By: Dana Cassell Luke 6:27-38 Did you know that there’s an influx of Amish moving into south and central Virginia? In fact, Virginia and West Virginia are the sites of the fastest-growing Amish populations in the country. Farmland, it turns out, is a lot cheaper here than it is around Lancaster, PA, and hundreds of…
Category: sermon
God’s call in our lives
By: Dana Cassell Luke 5:1-15 Koenig, Peter. Breakfast on the Beach, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=58541 [retrieved February 12, 2025]. Original source: Peter Winfried (Canisius) Koenig, https://www.pwkoenig.co.uk/ One of my favorite call stories is from Henri Nouwen. It’s not a story from scripture, but a story from…
Love – and Almost Getting Thrown off a Cliff
Preacher: Jenn Hosler Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13; Luke 4:21-30 Love – and Almost Getting Thrown off a Cliff (1 Corinthians 13:1-13; Luke 4:21-30)Jennifer Hosler The love passage – 1 Corinthians 13. Perhaps this feels like a difficult passage to dig into right now. Using my powers of deduction, many of us are stressed, terrified, angry,…
The Spirit of the Lord
Mural by Michael Rosato in Cambridge, Maryland By: Dana Cassell Luke 4:14-21 This past summer – actually, during a trip up your way to preach with y’all in June – I spent some time on the Eastern Shore. While I was there, I visited the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Park. It’s located way out…
God’s economy of abundance
By: Rev. Nate Hosler John 2:1-11, 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 Our Gospel passage is from the book of John. The passage is from the beginning of the secondchapter. It is very early in the book. If you recall, we just finished up Christmas. While it mightfeel quite long ago already, it was only a few weeks…
Baptism of the Lord
By : Sarah Levy Luke 3: 15-22 Good morning church. I am so grateful to be with you all and have the opportunity to reflect on and wrestle with the word that God has for us today. In the liturgical calendar, this Sunday is known as Baptism of the Lord Sunday, the Sunday in which…
Stars, Joy, and Paying Homage: Epiphany
By: Jennifer Hosler Psalm 72: 1-7, 10-14; Isaiah 60:1-6; Matthew 2: 1-23 When I was growing up, my non-religious family celebrated Three Kings Day, which is what Epiphany is known as in some cultures. My mom would typically bake a cake and insert little wax-paper-covered coins in the cake, so that whoever found a coin…
ALIGNING WITH THE TRUE NORTH OF GOD
By: Julia Baker Colossians 3:12-17 I love this week of Christmastide,there is a liminal nature to these daysthat offer a sacred quiet. The Light has come, we no longer sit in darkness. And we look toward… In these threshold days many of us reflect on the year pastand the one ahead. As I do this…
Joy, or, You Brood of Vipers – Third Sunday of Advent
Lectio Divina Led by Jennifer Hosler Isaiah 12:1-6; Zephaniah 3:14-20; Philippians 4:4-7; Luke 3:7-18 This is the third Sunday of Advent. Traditionally, the theme for this Sunday is Joy. Joy or rejoice is seen throughout several of our lectionary scriptures. For our candle lighting, we read a passage from Isaiah, which is read today in…
Watch out, I’m on my way.
By Dana Cassell Malachi 3: 1-4 – Third Sunday of Advent One Saturday in May of 2020, I left my house – which, if you remember, was kind of a big deal during that season – to go volunteer in the newly created community garden at the Parktown Food Hub, a community food pantry and…
Washington City Church of the Brethren 