We are in the process of updating this page to include recent sermons from our Interim Pastor, The Rev. Dr. Robert (Bob) Livingston. Recent worship services can always be found on our YouTube page.
Below you will find the audio and video recordings, as well as text, of sermons from Pastor Liz and guest preachers. Edgewood also has a dynamic lay preaching program that all church members are invited to participate in. Lay Preachers meet as a group to learn about the sermon writing process, workshop their ideas, and practice preaching. Each lay preacher has an opportunity to give a sermon on Sunday morning during the year. You will see some of those sermons in this archive.
Courage in God’s Absence
Preacher: Pastor Liz MillerDate: September 26, 2021Text: Esther: 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22 This summer my best friend Molly came to Michigan visited us. At night we sat down towatch tv together and did the dance of trying to figure out what shows we were both into andwhat kind of show would be enjoyable for us both. I had previously recommended the Britishshow Fleabag to Molly and she still hadn’t watched it. I was so determined that she would enjoyit that I…
Rested?
Preacher: Pastor Liz Miller Date: September 19, 2021 Text: Mark 6:30-45 All week folks have been asking me how my sabbatical was. I should have expected thisquestion. I’ve had three months to prepare for it, but every time I am asked, I find myself at aloss for words. It’s wasn’t one trip or one experience or one revelation…My sabbatical was three months of my life being turned upside down in the best possible way, completely reorienting my daily life, my…
The Church Speaks
Preacher: Pastor Liz Miller Date: May 23, 2021 Text: Acts 2:1-21 Earlier this week I was talking with an Edgewood member about the stories of our shared faith, how the stories we tell again and again are not the ones that are the most factual or proven, but are the ones we keep finding meaning in and can connect with our lives today. We tell stories from our history at Edgewood that keep shaping who we understand who we are…
Rest for Restless People
Preacher: Pastor Liz Miller Date: May 16, 2021 Text: Exodus 20:8-11 Six months ago I was in a meeting with Edgewood’s Governance Council and we started talking about my upcoming sabbatical. It is a common practice that about every five years of service in a church, pastors leave for sabbatical for a few months. My sabbatical was on the horizon and we were beginning conversations of all the logistics it would involve, all the different types of planning and…
Abide In Love
Preacher: Pastor Liz Miller Date: May 9, 2021 Text: John 15:9-17 If I had to sum up my theology in three words, I would say, “God is love.” I choose those three words because no matter which way you arrange them, it invites us into a deeper exploration and understanding of what they mean.God.God is.God is love.Love.Love is.Is love God?Love is God.We are a church that celebrates much of the diversity we hold, in our identities, in our faith backgrounds…
Roadtrip Buddies
Preacher: Pastor Liz Miller Date: May 2, 2021 Text: Acts 8:26-40 There are times in worship and in private study, when we take the Bible and we pull it apart, unpack it, isolate verses from what comes before and after so that we can understand the language, the context, the history, and the implications of what has been written and passed down. It’s an important part of our practice of studying scripture. But, there are times when it is most…
Our Shepherd
Preacher: Pastor Liz MillerDate: April 25, 2021Text: Psalm 23 and John 10:11-18 This Sunday is a little known special day in the Christian church known as Good Shepherd Sunday. The only thing we have to do to honor the day is read the gospel passage that talks about God as the good shepherd. Check – we’ve officially celebrated Good Shepherd Sunday this year! Perhaps because of this day, there was a video floating around Facebook this week – a patient…
Participatory Creation
Preacher: Ed SmithDate: April 18, 2021 Text: Genesis 1:1-2 and Mark 12:28-34 In the midst of my career as a science educator I revisited a sense of calling to the ministry that I hadexperienced at times earlier in my life. A major element of the ministry I envisioned was the articulation of a theology that my scientifically oriented friends and colleagues could find meaningful, a quest I had pursued for myself at least since high school. I ultimately chose to…
Again & Again: The Sun Rises
Preacher: Pastor Liz MillerDate: April 4, 2021Text: Mark 16:1-8 This time last year, as I spliced together dozens of recordings of Edgewood members from the safety of their homes proclaiming, “Christ is risen!” I thought that would be the only time I celebrated Easter outside of the church sanctuary, the only time I would be hearing a virtual choir with a virtual orchestra accompanying our singers instead of having brass spilling out of the crowded choir loft, the sanctuary radiating…
Again & Again: We are Called to Courage
Preacher: Pastor Liz MillerDate: March 28, 2021Text: John 12:1-19 Beth got her first COVID-19 vaccine this week which was great news in our household. It was not without some trepidation as she has a lifelong fear of needles and would rather do anything than voluntarily get a shot. But when the health department said it was her turn, she made an appointment. She drove herself to the MSU pavilion, and when a member of the National Guard approached her car,…
Again & Again: God Reforms US
Preacher: Pastor Liz Miller Date: March 21, 2021 Text: John 12:20-33 Beth and I went to MSU’s Broad Art Museum this week for the first time in over a year and I was reminded how often art helps me build a bridge between scripture and my life, the artist’s images and imagination to create deeper meaning and connections. I went in with the theme of reformation in mind, the idea that God is always re-forming or transforming us, our community,…
Again & Again: We Are Shown the Way
Preacher: Pastor Liz Miller Date: March 7, 2021 Text: John 2:13-22 I recently took a class on community organizing. I learned a lot about how to bring people with shared passions together to work on issues that are important to them. One of the things we talked about in the class was the qualities of a leader. When we were asked what the qualities of a leader where, all of us students responded with things like, ‘Bold! Makes decisions! Strong…