let it take control of our lives. It can paralyze us, it can isolate us, it can turn us against one another. Text for today: Psalm 34: 1-8 and Mark 10: 46-52  Welcome the season of Halloween, to the weeks of horror movies - those movies that capitalize on and profit from what seems to be the desire of a lot humans to have the bejesus scared out of them. There is a new movie based on a classic kids series - Goosebumps. There are classics of the genre -Dracula. This year we’ve got Crimson Peak with monsters emerging in a gothic mansion in ...
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