Sermon Archives

The Federated Church
May 18, 2025

Mysterious Manuscripts

The Book of Revelation is full of otherworldly images; but Revelation is meant to be a guide that helps us align ourselves with God’s goal for human life, building a new heaven and a new earth. When Lisa Fagin Davis first saw the Voynich Manuscript, she thought, “This is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.” […]

May 4, 2025

Empty Net Syndrome

What is making your life’s net come up empty? What conflict has torn a hole in your net, a ragged tear in the slender, knotted cords? What past mistake now renders your net incapable of holding fish? This story teaches us that before we can fish again, we must mend our nets. Fix the rips. […]

April 27, 2025

What Tempests Can Teach Us

One day, Peter and John went up to the temple, where Peter healed a crippled man and spoke about the power of Jesus to heal and forgive. A group of religious leaders came to them, “much annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming that in Jesus there is the resurrection of the dead” […]

April 20, 2025

A Grave Situation

The resurrection of Jesus reminds us that death is defeated, that God’s power is greater than our darkest moments, and that new life is always possible. The hope of the resurrection is for all who believe, and it transforms how we see the world and how we live our lives. This Easter Sunday, as we […]

April 18, 2025

Witness for the Execution

We witness the execution by embracing a life of sacrificial service. Hebrews speaks of a ministry of encouragement and mutual support (10:24-25), one that involves meeting together, provoking one another to love and good deeds, and acting as a passionate community of faith. The cross is powerfully provocative as it calls us forth and stimulates […]

April 17, 2025

He Loved Them to the End

There is a lot going this night. We celebrate the Lord’s Supper. We receive bread and juice to remind us that our sins are forgiven. We prepare for Good Friday worship, commemorating the day Jesus’ love for us took him to the cross. We feel the grief of Jesus’ death and sense the shadow of […]

April 13, 2025

From Palms to Passion

On this Palm Sunday, we stand with the crowd and begin the journey from the triumph of Jesus’ entry to his passion and death on Good Friday. We will mourn his death, but also rejoice in his life, his example, and his work of liberation. The full Christian life accepts both palms and passion, celebration […]

April 9, 2025

Hope When Temptation Comes

The story of Jeus sin the wilderness teaches us that Jesus overcame the devil – he won the battle – for us, and for our world. In the wilderness, and on the cross, and everywhere in between, Jesus resisted the devil’s temptations. He didn’t listen to Peter, who tried to convince him to stay away […]

March 26, 2025

The Short Cut

While we may have no desire to rule all the kingdoms of the world, this appeal can also be understood as a temptation toward possessions, materialism, glory, and power. Every time we value personal possessions, achievement, or power more than God – we have succumbed to this temptation. We are worshipers by design. The question […]

March 23, 2025

The Real American Idol

This will be a completely new economy, far different than any we have ever known! But here’s the thing: it already exists! Jesus spent much of his energy proclaiming that the reign of God is not something that exists in the far-off, distant future, in the “sweet by and by,” but is already breaking into […]

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