This year we had a great wildflower season here in the San Francisco Bay Area. Yes, there are wildflowers every year, but this year, they just sprang up with abandon, displaying their bright colors and their beauty over abundantly. My husband and I are lucky that a trail up into the hills starts merely […]
‘A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand – But Can It Be Rebuilt?’ Sermon Mark 3: 20-35; 2nd Sunday after Pentecost – June 6th, 2021
Jesus is coming home. And his family is not happy. In today’s gospel story, it becomes very clear that Jesus and his family – mother, brothers, and sisters – don’t agree on his new way of life as the Son of God. He’s an embarrassment to them, tainting the family’s good name and reputation […]
1,2,3 – Divine Dynamic Balance: Sermon John 3: 1-17; Holy Trinity – May 30th, 2021
Today is the Sunday of the Holy Trinity, the day we honor God Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And I would like to introduce you to a woman who saw this trinity reflected in all of creation: Hildegard of Bingen, who lived in the 12th century AD in what today is Germany and today […]
Monthly Newsletter – June
Monthly Newsletter, June
‘It’s About Us’: Sermon Acts 2: 1-21; Pentecost Sunday – May 23rd, 2021
Today is Pentecost, the day we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit among the disciples who, 52 days after the death of Jesus and 50 days after his resurrection, still were not quite sure where to take it – that is, Christ’s mission – from there. We heard the story how God’s Holy […]
“Alles Gute kommt von oben” (All That Is Good Comes from Above): Sermon Luke 24: 44-53; Ascension Sunday – May 16th, 2021
The Germans have the following proverb: ‘Alles Gute kommt von oben’, which translates to, ‘all that is good comes from above’. And this proverb comes straight from the Bible, from the letter of James, the first chapter, to be exact; and this passage refers to the good gifts God, who supposedly is enthroned […]
Mandatory Love: Sermon John 15: 9-17; 6th Sunday in Easter – May 9th, 2021
You may have noticed that today’s gospel lesson talks about love – a lot. The word ‘love’ in some form or another is mentioned 9 times in 9 verses, to be exact. Today is also Mother’s Day, a day we hear and talk a lot about love. So let me begin with a story […]
On Our Way Rejoicing? Sermon Acts 8: 26-40; 5th Sunday in Easter – May 2nd, 2021
Today I would like to invite you to join me on a road through the wilderness. A road that leads from Jerusalem to Gaza, to be exact. It is around the year 35 AD. On this road through the wilderness, we meet Philip. He’s been trudging along this road for a couple of days, […]
‘Herd Immunity’: Sermon John 10, 11-18; 4th Sunday in Easter – April 25th, 2021
Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, alleluia! This past February, a curious story from Down Under made the news: a sheep was found in a forest in Australia that hadn’t been shorn in years. Wild sheep don’t grow such enormous fleeces of wool – and, like many other animals, wild […]
‘Let’s Get Physical’: Sermon Luke 24: 36b-48; 3rd Sunday of Easter – April 18th, 2021
Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, alleluia! I recently had a very stimulating exchange with a young man who had visited St. Matthew’s on occasion – before the Corona lockdown – and who became a faithful follower of our online worship services. His initial question was, when did the idea of […]
Biweekly Newsletter
Biweekly Newsletter April 15
How to Re-Member: Sermon Luke 24:1-12; Easter Sunday – April 4th, 2021
Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, alleluia! Looking back at last Easter, I can’t believe how naïve I was. I thought this pandemic would last maybe a couple of months, and that we’d be able to worship again in our sanctuary come May or June, and just go back to ‘normal’. […]
Biweekly Newsletter, March 30th
Biweekly Newsletter March 30th
Sermon Matthew 21: 1-11; Palm Sunday – March 28th, 2021 by the Rev. Dr. Fred Weidmann
GOSPEL READING Matthew 21:1-11 When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. If […]
‘A New Beginning, Again and Again’: Sermon John 12:20-33; 5th Sunday in Lent – March 21st, 2021
On this day, March 21st, in the year 1685 –Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach. He was the 8th and youngest child of Johann Ambrosius and Elisabeth Bach. Two days later, he was baptized, and consequently raised as a Lutheran. Johann Sebastian wasn’t the first musician in his family. This tradition went back […]
‘Not to condemn, but to heal’: Sermon John 3: 14-21; 4th Lent – March 14th, 2021
Our planet earth looks blue and beautiful from outer space. It’s the world we know. It’s our living space. And, by the way, it’s the only one we have. Mars is too dry, as we are seeing again – too lifeless. The world we know is populated by billions of people of different colors, […]
‘Righteous Anger’: Sermon John 2:13-25; 3rd Lent – March 7th, 2021
My husband Fred and I have been watching more TV than usual over the course of the last year – it happens when you don’t get out much. And so I’ve discovered – and got hooked on – a particular PBS show: ‘Finding Your Roots’ with historian Henry Louis Gates Jr. (show pic ‘Gates’). […]
Biweekly Newsletter for Feb. 28th Week
Biweekly Newsletter March 4
Self Denial – The Turn from Me to You: Sermon Mark 8:31-38 – 2nd Lent; February 28th, 2021
Have you ever been in denial about something? I am the first one to admit that there were times in my life when I was in denial. Until I got a physical recently, I was in denial about how many pandemic pounds I had put on, for example. Now what, […]
‘The Dark Night of the Soul’: Sermon Mark 1: 9-15; 1st Sunday in Lent – February 21st, 2021
As I was getting my annual physical a couple of weeks ago, the intake nurse asked me, among other things, ‘Have you felt down or depressed over the course of the last year?’ I must have given her an incredulous look, because she gave me a little, understanding smile. I said, ‘Who hasn’t?’ The […]