Worship. Serve. Grow.

Sermons by The Rev. Carr Holland (Page 3)

Rubble and Hope

The Rev. Carr Holland considers Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 and John 1:6-8,19-28: “It is so easy when you are sifting rubble or old bones to forget that sometimes there is a hope, a dream of good that’s waiting to be found there.”

Feast of Christ the King

The Rev. Carr Holland reflects on Matthew 25:31-46 and the Feast of Christ the King: “In every moment, when we connect responsively to another’s need, we not only are serving Christ but it is as if we’re becoming Christ. We represent him in the world… The flow of God’s care almost always passes through a human being.”

The Kingdom of God Will be Taken Away

If you are like me, you’ve spent part of this week puzzled by violence.  After watching nature do so much violence, first by the fires in the west and then by the hurricanes in Texas, Florida, and many of the Caribbean islands and in the Dominion of Puerto Rico, many of us began to feel emotionally exhausted.  …  Then the shootings in Vegas happened….  (Matthew 21:33-46)

We Act in Pair

Odd things in scripture capture my imagination, like there are several places in scripture where we meet pairs of people. Pairs invite us to think about relationships about what connects them, about what makes them communities of understanding either held or sought (Luke 24:13-35).

Between Palms and the Passion

The Rev. Carr Holland considers Matthew 21:1-11 and Matthew 26:14- 27:66 on Palm Sunday: “We gather here today and this week to remember that there is a cost to human choice, a cost to what we look past or ignore, the moments when we lose touch with what it is to gather up in the intended goodness of God.”

To See with Christ’s Eyes

The Rev. Carr Holland reflects on John 4:5-42 and Romans 5:1-11: “We are each given a life. We’re invited to look out our eye sockets and see beyond the surface, to see one another by the well, to ponder each other’s need of care and wisdom, and together, to act to deepen life.”

Following Jesus

The Rev. Carr Holland reflects on John 1:29-42: “Jesus goes in this section of the Gospel from unknown to Messiah… The following has begun, and we are part of that following. Here is the question that the Gospel leaves for us, ‘Where do we see Christ, and how do we follow?'”

Yielding to Compassion

The Rev. Carr Holland meditates on Matthew 1:18-25: “In Matthew, it is Joseph who cradles Jesus in a blanket woven of character and compassion. He offers the lineage that gives shape to the Christmas crib. He lives the ethical dilemma: law or love. He dreams a way into a compassionate life and yields to it as God’s gift of life for him. His actions become the straw of Christ’s comfort. Perhaps for each of us there is a gift that waits for us as Advent yields to Christmas.”