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Reviews-sermons → S-ermons

Looking Again at Epiphany

February 18, 2022

I gave this sermon/meditation at City Church of the Brethren in Goshen on January 2, 2022   Thanks for inviting me to join you today. I value and depend on both ecumenical and interfaith links. I have received your Women’s Caucus “Femailings” newsletter for years. Yvonne Riege joined me to carry out a Worship Renewal […]

How Learning from and Respect for People of Other Faiths Enhances Mine

November 13, 2020

As Teaching Elder at Campus Cluster of Assembly Mennonite Church, Goshen, I gave this sermon on Jan. 23, 1994. What a tame title! How about: “For God’s sake,” =Trust the Truth of other Faiths Too.” That phrase does not express swearing. It comes from the depths of my regret for how often Christians fail God […]

“Dying We Live and Living We Die”

October 29, 2020

Sermon given at both Clusters of Assembly Mennonite, Oct. 21 & Nov. 25, 1990. Adapted later for Aunt Nellie Zook King’s Memorial Service. This sermon appeared in Decades of Feminist Writing self-published by DYN, 2020, 288-92 What age will you be when you die? (Repeat) You might think how foolish to be asked such a […]

Meaningful Ministry

October 25, 2020

Luke 8:1-3; Acts 6:1-6 Gurukul Lutheran Theological College, Worship, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, July 26, 1998 Mennonite Brethren Bible College, Chapel, Shamshabad, Hyderabad, India, February 2012 Our title applies to each of us. Not a role limited to a few in robes, all Christian believers are ministers, I believe. We have the task of sharing […]

Saints within Diverse Religions

October 23, 2020

Goshen College Chapel, All Saints Day – October 29, 2001 Student Readers: Dykshya, Kashif, Tsigi, Tobias, Charletta Prayer – # 672 Hymnal A Worship Book – read by Sylvia Shirk Charles, Campus Minister With all your saints across the generations we gather, Holy God, To approach your mystery and hear your judgment. We come seeking […]

Missionary Ziegenbalg, from 1706

Mission Sunday Sermon given in two churches in Chennai, India, 1998 The reason for Gurukul Theological School to be focused in several Chennai, India churches during the month of July is because Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg, the first Protestant missionary to India, first arrived on July 9, 1706. A convinced Lutheran from Germany, he arrived with Heinrich […]

On Receiving the Stranger and Difference

October 21, 2020

Gen. 18:1-10; Lk 24:13-19, 28-32 Sermon Sept. 6, 2009, Eighth St. Mennonite Church, Goshen, IN No doubt many messages from pulpits today connect to the Labor Day holiday. Labor, both within and beyond the home, is important. Notably for those who struggle to find or hold on to a job, support from worship groups matters. […]

Psalm 8 – “Our Majestic God”

October 19, 2020

Sermon given as part of seminary Preaching course (College Mennonite Church, Goshen). Also preached at Lombard Mennonite, Lombard, IL & Rockway Mennonite, Kitchener, Ontario The 8th Psalm that we engage today appears in the ‘praise-thanksgiving’ category. Psalms also express lament and retell history. Many combine shorter segments. The total book comprises five earlier collections. Instruments […]

Encountering the Religious Neighbor

October 18, 2020

Medley of OT/Hebrew Scriptures focused on God/God of the Nations and Mark 7:24-30 Gen. 9:8-17 (summarized); Deut. 10:17; Isa. 56:6-8; Amos 9:7; Jonah 1:7-16 (summarized) Micah 4:2; Mal. 1:11. This sermon appeared in my self-published book titled Decades of Feminist Writing, 2020 As is our pattern, we have gathered today to worship the One God—God […]

One God, Diverse Religions, All Nations

Texts – Genesis 9:8-17; Amos 9:7-8  Sermon, 8th St. Mennonite, Oct 22, 2006 One of the wisest choices that John and I made during our first year of marriage was to teach at Woodstock School in India for three years. We have returned to that land of sacred mystery seven times since the early ‘60s […]