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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Last week, we left Joseph at the pinnacle of restoration. We witnessed that breathtaking moment in Genesis where tears washed away twenty-two years of bitterness, when a broken family was reunited, and when Pharaoh himself welcomed Jacob’s children to settle in the fertile pasturelands of Goshen. It was a storybook ending of reconciliation, abundance, and imperial favor. And then this week, we turn the p

In the name of the God of Joseph and his brothers. Amen. So if you were here last week, you know that we left Joseph at the lowest point imaginable: a seventeen-year-old boy stripped of his colorful coat—perhaps even princess dress—cast into a dry cistern in the desert, and sold away by his own flesh and blood for twenty pieces of silver. We watched his brothers dip the garment in goat’s blood and carry it back to Israel, formerly known as Jacob, and break Joseph’s father’s h

In the name of God. Amen. When Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice brought Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat to the stage, they created a global cultural phenomenon. It is a vibrant, endlessly catchy musical that has been performed in thousands of schools, community theaters, and Broadway houses all around the world. Yet, there is a deep and fascinating irony at the very heart of this beloved show. On stage, Joseph is framed as a quintessential straight hero—a convent

In the name of our God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. Before diving into the core message of today’s sermon, I want you to consider the Gospel reading we just heard—specifically, the feeding of the five thousand. Notice what happens when Jesus takes the five loaves and two fish: that moment is the last time the fish are mentioned in the story. Scripture records Jesus blessing God and distributing the loaves, and it speaks of gathering the leftover bread, but it says not

The scripture readings for today are extraordinarily rich—so rich, in fact, that they offer almost too much material for a single Sunday sermon. During the quiet stretch of late summer, it can sometimes be difficult to discern what to focus on, but today the choices are abundant. Each of these passages invites us to read slowly, pray deeply, and linger over the text—much like the ancient Christian practice of Lectio Divina (a method of prayerful scripture reading). A helpful

In the book of Genesis, we encounter a famous and oddly comical exchange between twin brothers: "Jacob said, 'Sell me your birthright.' And Esau said, 'I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?'" Esau was overwhelmed by a sense of desperate urgency. My wife often uses the word "despair" to describe that state when one hasn't eaten in hours and feels as though the world is ending. Looking at the text, Esau reached a similar point of melodrama. He reasoned that a bi

In the name of Christ. Amen. Yesterday, our nation marked its 250th birthday—two and a half centuries of this wild, messy, beautiful, and complicated democratic project. Across our neighborhoods and cities, tall ships sailed, festivals gathered, and fireworks lit up the night sky. For many, it felt like a continuous, nationwide celebration. Yet beneath the festivities, many of us might be feeling something else as well: a deep sense of fatigue. We are living in a moment when

In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. I grew up in Missouri City, Texas—a suburb southwest of Houston. A few years ago, the local government hired a public relations firm to design a new slogan and logo for the city. They settled on "The 'Show-Me' City." Like many suburban teenagers before gaining a driver's license, my sense of mobility relied entirely on a bicycle. I rode to parks, across subdivisions to friends' houses, and to the mall eight miles away. T

In the name of our Creator, God. Amen. As we enter the season after Pentecost, the church embarks on a multi-week journey through the foundational narrative of the Hebrew scriptures. Over the coming months, we will walk through the story of Abraham’s covenant, the testing of Abraham, the journey of Isaac and Rebekah, the complex rivalries of Jacob and Esau, the betrayal and rise of Joseph in Egypt, and the grand saga of the Exodus. We will follow Moses leading the people thro

In the name of the risen Jesus, the Christ. Amen. The book of Acts provides the account of Pentecost most familiar to many Christians—a citywide gathering, a rushing wind, tongues of fire, and the Holy Spirit empowering people to speak and understand across language barriers. Yet long before that day, Pentecost existed as an ancient festival. Known in Hebrew (עִבְרִית) as Shavuot (שָׁבוּעוֹת), it originated as a biblical harvest festival marking the giving of the Torah (תּוֹר