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Recent sermons: Rev. Timothy Ensworth
(Click on any sermon title to view a .pdf file of the sermon)
When the moment arrives -- Matthew 25:1-13 (5/4/08)
Jesus is ready to receive you! Jesus is ready to welcome you! Jesus is ready to invite you in to the wedding feast! There is no hesitation, no pause for consideration, no weighing the merits of whether to welcome you in or not. Jesus is ready to receive you, no matter who you are. The question is, will you be ready to receive him?
Will he find faith? -- Luke 18:1-8 (4/27/08)
I like to think of that robin as a knight of faith ... a knight of faith. What courage! Hurling his frail body against that unbending window pane day after day after day. What tenacity! Not giving up, scorning the pain, shrugging off the muddled head and the aching bones and gathering himself to do it again! What faith! Thinking this time -- this time! -- maybe the window will be open, or maybe somehow, some way, this time -- this time! -- I will be able to pass through the window and reach the promised land on the other side!
Don't hold back -- Matthew 25:14-30 (4/20/08)
What are you doing with your faith? Are you protecting it? Building a wall around it? Burying it? Keeping it out of reach of any threat or any controversy, so when the last of your days arrives, you may pull it out and say: “Here is my faith! Unscratched, untarnished, unused, in mint condition!”?
Actions speak louder -- Matthew 21:28-32 (4/13/08)
Jesus intends his listeners -- us -- to recognize ourselves in the story. How are my words just empty speech? How is our worship just hollow ritual? In what ways is my faith all smoke and little fire? In what ways is our claim to be followers of Jesus -- obedient and eager followers of Jesus’ way -- a sham?
Many are invited, but few are chosen -- Matthew 22:2-14 (4/6/08)
The kingdom of God is not the destination, but the way. The kingdom of God is not a reward for good behavior, but the good behavior itself. The kingdom of God is not the blessing God’s love affords us, but the blessing that is God’s love.
Are you there? (Easter sermon - part 2) -- Matthew 28:16-20 (3/23/08)
Are you there?
Hearing the story -- I will be with you always to the end of the age? Seeing the story? Being the story?
Were you there? (Easter sermon - part 1) -- Matthew 28:1-10 (3/23/08)
Were you there when they arrested him and convicted him and tortured him and executed him?
Of course you were there! You put him there! We all put him there!
Why Jesus failed -- Mark 11:1-11 (3/16/08)
Instead of defying the oppressor, he died with the oppressed. Instead of confronting the abuser, he suffered with the abused. Instead of toppling the evil empire, he made himself weak and let it have its way with him. Jesus failed!
The path of obedience -- Luke 10:25-37 (3/9/08)
When you choose the path of obedience, you will know suffering, not because you welcome it or desire it, but because you choose to go that way, to go Jesus’ way, to put yourself where he put himself -- with those who are suffering.
You know the way -- John 14:1-4 (3/2/08)
It is a hard way, a narrow way, but you know the way. You can take it! You can choose to go with Jesus, whoever you are, whatever you are. There are no prerequisites of wisdom or talent or experience. All you need is desire ...
What we deserve -- Luke 23:41 (2/24/08)
In the presence of God, we see that we are unfinished, incomplete, not yet fully formed, not yet entirely beautiful, not yet at the end of the path of obedience, but still on the way. But that’s the joy of it! We are still on the way ... and our suffering is the way.
The school of suffering -- Hebrews 5:8 (2/17/08)
... when the going gets tough we may abandon the way, or at least question the wisdom of continuing to follow Jesus.
Suffering brings us up short and casts doubt over the whole enterprise and pushes us to turn aside. If we do continue in the way, we do so only out of obedience.
The gospel of suffering -- Hebrews 12:1-13 (2/10/08)
... the way of suffering that is meaningful because it is good, because it conforms us to Jesus, because it teaches us discipline and humility and dependence on God; because it teaches us what we cannot do and what we cannot change and because it teaches us what we can do and what we can change which is to learn to bear our burden lightly.
You are -- Luke 15:11-32 (2/3/08)
You don’t “figure out” the meaning of a parable. You experience it. You live it. You tell it and embellish it and play with it until it becomes yours. Or until you become part of it, until you enter into its way, into Jesus’ way, of looking at things.
It's not fair -- Matthew 20:1-16 (1/27/08)
Maybe it’s not about being fair. Maybe Jesus’ parable has nothing to do with fairness. Tell me, would you want God to be fair with you? Would you want God to be entirely fair with you, to give you exactly what you deserve and no more?
Just do it! -- Matthew 13:1-9 (1/20/08)
Do you know what that’s like? Staying in your comfort zone, not pushing yourself, not talking risks? Maybe because you don’t want to fall. Maybe because you don’t want to fail. Maybe because you’d rather do nothing than risk embarrassing yourself or making a mistake.
How many times? -- Matthew 18:21-35 (1/13/08)
How many times? Maybe it’s not a math question or a numbers question or a matter of limits and boundaries. Maybe it’s not a question of the limits of the obligation to forgive, but a question of the nature of forgiveness itself.
My name is Simon -- Luke 7:41-47 (1/6/08)
Jesus said, “You are right” ... but was I right?
God is still speaking,
Never place a period where God has placed a comma. - Gracie Allen
Updated: May 6, 2008
