Sermons
May 22, 2022 Easter Joy by Loraine MacKenzie Shepherd
John 14:23-29 May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable to God. Amen. This passage from the Gospel of John is part of Jesus’ farewell speech to his disciples. He is trying to prepare them for his death and separation from them. He wants them to still find …Read more
Where is the Risen Christ? May 1, 2022 by Loraine MacKenzie Shepherd
John 21:1-19 May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable to God. Amen. Last Sunday, Rev. Dr. Peter Denton spoke bold and courageous words that woke us to the urgency and immediacy of the crisis that our poor earth is facing. Where can the risen Christ be …Read more
April 17, 2022 Hope Resurrected by Loraine MacKenzie Shepherd
John 20:1-18 May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable to our God. What happened on that Easter Sunday morning two millennia ago? We have multiple stories in our scripture, each presenting eyewitness testimony of something very unusual. It started with a missing body. In the Gospel of …Read more
March 27, 2022, “The Power of Reconciliation” by Loraine MacKenzie Shepherd
C Lent 4 II Corinthians 5:16-21; Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32 The passage from II Corinthians has an interesting word that I never noticed before. The word, in itself, is innocuous. But in the sentence, it completely changes the meaning from what you would think at first glance. The word is “there”. Listen carefully to …Read more
March 20, 2022 Under the Wings of God Loraine MacKenzie Shepherd
Luke 13:31-35 At the conclusion of this sermon, we will be singing VU 612 “There is a Balm” unannounced. The choir will begin and you are invited to join in when you are ready. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable to God. Barbara Brown …Read more
March 6, 2022 Sermon, “Temptations & Trials” by Rev. Loraine Shepherd
Luke 4:1-13 May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, our God. There is a line in the Lord’s Prayer that has long troubled Christians: “Lead us not into temptation.” Does God really lead us into temptation? This is a literal translation of both Matthew’s and Luke’s …Read more
February 6, 2022, “Called by Holy Mystery” by Loraine MacKenzie Shepherd
Called by Holy Mystery May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, our God. Come with me, let’s walk under a mourning dove sky while snow and threads of light spindle down on this ice path. Forget our snow-blind houses, furred flakes padding on the …Read more
January 30, 2022 “Love Poured Out” by Loraine MacKenzie Shepherd
I Corinthians 13:1-13 May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, our God. I was talking to someone last week about the love theme of today’s service and they suggested that I save this for Valentine’s weekend. That made a lot of sense, but the more I …Read more
January 23, 2022 Sermon “Living with Purpose” by Loraine McKenzie Shepherd
Luke 4:14-21 May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, our God. When it’s difficult to make plans, it’s easy to lose your sense of purpose. We mindlessly go through the motions and at the end of the day wonder what we did. What was the …Read more
January 16, 2022 Sermon, “In Your Light, We See Light” by Loraine MacKenzie Shepherd
Psalm 36:5-10 May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, our God. We made it through the lengthy cold. The growing light beckons us to leave the dark behind. Yes, more cold is on its way. But we look not to tomorrow nor yearn for yesteryear. We …Read more
