Sermons

January 1 | Expecting Emmanuel: Weeping Mothers

Scripture | John 1:1-5; Matthew 2:16-18
Sermon | “Does not wisdom (Sophia) cry out?”
Sermon by Carolyn May

Good morning and happy new year. Last week, after the anticipation of advent, we celebrated together the birth of Jesus. The holy one enfleshed. Though Advent is over, this is the final week of our Advent series. Rather than having one woman to speak about, I had the option of choosing to reflect with you on three different women: Anna, a fiercely faithful prophet who encounters Jesus in the temple when he was taken to be dedicated, the weeping mothers of the innocent children killed by Herod, and Sophia, wisdom personified and often understood as the feminine counterpart of Jesus. I’m not too good at decisions though so I didn’t choose one and instead will be touching a bit on all of these.

For ages there has been a pervasive belief that women are naturally more emotional than men. Obviously a universal claim without factual basis and a claim that has...

December 25 | Expecting Emmanuel: Mary

12-25-22 CMC Service.mp4 from Gwen Reiser on Vimeo.

Scripture: Luke 2:1-20 Sermon: Loveday By Sarah Zwickle Following the sermon text are other letters that Sarah wrote to Mary during October, November, and December.

Yes! Welcome! It’s wonderful to see you this morning! Everyone, come on in to the Zwickle house in Michigan! One of the unexpected intimacies of a virtual meeting is that we can share Christmas morning together from our living rooms! Here is a brief glimpse of ours…. I’m really grateful to be here with all of you, to share a slice of this day.

So, what or who were you expecting today? If you haven’t been reading Gwen’s emails, you probably were not expecting me! And everything about the scripture today was unexpected. The breaking news given to shepherds, in a field, by a massive angel choir? The Messiah a baby? And in a manger? As shepherds bust into the inn to see and to shout in wonder and amazement while Mary attempts to breast feed for the first time, what is firing in the connections between...

December 24 | Expecting Emmanuel: Mary

CMC Christmas Eve Service 2022 from Gwen Reiser on Vimeo.

Scripture:Luke 1:26-38

Meditation by Katie Graber

Throughout Advent, we’ve been hearing about women from Jesus’ family history who don’t have big famous stories in the bible. We’ve heard imaginative interpretations and questions about Tamar and Ruth and Rahab and Bathsheba - about who they were and what might have happened.

But now we get to Mary, mother of Jesus, who we know well. Or we think we do, we’ve certainly heard a lot about her. It’s Christmas eve - we know she made it to Bethlehem, and she’s about to have a baby. But even in stories like Jesus’ birth, we engage in interpretation whether we realize it or not. Our nativity scenes are amalgamations of time and place, with the Wise Men and animals and angels and shepherds all together at the same time. And there are additions that have become tradition, such as the number 3 for the wise men, the cattle who are lowing and the baby who never cries.

I have no problem with this! I firmly...

December 18 | Expecting Emmanuel | Bathsheba

CMC Worship Scripture and Sermon 12/18/22 from Gwen Reiser on Vimeo.

Bathsheba: Nuancing Power/Nuancing Humanity, Bethany E. McLean Davey

Today’s sermon engages sexual violence, so I begin by inviting you to care
compassionately and deeply for yourself. I invite you to honor your capacities to
be physically and emotionally present—or absent—and I invite you to do what you
need to care tenderly for yourself in the midst. Taking care may look different for
each of us, but you are invited to give yourself permission to access this care. You
—and your stories—matter.

I would like to share with you an exercise I learned through Dr. Mari Ramler of
Tennessee Tech University. Fluent in trauma work and healing, Dr. Ramler taught
us the regulating power of this practice. I invite you to observe it or try it,
whichever is most comfortable for you. *Demonstrate This is My Hand* I’m
grateful to Dr. Ramler for so graciously sharing this practice. I share it with you as
an invitation to gift yourself...

December 11 | Expecting Emmanuel | Ruth

Sermon | Speaking and Listening
Text: Ruth 1
Speaker: Sarah Martin

Originally this sermon was supposed to be about Ruth. But then I read what Naomi says at the end of chapter 1, the thing we just heard about her bitter life, and I was intrigued, and all the ideas I had for this sermon were about that, because my brain is kind of ornery like that. Then I thought about it, and realized, whenever this story comes up Ruth gets all the attention anyway. And Joel said it was all good, if I wanted to talk about Naomi, so that's what's gonna happen, folks. Although Ruth will make an appearance at the end.

The reason Naomi's speech intrigued me is that it's really a weird addition to the story. When Naomi and Ruth arrive back in Naomi's homeland, instead of jumping straight into the main narrative, the author gifts us this strange little interlude that's just Naomi throwing shade at God for letting all these bad things happen...

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