30Apr 2019 by Kirsten Sauey Hofmann

Sermon for Easter Sunday 2019

Easter, Pastor, Sermons
Gospel: Luke 24:1-12 Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! We gather together today to celebrate new life, especially the resurrection of Jesus through which we believe God has granted new life to the world. And that’s the challenge of this day. There is so much that is hard to wrap our minds around. First, this idea of being raised from the dead… that is so outside of our box, even for us who have a greater understanding of science and how life works from 2000 years ago. Even with all our technology, we can’t bring people back from the dead. Especially those that have been dead for three days. We might have a chance if someone has just died, but not when their body has been lying in…
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17Mar 2019 by Kirsten Sauey Hofmann

Sermon for March 17, 2019

Discipleship, Lent, Pastor, Sermons
Gospel: Luke 13:31-35;First Reading: Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 Today’s Gospel reading seems a bit obscure, and yet it is packed full of images and foreshadowing. The main image of the fox and hen is powerful. It’s almost like Jesus compares he and Herod - Herod is the fox, only focused on the here and now, and only on gaining more power, which means eliminating other competition. And Jesus is the mother hen protecting her chicks. Foxes are feisty, but so are mother hens, especially if you threaten the babies. If Jesus or God is the mother hen, and we are her chicks, we need not fear. I am grateful for this feminine image for God today. Those main images are flanked by foreshadowing. There are references all over that help orient…
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06Dec 2018 by Kirsten Sauey Hofmann

Sermon from December 2, 2018

Advent, Pastor, Sermons
Gospel: Luke 21:25-36 Today is finally the first Sunday of Advent. It feels different than normal, because usually this would be the Sunday after Thanksgiving. It’s rare that all four Sundays of Advent fall during December. I like that it feels like we have some space between Thanksgiving and Advent. It helps me feel like there was time to breathe before starting something new. Advent is my favorite church season. I think that’s because it’s the season that embodies our lives now. Advent is about waiting, and we definitely are familiar with it, even if we don’t like to be. There are all kinds of things we wait for in anticipation… if you’re like Talia, you wait with anticipation for your birthday. Or you might wait for certain holidays to come along. We wait for simple things like for dinner to…
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16Oct 2017 by Kirsten Sauey Hofmann

Sermon from October 15, 2017

Pastor, Sermons
Gospel Text: Matthew 22:1-14; Epistle Reading: Philippians 4:1-9 This is one of those days where it’s hard to say “The Gospel of the Lord,” after reading the Gospel. The good news of the Lord. This one doesn’t feel like it. The Gospel of Matthew continues to throw hardball after hardball lately.  We keep getting to hear parables of judgement, which reminds me why I struggle to  like the Gospel of Matthew.  Because I’d rather hear parables of grace, parables of love.  Those are the ones we all would rather hear, right?  Like the parable of the lost sheep or the prodigal son - parables where we see God’s extreme love for us.  The parable I just read was almost a parable of grace, and then at the end it took a…
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18Sep 2017 by Kirsten Sauey Hofmann

Sermon from September 17, 2017

Pastor, Sermons
Gospel text: Matthew 18:21-35; Epistle text: Romans 14:1-12 Last week we got to reflect on how to handle conflict in the church. Today we move right along to the next set of verses in Matthew and get to reflect on forgiveness. Forgiveness is something we all struggle with, whether you are an active part of the body of Christ or not. I’m sure you can call to mind at least one person that you struggle to forgive. Maybe you’ve been holding onto that person for years, or maybe it’s a pattern in your relationship. “Often we do not really want to forgive someone or ask for their forgiveness, even though we know we “should”.” (Dudley Cleghorn, Feasting On The Word, 70) Forgiveness can be hard to practice! Why? We might…
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18Sep 2017 by Kirsten Sauey Hofmann

Sermon from September 10, 2017

Pastor, Sermons
Gospel text: Matthew 18:15-20 Let’s start off by articulating some things that Jesus does not say in Matthew 18 (articulated by my colleague, Nate Sutton): “If another member of the church sins against you, withdraw quietly yet in disgust, go home in a huff, and stew about it for a few months.” “If another member of the church sins against you, silently hold it against the ministries they love, and decline to support any of them for a year or two.” “If another member of the church sins against you, grumble about it to your friends, or better yet, to the pastor (but don’t mention the name of the offending person), or better yet, to your various online communities.” “If another member of the church sins against you, bottle up…
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31Jul 2017 by Kirsten Sauey Hofmann

Sermon from July 30, 2017

Pastor, Sermons
Gospel text: Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52 Jesus has many parables to tell us today that give us glimpses of the kingdom of heaven. But to start, I wonder if Matthew’s phrase, “the kingdom of heaven,” is problematic? Because we’re not talking about heaven as that place in the sky you think you might get to go to someday. We’re talking about the kingdom of God, the holy realm, the place where God dwells, which would include, but not be limited to this earth in this present time. Jesus is opening our understanding, or challenging our understanding of how we might envision God’s kingdom to be. We like to think God’s kingdom is full of rule followers, law-abiders, people who are nice to each other, and hopefully our animals. But what Jesus…
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17Jul 2017 by Kirsten Sauey Hofmann

Sermon from July 16, 2017

Discipleship, Pastor, Sermons
Gospel text: Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 Today we get to hear the Parable of the Sower. This is one of those famous passages from scripture. And it happens to be the first parable in each of the Synoptic Gospels - Matthew, Mark, and Luke. It may have been Jesus’ first parable, but it certainly paves the way for the Gospel writers in telling the parables of Jesus. In the middle of what we read, in the verses we skipped, Jesus explains to the disciples why he uses parables to speak to the people. Jesus says that the crowds have indeed fulfilled the prophecy - if you remember, fulfilling prophecy or what was written in the Old Testament is Matthew’s thing. That prophecy comes from Isaiah and says, “You will indeed listen, but…
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