Category: Faith

A sermon on Genesis 21:8-21 delivered to LaSalle Street Church on 4/30/23. The manuscript is edited below for reading, and you can find a recording in the full service via this YouTube video. If you ever have the chance to explore the harsh environment of the Sonoran Desert in southern Arizona, you might observe rugged, hearty… Continue reading “God Has Heard the Voice of the Boy Where He Is”

A sermon on Genesis 12:1-9 delivered to LaSalle Street Church on 4/16/23. The manuscript is edited below for reading, and you can find a recording in the full service via this YouTube video. Throughout the season of Lent, we explored what it meant that Jesus had a physical body. Throughout Holy Week and Easter, we followed… Continue reading “Be You a Blessing”

A sermon on Matthew 21:1-11 delivered to LaSalle Street Church on 4/2/23, Palm Sunday. The manuscript is edited below for reading, and you can find a recording in the full service via this YouTube video. Let's start with a short story with from an old episode of This American Life. The storyteller is named Jack Hitt. (You… Continue reading “All the City in Turmoil”

A sermon on Matthew 4:1-11 delivered to LaSalle Street Church on 2/26/23, initiating a Lenten series about embodied spirituality. The manuscript is edited below for reading, and you can find a recording in the full service via this YouTube video. Today is the first Sunday of Lent, a season of reflection and self-discipline that helps… Continue reading “This Is My Hunger”

A sermon on Acts 8:26-40 delivered to LaSalle Street Church on 1/22/23, initiating a series described within. The manuscript is edited below for reading, and you can find a recording in the full service via this YouTube video. Acts chapter 8 describes a divine encounter between Philip, one of the earliest Christians, and an unnamed Ethiopian eunuch.… Continue reading “This is a Wilderness Road”

A short sermon on Matthew 13:1-23 delivered to LaSalle Street Church on 1/1/23, New Year's Day, amid a series of reflective exercises. The manuscript is edited below for reading. This sermon was not recorded or live-streamed. Every few years, a fully-grown beech tree produces about 30,000 beech nuts. They have a spiky outer husk. Each… Continue reading A sermon for New Year’s Day

A sermon on Luke 2:1-20 delivered to LaSalle Street Church on 12/24/22, Christmas Eve. The manuscript is edited below for reading, and you can find a recording in the full service via this YouTube video. “Who would willingly choose this horrid condition?” I wish I could tell you this heart-wrenching question came up in a particularly meaningful… Continue reading A sermon for Christmas Eve

A sermon on Isaiah 2:1-5 delivered to LaSalle Street Church on 11/27/22, the first Sunday of Advent. The manuscript is edited below for reading, and you can find a recording in the full service via this YouTube video. What is God going to do about all of this? I mean...all of it, you know? One week ago… Continue reading “Watch for the Light”

A sermon on 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 delivered to LaSalle Street Church on 11/13/22, as part of our annual stewardship campaign. The manuscript is edited below for reading, and you can find a recording in the full service via this YouTube video. In what year does the story of the United States of America begin? It's a… Continue reading “Joint Account”

A sermon on Ephesians 2:11-22 delivered to LaSalle Street Church on 9/18/22, introducing a fall series called "All Belong." The manuscript is edited below for reading, and you can find a recording in the full service via this YouTube video. I want to invite you to call to mind a certain memory. Think of a… Continue reading “Christ, Our Belonging”