Sermons

  • Exodus 1:8 – 2:10 God’s Gettin’ Ready! (Donovan)

    This is a story about women. All the heroes are women. The midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, not only disobeyed pharaoh; they then told him a crazy story that he bought hook-line-and-sinker. God honored Shiphrah and Puah by including their names in the Bible.

  • Exodus 1:8 – 2:10 Five Women of Exodus (Butler)

    Five women, by virtue of their gender automatically marginalized; not significant. It’s a curious way to begin the great epic story of exodus. It’s so strange, in fact, that we usually tell it from the perspective of Moses, innocent little baby floating down the Nile grows up to lead his people to freedom.

  • Exodus 1:8 – 2:10 A Leap of Faith (McLarty)

    Does the name, Jochebed mean anything to you? Jochebed was the mother of Moses. Hers is the story of a mother’s faith –and her willingness to resort to extreme measures to protect her child. But, more than that, it’s a story of trusting God.

  • Exodus 1:8-22 Midwives (Sylvester)

    Puah and Shiphrah were not Hebrew women. Their names are Egyptian, meaning, Splendor and Beauty. Yet they worked in the Hebrew slave camps. It couldn’t have been for the money. Slaves don’t have money. Puah and Shiphrah were the kind of people who work with the dispossessed.

  • Exodus 2:1-10 The River of Life (Wagner)

    Recently I visited a young mother who had given birth. Unfortunately, the child needed surgery. For a mother to release her child into the hands of strangers is difficult. Moses' mother wanted to give her infant son a chance, so she put him in a basket and released him in the Nile River.

  • Exodus 2:1-10 A Basket Becomes an Ark (Wagner)

    A parishioner told me that when she was eighteen she had a child but was unable to care for her. She put the child up for adoption. It was an extremely difficult decision. For a mother to release her child into the hands of strangers is a difficult task.

  • John 2:13-22 Exodus 20:1-17 Is Your God Too Small? (Hoffacker)

    The Ten Commandments warn us against small gods. For example, the Sabbath commandment warns us against the small god of Work, whose worshipers--and they are numerous--resort to frenetic activity in order to feel they have a right to exist.

  • Exodus 3:1-15 Faith Without Excuse (Wagner)

    When I was young, I used to visit my grandparents. We always went to church with them. One Sunday morning my grandmother said that she didn’t think she would go to church that day. She said, “I can’t lift my arm to my hair to comb it.”

  • Exodus 3:1-15 Shoeless (Butler)

    Our text today is a story about a bumbling, well-intentioned man who stumbles into holiness. Some of us just need a little extra help, I’m thinking, and so it was with Moses.

  • Exodus 3:1-15 The Bright Field (Hoffacker)

    Life is “the turning aside like Moses to the miracle of the lit bush,” to the miracle of the moment in which eternity awaits you. Through that moment there comes to you all the purpose and strength you need. For it is in the present moment that eternity meets us sweet as the kiss of God.

  • Exodus 3:1-15 Just Picking Raspberries (Donovan)

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning had Moses in mind when she wrote: “Earth’s crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God; And only he who sees takes off his shoes––The rest sit ’round and pluck raspberries.”

  • Exodus 3:1-15 Moses, Mission, and Mystery (Hoffacker)

    Many people, both veteran and new Christians, wonder about their sense of call. They ask questions like these: Is it really God I hear? What does God want of me? Where in the real world does my ministry lie?

  • Exodus 3:13-15 Speaking of God (Entrekin)

    When Moses asks God for God’s name, he is asking for a connection. Who do I say sent me, God? I could use a little authority to back me up. So God gives a name. And quite a name it is. God says, I am who I am.

  • Exodus 3:1-15; 4:1-7 I Will Send You to Pharaoh! (Donovan)

    God appears to Moses in a burning bush, and calls him to confront Pharaoh and to lead God's people out of Egypt. Startled, Moses responded, "Who am I that I should do this?" God said, "I will be with you."

  • John 3:1-17 & Exodus 3:1-6 The Cure for Our Pride (Hoffacker)

    Since the day we were born, we have encountered societies scarred by selfishness, self-condemnation, and sin. One of its worst results is our assumption that a social order is inevitably like this. We live in a moral and spiritual madhouse, and assume it to be normal.

  • Exodus 12:1-14 The Exodus is Not Yet Over (Hoffacker)

    Today’s reading recounts the original Passover, when God spared Israel the slaughter of the firstborn that the Lord visited on their oppressors. Practicing Jews today continue to celebrate the Passover with a home liturgy known as the Seder.

  • Exodus 12:1-14 Ready, Set, Go (Butler)

    God told Israel to make an elaborate meal, and then to strap on their traveling shoes, pack their bags, and be ready to run! They didn’t know where. They didn’t know why. All they knew was that God told to get ready.

  • Exodus 12:1-14 A Day of Remembrance (Donovan)

    The Israelites were in Egypt longer than white people have lived in America. Just think how many changes America has seen since the Pilgrims arrived. Very few people lived in America in 1620. Now there are people everywhere! That is what happened with the Israelites. Seventy people grew to be six hundred thousand.

  • Exodus 12:1-14 Christ Our Passover (Hoffacker)

    This deliverance from Egypt is what turns a bunch of dispirited slaves into a people, God’s own people, intended to serve as a light to all nations. The Exodus is the outstanding salvation event that God brings about in the Old Testament.

  • Exodus 14:19-31 Except for God! (Donovan)

    A better name for the Bible might be “Except for God!” The Egyptians win! Except for God! Goliath wins! Except for God! The Midianites defeat Gideon! Except for God! The cross defeats Christ! Except for God!

  • Exodus 14:19-31 Crossing the Seas of Life (Wagner)

    The quarterback said, “go deep.” It was an excuse to get me out of the way. But, I was fast. After catching a few “deep” passes, they started including me in the patterns. To be people of faith we have to go deep. As long as we stay in shallow waters we will never learn to trust in God.

  • Exodus 14:19-31 Wade in the Water (Butler)

    Once Pharaoh realized he’d made a mistake, he gathered his army and set out in hot pursuit. There the people found themselves--the sea in front and the Egyptian army closing in behind. It was right then that the people began to complain.

  • Exodus 16:2-15 The Lord Will Provide (Wagner)

    The Lord gave the Israelites only what they needed for a single day. We have a tendency to stockpile for the future, for fear of running out. When a storm is coming, people rush to the grocery, buying milk, bread and supplies, just in case.

  • Exodus 16:2-15 Move or Die! (Donovan)

    Rosalind Russell was a movie star whose greatest triumph was her gallant fight against cancer. After her death, this little poem was found tucked in her Bible: “Trust God when dark doubts assail you. Trust him when your faith is small. Trust him when simply to trust him Is the hardest thing of all.”

  • Exodus 16:2-15 Enough (Butler)

    It’s a very simple theological situation. The people of Israel asked God for help. God gave them just enough to meet their needs for the day. It’s so simple that, really, we should just pack up our Bibles and head home, lesson learned. But we can’t, can we?