Hope Springs Eternal
By Hope Springs Eternal
Hope Springs EternalSep 25, 2018
God is Love, On Every Page
What do Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch teach us about God's love?
All Things New
Jesus is always out ahead of us, making all things new.
Find Yourself in the Story
Where do we hear ourselves in the story of Jesus' last week?
The Snake and the Cross
Alan Bentrup preaches about snakes, crosses, and idolatry.
Remember the Covenant
The 10 commandments, Jesus cleansing the temple, and how we hold up our end of the bargain.
What Do Christians Think About Lent?
Alan and Gavin tackle the sermon together, looking at Lent, covenant, and what we're doing when we're baptized.
Jesus Loves Y'all
Evil tries to claim it all. And what does Jesus have to say about that?
Now For the Hard Part
Baptism is easy. The Christian life is the hard part.
The Light of Christmas
The Light shines in unexpected places
Hold the Light
Alan preaches on November 12, 2023.
What Does Love Look Like?
What does it mean to love our neighbor?
Growing in Love, Part Two
Father Alan preaches on Sunday, September 10, 2023.
Rooted in Faith, Growing in Love
Father Alan preaches on Sunday, September 3, 2023.
Be Loved
When we focus on God's love, we can do anything.
Kingdom of Heaven
We have to mean it.
Simple Signs
What would your billboard say?
You Rock
A sermon for VBS Sunday
Looking to Heaven
A Bigger Table
God’s table is big enough for disagreement.
God’s table is even big enough for me, and for you.
Love Has the Final Word
Love Has the Final Word
Each one of us is called to go out into the world bearing witness to the Good News that Jesus Christ is raised from the dead, and that grace and mercy and forgiveness and life and love always have the final word.
Act Two
Everything changed. So what are we going to do about it?
It's True (a Sermon for Easter Sunday)
Every cross flowers with new life.
Every tomb holds the hope of new birth.
Every darkness is overcome by light.
It’s true. It is absolutely true.
Alleluia! Christ is risen.
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!
You Matter, You are Not Alone, You are Loved
A funeral preached at the burial eucharist of Jordan DeClerk.
Death is Hell
That’s the truth of this story.
That’s the Good News of this day.
Death is hell, but Jesus Christ meets us here.
Intimacy, Vulnerability, Silence, Waiting (a sermon for Maundy Thursday, 2023)
In the intimacy, the vulnerability, and the silence. In the fear and the grief and the despair.
We’re called to wait.
Parched
What are the stories we don't want to tell?
Kindred
God loves everyone you hate.
Fully Exposed
Who told you that you were the worst thing you had ever done?
Changes and Chances (A sermon for Last Epiphany A 2023)
I don’t know what changes you are dealing with.
Maybe it's a change in your health or well-being.
Maybe it’s a change in your family.
Maybe it’s a change in your work.
Maybe it’s a dream that didn’t work out, or even a dream that is working out better than you imagined.
In the midst of all of these changes, we’re going to listen for God’s voice.
Salt & Light (a sermon for Epiphany 5A, 2023)
Salt and light reveal things.
And we are called to transform human activity in such a way that it reveals God in this world.
The Road Ahead (A Sermon for Epiphany 4A, 2023)
Blessed are the poor in spirit.
Blessed are those who mourn.
Blessed are the meek.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Blessed are the merciful.
Blessed are the pure in heart.
Blessed are the peacemakers.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness
sake.
This is how we face the challenges, the uncertainties, and the opportunities of life.
This is how we face the road ahead.
Turning Points (A Sermon for Epiphany 3A)
Repentance is more than just a moral change.
It is a life change, a turning point.
We look in a diΛerent direction.
We travel a new road.
A Firsthand Faith (A Sermon for Epiphany 2A 2023)
The Poetry of Christmas (A Sermon for Christmas 1, 2022)
Luke tells the Christmas story with facts, John tells it with poetry.
Tell Me the Story (A Sermon for Christmas Eve, 2022)
The Good News of the Incarnation, the great joy of Christmas, is that God is with us
God Knows the Way Out
Viriditas (A Sermon for Advent 3A, 2022)
No person or situation is so dead that God cannot find life in it. That’s what we’re preparing for this Advent season… for the hope, the joy, and the love of God that is coming to transform this desert world.
Give Thanks (a Sermon for the Eve of Thanksgiving, 2022)
I am grateful for you, for this place, and for the ways God’s dreams are continuing to be revealed in the midst of us.
We Belong (A Sermon for the Feast of All Saints’, 2022)
To remind ourselves that we are loved and chosen and part of God’s kingdom.
To remind ourselves that we take our place in the communion of the saints.
To remind ourselves that we belong.
Feeling Small
Whatever is going on in your life, whether death or divorce or pain or fear or shame…that’s the place where Jesus stops, looks up with love and acceptance, and calls you back down into a new life.
Enduring Faith
Enduring Word (a Sermon for Proper 23C, 2022)
What we are oΛered, and what we are called to oΛer the world, is Jesus Christ.
That’s the Gospel.
And that’s the Word that endures.
An Enduring Legacy (a Sermon for Proper 22C, 2022)
And we don’t always know the lives we’ll impact.
Who is part of your legacy?
Who are the people that shared and showed the love of God to
you?
Who are the people that made you feel welcome, that made you feel important, and made you feel loved?
Who are your Eunice and Lois and Lacy?
Endure: Letters to Timothy (a Sermon for Proper 21C, 2022)
These words rang true for the Queen.
And I pray these words ring true for you and for me…
“But as for you, children of God, shun all worldly things…
Shun power and riches and fame and control and division and hatred and ego…
And pursue good things…
pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, gentleness, endurance…. Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called…” (6.11-12)
Seeking the Lost (A Sermon for Proper 19C 2022)
Even me, and even you.
Because Jesus found us all.
Therefore let us keep the feast.
Historical Markers: All In (A Sermon for Proper 18C 2022)
That is why the picture Jesus draws in today’s Gospel is so vivid.
Following Jesus is hard.
Following Jesus is costly.
Because Jesus calls us to be all in…
Are you ready to cross that line?
Historical Markers: Eyes of Humility (a Sermon for Proper 17C)
And we need to see that we all are in equal need of grace and mercy in the eyes of God.
And we’re all equally loved in the eyes of God.
And if we are in equal need of grace, and we’re all equally loved, we can no longer participate in a system that places more value on some people and less value on others?
As we accept Christ’s invitation to join him at Table in the Kingdom of God we must admit that we are only there because of God’s grace and mercy and love.
Historical Markers: Reckless Love (a Sermon for Proper 16C, 2022)
Like the woman in today’s Gospel, we are set free to live in the miracle of new life and second chances and amazing grace and reckless love, every day, in Jesus’ name.
Historical Markers: Expectant Hope (a Sermon for the Feast of St. Mary, 2022)
A hope that sees hate and meets it with love.
A hope that sees failure and meets it with opportunity.
A hope that sees brokenness and meets it with wholeness.
A hope that sees fear and meets it with faith.
A hope that sees death and meets it with life.
If that isn’t hope, I don’t know what is. And that’s a hope that our schools…our churches…our world is longing for.