Sermons by Rev. Carrie Cabush
The Wedding at Cana and the Birmingham Campaign of 1963
January 19, 2025
There are a lot of predictions for what the year 2025 will bring. I won’t claim to know which are true and which are not. But I do believe, as Mary and all the faithful people in Birmingham in 1963 did, that how we start matters, and how we start will give us the tools we need to continue on the journey. We can become part of the change we want to see - we can become part of Jesus’ miraculous legacy - when we bring the truth to God in prayer and follow where he leads. The journey won’t be easy, but it will be worth celebrating. (Listen below.)
January 19, 2025
There are a lot of predictions for what the year 2025 will bring. I won’t claim to know which are true and which are not. But I do believe, as Mary and all the faithful people in Birmingham in 1963 did, that how we start matters, and how we start will give us the tools we need to continue on the journey. We can become part of the change we want to see - we can become part of Jesus’ miraculous legacy - when we bring the truth to God in prayer and follow where he leads. The journey won’t be easy, but it will be worth celebrating. (Listen below.)
What We Stand For at Baptism
January 12, 2025
In a world where it is easier to stand against something, at baptism we boldly proclaim who and what we stand for. In a society where the individual is prized and praised, at baptism we acknowledge that we need God’s help and we promise to support one another in our walk of faith. In a world that seems to accept that tragedies happen with increasing frequency, at baptism we vow to strive to make a difference and make a change. Baptism was and is a radical act. (Listen to the sermon below.)
January 12, 2025
In a world where it is easier to stand against something, at baptism we boldly proclaim who and what we stand for. In a society where the individual is prized and praised, at baptism we acknowledge that we need God’s help and we promise to support one another in our walk of faith. In a world that seems to accept that tragedies happen with increasing frequency, at baptism we vow to strive to make a difference and make a change. Baptism was and is a radical act. (Listen to the sermon below.)
The Magi and House Blessings (Children's Sermon)
January 5, 2025
One of my favorite traditions around Epiphany is when people bless their houses. It is a reminder that while the wise men traveled a long way to encounter Jesus, it all started in their homeland by paying close attention to the things they did every day. Our journey with God often starts the same way - we don’t have to travel very far at all. We can welcome Christ into our homes and our lives every day by doing what we're called to do and paying close attention. (Listen below.)
January 5, 2025
One of my favorite traditions around Epiphany is when people bless their houses. It is a reminder that while the wise men traveled a long way to encounter Jesus, it all started in their homeland by paying close attention to the things they did every day. Our journey with God often starts the same way - we don’t have to travel very far at all. We can welcome Christ into our homes and our lives every day by doing what we're called to do and paying close attention. (Listen below.)
Light in the Darkness
December 29, 2024
In the church we have this repeated metaphor of light and dark. But we do a serious and harmful disservice if we assume that darkness is the absence of God, and light is the presence of God. In fact, as the Rev Dr Wil Gafney says, light and dark are not a binary at all. Instead, darkness is a space of holy creativity and generativity. It is where God does new and out-of-this-world things. Darkness is where light is conceived and from which it is born. (Listen below.)
December 29, 2024
In the church we have this repeated metaphor of light and dark. But we do a serious and harmful disservice if we assume that darkness is the absence of God, and light is the presence of God. In fact, as the Rev Dr Wil Gafney says, light and dark are not a binary at all. Instead, darkness is a space of holy creativity and generativity. It is where God does new and out-of-this-world things. Darkness is where light is conceived and from which it is born. (Listen below.)
Christmas Greeting
December 24-25, 2024
In the midst of all of our humanness, God shows up. Even when it feels like there is no room at the inn, or no room in our hearts, God shows up. Each and every time. There’s nothing we have to do to make it happen - we already have everything we need. (Listen below.)
December 24-25, 2024
In the midst of all of our humanness, God shows up. Even when it feels like there is no room at the inn, or no room in our hearts, God shows up. Each and every time. There’s nothing we have to do to make it happen - we already have everything we need. (Listen below.)
Mary's Ancestors
December 22, 2024
In this season of Advent we prepare for God to do a new and miraculous thing. To come to earth in human form. To walk, and talk, and live among us. To choose to become vulnerable as a newborn baby in order to show us true love. As much as the story of Christmas is about God doing a new thing, it is also about God building on all that God has done before. It is about God’s love story to humankind, recalling the times that God showed up in unexpected places, through unexpected people, to draw us ever closer. Take the story of Mary. A young, unassuming woman who stands on the shoulders of the women who came before her. (Listen to the sermon below.)
December 22, 2024
In this season of Advent we prepare for God to do a new and miraculous thing. To come to earth in human form. To walk, and talk, and live among us. To choose to become vulnerable as a newborn baby in order to show us true love. As much as the story of Christmas is about God doing a new thing, it is also about God building on all that God has done before. It is about God’s love story to humankind, recalling the times that God showed up in unexpected places, through unexpected people, to draw us ever closer. Take the story of Mary. A young, unassuming woman who stands on the shoulders of the women who came before her. (Listen to the sermon below.)
Preparing for Joy
December 15, 2024
I'm convinced that joy is a spiritual practice, that joy is essential to experiencing life at its fullest, to living as God always intended us to live. Researcher Matthew Kuan Johnson says that when we experience joy, we become more fully ourselves. In the early days, advent was really taught and seen as a penitential season where we prepare for the coming of Christ by confessing our sins. But the church also realized that we need to prepare our hearts for the joy of Christmas, too. We need to prepare for joy because all too often we experience what Brené Brown calls foreboding joy. For instead of leaning into joy, we wait for that other shoe to drop. We brace ourselves for the moment that it'll all unravel. But at Christians, we know that there is true joy to be had, a joy that we do not need to protect ourselves from or brace ourselves for, a joy that becomes apparent in the disarming arrival of God as human flesh on Christmas. (Listen to the sermon below.)
December 15, 2024
I'm convinced that joy is a spiritual practice, that joy is essential to experiencing life at its fullest, to living as God always intended us to live. Researcher Matthew Kuan Johnson says that when we experience joy, we become more fully ourselves. In the early days, advent was really taught and seen as a penitential season where we prepare for the coming of Christ by confessing our sins. But the church also realized that we need to prepare our hearts for the joy of Christmas, too. We need to prepare for joy because all too often we experience what Brené Brown calls foreboding joy. For instead of leaning into joy, we wait for that other shoe to drop. We brace ourselves for the moment that it'll all unravel. But at Christians, we know that there is true joy to be had, a joy that we do not need to protect ourselves from or brace ourselves for, a joy that becomes apparent in the disarming arrival of God as human flesh on Christmas. (Listen to the sermon below.)