‘Give light to those who dwell in darkness’: Sermon Luke 1: 69-79; 2nd Sunday in Advent – December 5th, 2021

  The gospel according to Luke is the only gospel that starts with an extensive narrative about John the Baptist’s conception and birth (maybe it can be viewed as a ‘prequel’ to the story of Jesus’ miraculous conception and birth). The first people we hear about (after some general introductory notes) are Zechariah and Elizabeth, […]

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‘Every End Leads to a New Beginning’: Sermon Mark 13:1-8; November 14th, 2021 – 25th Sunday after Pentecost

    “Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”   What images come to your mind when you hear these words?   Maybe images of the World Trade Center, tumbling after the horrendous terrorist attacks. Maybe images of the 1906 or 1989 earthquakes here in San Francisco. Maybe […]

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‘Man lernt niemals aus – One never stops learning’: Sermon Mark 10: 35-45; 21st Sunday after Pentecost – October 17th, 2021

  Let me start with a question: why do people worship, be it in person or, right now, via a screen? Maybe people feel connected to that great cloud of witnesses, which transcends time and space, whenever they worship. Maybe these services feed them through the familiar words of song and prayer. And maybe they […]

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‘Grounded in God in a Changing World’: Sermon Mark 9: 38-49; 18th Sunday after Pentecost – September 26th, 2021

  On our recent trip to Europe, my husband Fred and I must have visited around 40 churches. We saw 10 in Cologne alone – and, yes, there are quite a few interesting churches besides the famous cathedral. We saw cathedrals – and ancient humble village churches. We saw any style: Romanesque, Gothic, Baroque, Neo-Classicist, […]

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‘’Good Shepherd, Bad Shepherd, No Shepherd’: Sermon Mark 6:30-34, 53-56 – 8th Sunday after Pentecost; July 18th, 2021

  Before I moved to California almost 24 years ago, I was going through a pastoral residency program back in Northern Germany, and I lived in a small rural community called Dötlingen. Now Dötlingen was and still is a picture book kind of village, with an oak tree in the village center that is more […]

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