by Melissa Kelly | May 14, 2023 | Amy Epp, Easter, Sermons, Year W
The Blessings and Curses of God our Mother Many of us are becoming comfortable with Mothering imagery for God – so long as that imagery is tender and comforting and caring. But what about a Mother who curses, judges and chastises. The feminine of God is as...
by Melissa Kelly | Nov 27, 2022 | Advent, Amy Epp, Sermons, Year W
Annunciation and Story When Mary said yes to Gabriel’s invitation to be the bearer of Jesus, she did so as one in the long story of women partnering with God in creation. Each of us, like Mary, may be storytellers of God, helping to birth new things in our own...
by Melissa Kelly | Oct 23, 2022 | Amy Epp, Fall 2022, Sermons
Bible’s Best Boy As much as we learned otherwise in Sunday school, Boaz is not the romantic lead of a storybook romance. He is, however, one of the best examples we have in the Bible of how to use privilege, power and wealth in a way that offers a place to those who...
by Melissa Kelly | Sep 25, 2022 | Amy Epp, Fall 2022, Sermons
Don’t Look Away: The Pain and Protest of Lamentations It feels bad to feel bad! So often feelings and embodiments of anger and despair are punished or policed – especially in women and people of color. Maybe that’s why we so often turn past the book...
by Melissa Kelly | Jun 26, 2022 | Amy Epp, Sermons, Summer Series 2022
Cancel all debt. Period The law in Deuteronomy is clear: every seven year all debt is to be canceled. But because people are people, it’s pretty hard to live it out practically. What the law depends on and encourages is building a community of trust in which we...
by Melissa Kelly | Jun 19, 2022 | Amy Epp, Narrative Lectionary - Year 4, Sermons
Baptism: Political, Practical, Personal On this Sunday when we celebrate the baptism of two young adults in our congregation, Pastor Amy explores the way baptism blesses and call us. In Jesus baptism, he was pronounced his allegiance not to the emperors and kings who...