Sermon Archive (Page 5)

Sermon Archive (Page 5)

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.

Again & Again: God Calls Us to Listen

Preacher: Pastor Liz Miller Date: February 28, 2021 Text: Mark 8:31-9:8 I have been thinking about grief lately. Grief has been a steady presence this past year in every home in some way or another as our work, school, and social lives all changed, as we missed out on important connections and moments. There has also been the grief of loss of family members and friends both to COVID and during the time of COVID, loss made bigger and harder…

State of the Church Address

Preacher: Pastor Liz Miller Date: February 7, 2021 Text: Isaiah 40:21-31 Every year on the day of our Annual Meeting I like to give a State of the Church address.There’s not a lot that inspires me in politics – mostly things that aggravate me – but I do love watching Presidents and Governors and even Mayors reflect on the past year and lay out a vision for the year ahead. It’s about more than campaign promises. It’s about bringing us…

Possessed

Preacher: Pastor Liz MillerDate: January 31, 2021 Text: Mark 1:21-28 One of the many things I love about Edgewood is that we are a Christian church filled with many beliefs. We are people who have grown up in different faith traditions, from Catholic to Charismatic and from Methodist to Mennonite. Some of us even grew up in the United Church of Christ, or the Congregational and Evangelical Reformed churches that proceeded ourdenomination, and some of us even grew up right…

An Epiphany Journey

Preacher: Pastor Liz MillerDate: January 3, 2021 Text: Matthew 2:1-12 The coinciding of Epiphany and the New Year is my favorite pairing. The New Year is all about learning from the lessons of the previous year and setting our intentions for the months ahead. The New Year recognizes that we are on a journey – that surely much of last year will spill into the next, but that we have agency about what we do with it, and we can…

Messengers of Peace

Preacher: Pastor Liz MillerDate: December 6, 2020Text: Mark 1:1-8 This weekend was the 8th anniversary of the death of Nelson Mandela. His legacy is as the great anti-apartheid and anti-racism leader, a mediator and practitioner of reconciliation, an expert at conflict resolution. But long ago, early in his life, Mandela was considered an outlier by those he confronted. He was a rebel, someone to be feared and silenced. Mandela spoke hardtruths to people who were not ready to hear them.…

Keep Awake

Mark 13:24-37Preacher: Pastor Liz MillerDate: November 29, 2020Text: Mark 13:24-37 Early this year, when I resigned myself to celebrating Easter with Edgewood in an online worship service, I never thought that we would be doing the same for Advent and Christmas. In fact, in mid-March when we first moved online, I told you all, “If we can just do this for two weeks we’ll have the biggest Easter celebration we’ve ever seen.” And then as Easter came andwent I thought,…

Justice Rolling Down

Preacher: Pastor Liz MillerDate: November 8, 2020 Text: Amos 5:18-24 I’ve spent the better part of this week wondering what a post-election sermon would look like in 2020. I assumed that I needed to know the results before I could find my inspiration, that the political climate might change the arc of what I am called to preach this week. Then I received a text message that changed my perspective, or rather, brought it back to God’sperspective.A wise woman reminded…

Love and taxes

Preacher: Pastor Liz Miller Date: October 18, 2020 Text: Matthew 22:15-22 Our church follows a calendar called the lectionary that rotates through different scripture passages each week. This calendar was created with no thought to American holidays or events, and yet, there are occasionally coincidences that just seem too good to be coincidence. The appearance of the Gospel story we heard today is my favorite example. Every three years, just two weeks before Election Day, whether it’s a presidential election…

Come Forth and Live

Guest Preacher: Rev. Loren McGrailDate: October 11, 2020 Text: John 17-44 Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive,and go do it because what the world needsis people who have come alive.Howard ThurmanUnbeing dead isn’t alive.e.e. cummings In our Gospel story about Lazarus, Jesus comes late to Mary and Martha’s home— four days late. Martha chastises him for not getting there sooner because he might have been able to do something to prevent their brother’s death.…

Changing the Focus

Preacher: Pastor Liz MillerDate: September 27, 2020Text: Jonah 3:10-4:11 You are welcome to disagree with me, but I state bold in the claim that the fish that swallowed Jonah is one of the most important Biblical characters, and we do not talk about that poor fish with a bad case of indigestion nearly enough. We are quick to focus on Jonah and his stubbornness, or quick to explore the change of hearts of the people of Ninevah, but why does…

God Loves Whiners

Preacher: Pastor Liz MillerDate: September 20, 2020Text: Exodus 16:2-15 This scripture of the Israelites whining in the wilderness is so validating. Who among us hasn’t been in our own wilderness, and even though we say we have faith that everything will work out, or we know from past experience we will probably get through it, have a whole lot of complaining to do along the way? If you are having trouble thinking of an example, look no further than the…

Breaking Through Apathy

Preacher: Pastor Liz MillerDate: August 30, 2020Text: Romans 12:9-21 One of my favorite games to play on road trips or with groups who are getting to know each other is the classic “Would You Rather?” To play this game you simply pose a series of questions and ask your audience to choose between two options.● Would you rather be covered in fur or covered in scales?● Would you rather know the history of every object you touched or be able…