To view a video of the Rev. Jeffrey W. Mello’s Sermon, click HERE.

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18; Psalm 27; Philippians 3:17-4; Luke 13:31-35

Two years ago this weekend was our first Sunday gathering in the new wilderness that was Zoom church. We didn’t have the technology, we didn’t have the experience, we didn’t have a clue what we were doing. We thought we were engaging in a temporary exercise that would surely be over by Easter.

Two months into this “experiment” of church and school and work online George Floyd was killed in the streets of Minneapolis, and the great racial reckoning of 2020 began.

We have ridden the waves of lessening restrictions only to watch the numbers climb again and restrictions tighten again.

To view a video of this sermon, click HERE.

Deuteronomy 26:1-11; Romans 10:8b-13; Luke 4:1-13

In her book The Dream of God, Verna Dozier writes, “The important question to ask is not, ‘What do you believe?’ but ‘What difference does it make that you believe?’ Does the world come nearer to the dream of God because of what you believe?”

Belief is a tricky thing. Many of us come to this place this morning with various understandings of what it means to say “I believe” or even “We believe” as we do every time we say the Nicene Creed.

What does it mean to believe? And what does it mean that you believe?

To view a video of the Ven. Pat Zifcak’s Sermon, click HERE.

“Dear people of God”. Those words begin the Invitation to the Observance of a Holy Lent. They are some of the most meaningful and powerful words I encounter in our prayer book. In those four words, we know who we are, whose we are, and how God perceives us. We are dear to God. There are no qualifiers in this statement. We are whole because we are of God; we are loved because we are God’s; we are blessed because we are called into community by God. There are no qualifiers. Whatever we have earned or been given, whatever kindness we offer or accept, whatever comfort we provide, whatever wrongs we commit, we are God’s.

Because our God is compassionate and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, does not mean that we should put God to the test. God’s faithfulness should be returned by our compassion and mercy, our patience and kindness.

To view a video of the Rev. Jeffrey W. Mello’s Sermon, click HERE.

Exodus 34:29—35; Psalm 99; 2 Corinthians 3:12—4:2; Luke 9:28—43

In his letter to the church at Corinth, St. Paul draws for his readers an image of the Jewish people as still having a veil between them and the truth of the love of God. Cutting Paul the greatest slack possible, he is guilty of tearing another group down in an attempt to build his own people up. It is very problematic. And it is dangerous. It is this language we hear in our church that, left unexamined, feeds the idea that our Jewish siblings are “less than” and in need of conversion at our sometimes threatening and too often violent hands.

There is a desire by many to have readings like this stricken from our lectionary cycle. It is exhausting to have to unpack these readings every time they appear, and it is lethal to our Jewish siblings not to.

To view a video of the Rev. Elise A. Feyerherm’s sermon, click HERE.

Two of the most dreaded words in the English language in our day, I think are: transaction declined. Imagine your terror at the cashier in the grocery store, with a line of impatient customers behind you, and the credit card machine flashes angrily: transaction declined! Imagine the humiliation of a first date when the server approaches you sheepishly and asks for another method of payment: transaction declined!

In these circumstances we are confronted with the basic principle of our social and economic order: just about everything is understood as a transaction. What you receive is tied to whether you can pay the price, or do the favor.

The idea of transaction has infiltrated just about everything we experience. What we are worth in a relationship has to do with how much we have to offer, how impressive our dating profile is. Salaries are tied to accomplishments, or at least determine worth; Olympic medals given according to performance. Even the church has succumbed to transaction ideology. It would be almost impossible not to. Size and economic power matter – have mattered ever since the age of Constantine.

To view a video of the Ven. Pat Zifcak’s sermon, click HERE.

Recently during an adult formation class, Jeff asked me to find a Bible so he could read a particular passage of scripture. I said “sure” and then realized I wasn’t sure where to find a Bible. I remembered seeing one in the office and one in a closet in the Lichtenberger Room. It stayed with me that finding a Bible at St. Paul’s wasn’t easy. I know now that we have bibles for the Church School and for our use in education programs. They are not here in the Sanctuary. Of course, right now, none of our worship books are in the Sanctuary.