Sermons by Lori Leopold
What Do You Fear? – In the Time of Herod, We Long for God to Break In
Our Advent theme this year is “What Do You Fear? Insisting on Hope this Advent.” We’ll be exploring themes of fear and hope, examining our relationship with fear as well as the ways our faith invites us, in the midst of all things, to insist on hope.
With Thanksgiving
Today we focus on living a life with thanksgiving…in and through all things. With deep thanksgiving, we bring our gifts together, trusting that God will bless and use our combined resources to energize and extend our mission and ministry at PB UMC and to the community around us.
Keep On Keeping On
Today we ponder words from 2 Thessalonians that encourage us, among other things, to keep on keeping on in a life of following Christ… on the days when it’s easy and on the days when it’s hard.
A Whole New World
Today’s passage will surely make many of us say, “Hmmmmm.” It begins with an antagonistic question from some of the religious leaders about Jewish customs related to marriage and the resurrection. Seemingly far from the realm of our lives, Jesus’ answer opens a place and space to ponder this life in relation to the nature of the next.
Birds of a Feather
Today we come alongside Zacchaeus (up in a tree) to reflect on unlikely saints in our personal and collective stories. We also honor the saints who have died in the last year, giving thanks for their lives and legacies.
Examined Lives
Today, we grapple with Jesus’ story of the (self) righteous religious leader and the penitent tax collector. This account appears simple on its exterior but invites us into the complexities of how our faith calls us to look both outward and inward with deep compassion.
Mark_Berry
We gather to celebrate the remarkable life of our sister in Christ, Marina Marsh.
Rekindle
Today we meet Timothy, a young minister in the early church who experienced ups and downs in his life of faith. Perhaps like us, Timothy struggled as he navigated paths of suffering and uncertainty.How might Timothy’s story connect with ours? And what can we learn about faith, hope and resilience from this snippet of correspondence between Timothy and his mentor?
Children of the Light
Today we will wrestle with one of Jesus’ most challenging parables, the parable of the dishonest steward. Jesus’ parables were designed to shock and surprise listeners into engagement and this parable is a perfect example. What do we do with these verses that seem to recommend a conniving and dishonest way of being in the world? How might we tease out the gist of Jesus’ advice for the “children of the light” as he points them…us…to learning a thing or two from the “children of this age?”
Search Party
Have you ever lost something and invested an over-the-top amount of time and energy to find it? If yes, you have a small glimpse into the heart of our searching God who is unrelenting when it comes to finding the lost. Who was Jesus talking about in these parables? Are we the ones who are lost, or the ones who seek, or are we the community that is called to rejoice when the lost are found? Or maybe a little bit of all three?