Readings: 1 Kings 17: 10-16; Hebrews 9: 24-28; Mark 12: 38-44 Preacher: Margot Van Etten The Temple is busy as people bring their offerings. The thirteen large, horn-shaped metal offering boxes resound as coins are put or poured into them. Wealthy people open their bags, pour the coins in, and as they cascade around the metal spiral the sound resembles a… read more →
Readings: Exodus 20: 1-17; 1 Corinthians 1: 22-25; John 2:13-25 Preacher: Margot Van Etten Are you surprised to hear this reading today? It’s halfway through Lent: why are we focusing on something we hear about during Holy Week? Actually, John, whose Gospel we hear today, does not set this during Holy Week. It happens near the beginning. So perhaps looking at… read more →
Readings: Malachi 1: 14b-2:2b, 8-10; 1 Thessalonians 2: 7b-9, 13; Matthew 23: 1-12 Preacher: Margot Van Etten A huge Question underlies today’s readings. Actually, it underlies every event in human history and is asked of every person, constantly. Including each of us. Who or what is first in your heart? For the priests of Israel in Malachi’s day, the answer… read more →
Readings: Ezekiel 33: 7-9; Romans 13: 8-10; Matthew 18: 15-20 Preacher: Margot Van Etten If you are old enough, the name “Nickel Mines” might spark a shudder. Or wonder. On October 10, 2006—an innocent age where mass shooting was rare, if you can imagine that —thirteen girls ages 6 to 13 were shot in a one-room Amish schoolhouse in a horrifying… read more →
Readings: Isaiah 43: 16-21; Philippians 3: 8-14; John 8: 1-11 Preacher: Margot VanEtten This Gospel story tells us something marvelous about God. Something we all need to hear, especially now—each of us individually and all of us together as a community. This is more than just another tale of Jesus vs. the Pharisees: today brings things to a whole new level.… read more →
Readings: Isaiah 6: 1-2a, 3-8; 1 Corinthians 15: 1-11; Luke 5: 1-11 Preacher: Margot Van Etten What do you do when you come face to face with God? Isaiah, Peter and Paul are unanimous: “I am unworthy!” Isaiah despairs. Peter says, “Go away.” Paul still, decades later, declares himself least worthy of those called to be apostles. (Killing Christians does not… read more →
Readings: Isaiah 5:1-7; Philippians 4: 6-9; Matthew 21: 33-43Click here to download a PDF of this homily.Preacher: Margot Van Etten Oh, my. “He looked for judgment, but see, bloodshed! For justice, but look, the outcry!” Something is wrong: the cherished vineyard has produced strange, sour fruit. This morning I was talking with an old and wise man who for the… read more →
Readings: Isaiah 22: 19-23; Romans 11:33-36; Matthew 16: 13-20Click here to download a PDF of this homily.Preacher: Margot Van Etten Today’s readings—one so familiar, the other less so—pose a challenge. A few challenges, actually. The passage from Isaiah has a certain contemporary ring. Faced with disaster from a besieging Assyrian army surrounding Jerusalem, with internal chaos and decay, what does… read more →
Readings: Acts 8: 5-8, 14-17; 1 Peter 3: 15-18; John 14: 15-21Click here to download a PDF of this homily.Preacher: Margot VanEtten What a time we are living in! I daresay I echo most of us when I think to myself that this Eastertide feels like a prolonged Holy Saturday. Christ is indeed risen, but our joy is shadowed because… read more →
Readings: Amos 6: 1A, 4-7; 1 Timothy 6: 11-16; Luke 16: 19-31Click here to download a PDF of this homily. Preacher: Margot Van Etten Two images from Facebook … A small sixteen-year-old girl stands in front of the high and the mighty at the United Nations and passionately denounces their failure to act, their fixation on “money and the fantasy… read more →