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.
Sacred Rest
Preacher: Pastor Liz MillerDate: July 19, 2020Text: Genesis 28:10-19 Video: Virtual Worship Service Writer poet Wendell Berry said in his novel Jayber Crow that, “Prayer is like lying awake at night, afraid, with your head under the cover, hearing only the beating of your own heart. It is like a bird that has blundered down the flue and is caught indoors and flutters at the windowpanes. It is like standing a long time on a cold day, knocking at a…
Sustainable Sowing
Preacher: Pastor Liz Miller Date: July 12, 2020 Text: Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 Video: Virtual Worship Service I once met a patent agent, someone who is responsible for helping inventors go through the application process to complete the application for their new inventions. What I learned was that a lot of their work was pretty routine and kind of boring, but occasionally someone would come with an invention that was really unique and interesting. This patent agent told me that the…
Unraveled: Uprooted and Unearthed
Preacher: Pastor Liz Miller Date: June 21, 2020 Text: Luke 19:1-10 Video: Virtual Worship Service I love Zacchaeous. When I picture who Zacchaeous might represent in our world today, I picture each one of us on December 31, 2019. That was the night the world echoed with New Year’s resolutions not just for the year 2020, but for a new decade. Promises were made, many silently, some recorded in journals or shared with loved ones. Resolutions were formed to hit…
When Humans Unravel God’s Plans for Justice
Date: May 24, 2020 Preacher: Pastor Liz Miller Text: Exodus 5:1-2; 7:8-23 Video: Virtual Worship Service Part of this pandemic experience is having more extreme highs and lows, and never really being able to predict when your feelings are going to shift or what they will shift too. That alone is a little exhausting. I had a new low this week. I get the New York Times daily digest and to preserve my sanity for the rest of the day,…
Homily
Date: May 17, 2020Preacher: Pastor Liz Miller Text: Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7 Video: Virtual Worship Service We are entering out 10th week of Michigan’s Stay at Home order. 10 weeks of sleeping, eating, working, relaxing, crafting, working out, cooking, and distantly socializing in the same 1300 square feet. I have become intimate with every corner and crack of my house. I predict that the trends of open concept houses and tiny homes will soon come to an end.I have been working…
Unraveled by Uncertainty
Date: May 10, 2020 Preacher: Pastor Liz Miller Text: Matthew 14:22-33 Video: Virtual Worship Service A few years ago Beth and I went to the big island in Hawaii with my family for an amazing vacation. One day we took a leisurely drive around the island and found Ka Lae, the southernmost point of the United States. We got out of our car to explore. There was a big cliff with a setup so that ships could pull up things…
Laughter is the Best Medicine
Preacher: Pastor Liz Miller Date: May 3, 2020 Text: Genesis 18:1-15, 21:1-7 Video: Virtual Worship Service For the next several weeks our worship will be focused on stories from the Bible where someone’s life becomes unraveled and we get to see how they answer the question, “What comes next?” When the unexpected happens, how do we respond? How do we adapt? Where do we find God or hope or strength when it feels like all of our well laid plans…
By Faith Alone
Preacher: Pastor Liz MillerDate: April 19, 2020Text: John 20:19-31 Video: Virtual Worship Service Being sheltered at home is helping me read scripture in a whole new lens, bringing my new perspective to an ancient text. In the before times, whenever I read this story from the gospel John, I’d jump right to Doubting Thomas and focus on why it was that he needed so much convincing that Jesus had returned to the disciples. But this week I barely noticed Thomas.…
Empty Tombs
Preacher: Pastor Liz Miller Date: April 12, 2020 Text: John 20:1-18 Video: Easter Worship At the beginning of Lent, 40 days ago, we started a worship series on prayer practice. On that first Sunday I confessed that I was terrible at praying that involved silence, extended periods alone, and feeling separate from the world around me. 40 days later it feels like I issued a challenge to the universe who created all the perfect conditions to give me a once…
Hosanna
Preacher: Pastor Liz Miller Date: April 5, 2020 Text: Matthew 21:1-11 Video: Palm Sunday Worship
Breaking New Life
Preacher: Pastor Liz Miller Date: March 29, 2020 Text: Ezekiel 17:1-14 Video: Worship Last October I was in Phoenix with a small group of writers. We turned the city into a writing retreat and spent time in different places around the city reflecting, sharing, and practicing different writing exercises. One afternoon we went to the Phoenix Art Museum. We were told to spend time walking around the museum alone, to find a painting that stood out or connected with you,…
The Comfort of Familiarity
Preacher: Pastor Liz MillerDate: March 22, 2020 Text: Psalm 23 Video: Virtual Worship Service It took me most of this week but I finally settled on a metaphor that speaks to what the past nine days have felt like for me. Do you remember the first time you were in a place where you didn’t speak the same language as the people around you? Perhaps it was your first time traveling across the ocean to another country or even your…