My sermon this week is about how God’s love is prodigal: foolish and extravagant.
190401 Sermon – Rev. Elsa Marty – God’s Extravagant Love
Text: Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
My sermon this week calls us to confess the ways we seek to cut down and punish others, instead of to nurture. But thankfully God is a different kind of gardener, who gets his hands dirty and nourishes us with the love and forgiveness of Jesus the Christ, so that we can bear good fruit!
190324 Sermon – Rev. Elsa Marty – God Gets His Hands Dirty
Text: Luke 13:1-9
My sermon this week calls us to confess the ways we try to live on our own, without God. But the truth is that we are always surrounded by God’s love, even when we fail to see it.
190317 Sermon – Rev. Elsa Marty – Surrounded by God’s Love
Text: Luke 13:31-35
Welcome to Lent! My sermon this week calls us to confess the ways we fail to live out our callings:
190311 Sermon – Rev. Elsa Marty – WDJD, What Did Jesus Do?
Text: Luke 4:1-13
Lent is a season of reflection and re-turning to God. The Table Acclamation is very simple and spare, so if you’ve been waiting for a chance to try leading the Acclamation, this can be a great season to begin!
1) Gathering Song
A Kyrie Eleison, which means, “Lord, Have Mercy.” This Kyrie is from the Iona Community in Scotland. Introduce the piece by having people repeat the words, then give the translation: “Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy”.
2) Candle Lighting Song
This juicy tune, “Here is Bread for the Hungry Soul,” which reminds us we are forgiven, and also that we’re going to eat soon! The harmonies are recorded for you, but folks will mostly improvise off the melody.
Note: we usually flip the words to, “here is bread for the hungry heart, here is wine for the thirsty soul,” because I think the alliteration sounds better and makes the song easier to remember!
“Here is Bread for the Hungry Soul,” words: Mary Kay Beall; music: John Carter
3) Table Acclamation
We’ll use the very simple Lent Table Acclamation
4) Prayer Song
What We Need Is Here, written by Amy McCreath for a Thanksgiving service of the Lutheran Episcopal Ministry at MIT while she served as chaplain there. A lovely setting of the title of the poem by Wendell Berry.
5) Offering Song
Love and Faithfulness Shall Lead
or
Hamba Nathi Mkhululi Wehu (Go with us, God, and set us free) trad. Xhosa
6) Closing Hymn
*Please note, the harmonies on this recording are not the harmonies from our current sheet music.
Here’s my sermon from Ash Wednesday, about dust and the cross:
190306 Sermon – Rev. Elsa Marty – Ash Wednesday, Dust & the Cross
Texts: Isaiah 58:1-12 & Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
Here’s my sermon for the seventh Sunday after Epiphany, on the challenges of Jesus’ radical ethic of love and generosity, which always points us back to him and his love for us, and transforms the whole world:
190224 Sermon – Rev. Elsa Marty – Love Your Enemies
Text: Luke 6:27-38
“The love of God does not find, but creates, that which is pleasing to it.” (Martin Luther, Heidelberg Disputation, Thesis #28) In my sermon for the sixth Sunday after Epiphany, I talk about the nature of God’s love and why it’s such good news for us:
190217 Sermon – Rev. Elsa Marty – The Hospitality of God
Text: Luke 5:27-32
Let’s talk about mission! Here’s my sermon from the fifth Sunday after Epiphany:
190210 Sermon – Rev. Elsa Marty – Catching People
Text: Luke 5:1-11
Here’s my sermon for Candlemas, the fourth Sunday after Epiphany:
190203 Sermon – Rev. Elsa Marty – Part of God’s Story
Text: Luke 2:22-38