Sermons by Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall (Page 12)
River of Living Water
Acts 2:1-21 John 7:37-39 Happy Birthday God’s People! Today is Pentecost, the day when the Holy Spirit arrived in wind and tongues of fire and the disciples found themselves on the streets, preaching the gospel. It is also the birthday of the church because it is the Holy Spirit working in and among us who creates the Body of Christ and enables us to be the church even when the church building is closed. It is the birthday of the…
It’s Not our First Choice
Acts 1:6-14 1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11 John 17:1-11 I haven’t yet worked out how to show pictures while we are live-streaming, which is a shame because there are many, many paintings of the ascension that we could look at. You can Google them if you’re interested. Most of them show Jesus going straight up or doing an arabesque as he ascends. There are one or two which show the disciples looking at his feet, but the one that intrigues me…
The Holy Coach
John 14:15-21 In a couple of weeks, we will be celebrating Pentecost, the day when the disciples saw tongues of fire and a rushing wind and, filled with courage, tumbled out onto the street proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah. I have often wondered why most of us don’t have that experience today, why most of us don’t have the gifts of healing, of prophecy, of tongues. It occurred to me reading today’s gospel reading which is…
God’s Own People
1 Peter 2:2-10 John 14:1-14 Hallo my friends. How does it feel to be a “chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people” as we heard in the second lesson? I imagine the “chosen race” part of that probably makes you as uncomfortable as it does me, but the writer was probably talking about our new identity as the children of God not the color of our skin or our ethnic background. As the beloved children of…
Jesus the Gate and the Voice
Acts 2:42-47 John 10:1-10 Jesus the Good Shepherd. The shepherd who calls his sheep and they know the sound of his voice so follow him. It is such a familiar image for us yet the people of the day found it perplexing. “Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.” So Jesus went on – I’m not just the shepherd he said, I’m the very gate of the sheep.…
God is Right Here
Photo of Skogafoss Falls by Sorasak on Unsplash Genesis 1: 1-25 John 1:1-14 Today we are celebrating Earth Sunday and what beautiful weather we have for it. Our readings this morning reflect God’s total involvement with creation. Do you remember that Bette Midler song “From a Distance”? The lyrics go like this: From a distance, the world looks blue and green And the snow-capped mountains white From a distance, the ocean meets the stream And the eagle takes to flight…
Breathing Peace
Photo by Max van de Oetelaar on unsplash John 20:19-31 Names are interesting things. In our families or social circles we give each other nicknames and sometimes they stick. I am called Caro because when I was a social worker we had a chalkboard on which we wrote when we were next expecting to be in the office. All the others had short names like Ken, Ann, Mary and so there just wasn’t room for Caroline, so it was abbreviated…
Risen
Photo by Andrew McKie on Pexels Colossians 3:1-4 John 20:1-18 I wonder why Mary did not recognize Jesus? Was it because her eyes were blinded by the light from the angels? Was it because her eyes were filled with tears and in her grief she was not able to see properly? Or was it simply that she did not expect to see him there? This is perhaps one of my favorite gospel passages. I love the simplicity yet the intimacy…
Remember Who You Are
Romans 6:3-11 Matthew 28:1-10 When Jill was in her twenties she formed a close friendship with the retired Bishop of Los Angeles, Bishop Eric Bloy. At the end of an evening together, his parting words were always, “Remember who you are.” If we were to give a theme to this evening’s service it might be just that, “Remember who you are.” During the first part of the service we symbolically brought the flame of Christ’s resurrection life back into the…
Maundy Thursday – Love one Another
Photo by Jan Romero on unsplash John 13:1-17, 31b-35 It’s a puzzling thing. Jesus lived in a time that could not have begun to conceive of what we are doing tonight – gathering for virtual worship – and he could not have conceived of a world where people stayed in their own homes. Without that physical connection, how are we to follow his direction, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved…