Sermons

Sermon on August 30, 2026“Wondrous Strange”By: Mae Barnes, Guest Preacher “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” I’ve never been entirely certain if starting a sermon with a quote from Shakespeare is cliche or not, but by gum and by golly, I am nothing if not a sucker for the Bard. (And, if I know my audience, a fair amount of you fine folk are just as fond of him as I am.) For those who do not know or cannot remember the context of that line, it is spoken by…

Sermon on August 23, 2026“Be Who God Created You to Be“By: The Very Rev. Pamela DolanPrimary scripture source: Matthew16:13-20 This summer, movie fans around the globe have been asking the same question: The Odyssey or Spider-Man? While not quite as big a cultural phenomenon as the summer of Barbenheimer, the success of both these films does seem to say something intriguing about the moment we’re living in. Some have opined that the endless stream of thought pieces about The Odyssey and the enormous popularity of Spider-Man suggest that we’re quietly longing for the days when we all watched the same…

Sermon on August 9, 2026“Lost Sheep”By: Anthony Amato, seminarian “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” If you’re anything like me, you might find it uncomfortable to hear Jesus speaking this way. A woman is coming to him in desperation, hoping that her daughter might be healed of her affliction, only to have Jesus resist her request. She’s a Gentile, a Canaanite, and Jesus insists that he has come only for the people of Israel. Jesus also uses a rather demeaning metaphor…

Sermon on August 9, 2026“Faith and Trust“By: The Very Rev. Pamela Dolan May I speak in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. 2026 has been a tumultuous year for me. Rounding out my final semester of seminary, getting engaged, moving across the country, and getting ordained. So many pieces of my daily routines have been upended right in front of my eyes. I knew most of these changes were coming and yet it felt kind of like being tied to the train tracks watching the train barrel towards you. I don’t know that the…

Sermon on July 19, 2026“Stay in Your Lane“By: The Ven. Margaret Grayden If you’ve been out and about lately, riding a bike or driving a car around Davis, you may have noticed that many of our streets are not in good shape—crumbling pavement and lane lines so faded in some places as to be practically invisible.  Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and I learned how to drive, one of the phrases I heard a lot was “Stay in your lane!”  This, it turns out, is good advice, not only for driving but for many other activities in life.  I’ve…

Sermon on July 12, 2026“The Sower”By: Kimo Kimokeo I think that we’re fortunate to live in the Central Valley of California, especially this time of the year when garden vegetables and fruit are coming into season. In my neighborhood, plums, peaches, and English walnuts are being shared. Today’s Gospel touches on growing things and harvesting. In the 13th Chapter of Matthew, we read about Jesus sharing His story or the Parable of the Sower. We learn that it is a large crowd that Jesus is speaking to. If you’re like me, you may wonder did Jesus always draw a large…

Sermon on July 5, 2026“Come on Up“By: The Rev. Mike Kinman Hear the Gospel according to Bruce Springsteen Can’t see nothing in front of me Can’t see nothing coming up behind Make my way through this darkness I can’t feel nothing but this chain that binds me Lost track of how far I’ve gone How far I’ve gone, how high I’ve climbed On my back’s a sixty-pound stone On my shoulder, a half-mile line Come on up for the rising Come on up, lay your hands in mine Come on up for the rising Come on up for the rising…

Sermon on June 28, 2026“Graduation Sermon”By: James Hochbrueckner Hello my name is James Hochbrueckner. I’ve been at St. Martin’s for the past three years and you may have seen me dabbling in everything from acolyting, to convention, to choir.  As you may have guessed, either from the announcement or that I’ve been here suspiciously long for a college student, this is my Senior Sermon and soon I’ll be heading off to Argentina and Uruguay to do a service year with the ELCA’s Young Adults in Global Mission program. As with any major or sometimes quite minor changes in life, I…

Sermon on May 31, 2026“An Ecosystem of Love“By: Rev. Pamela Dolan When I was in middle school, I briefly took part in a confirmation class at my local Roman Catholic parish. I say “briefly,” because I’m not sure how many classes I attended, but I know that I did not go on to be confirmed with the rest of the class. I vaguely remember being told that Confirmation is an affirmation of faith, a time when we choose to make a mature commitment to the promises made on our behalf at Baptism.  And I definitely remember telling my mother that…

Sermon on May 17, 2026“Set Free“By: Rev. Debbie Hawkins Set free. Sometimes I worry about being found acceptable in God’s sight, about accumulating enough “brownie points,” as someone recently put it, to be considered worthy of heaven or God’s care. I worry I need to do something to make sure God loves me, notices me, but maybe not too much, hoping whatever it is I am doing will lead God to say, “well done, good and faithful servant, now enter into the joy of your master.” Jesus even suggests we should be thinking like this or at least he tells…

Sermon on May 3, 2026“Satisfaction”By: Rev. Pamela DolanGospel: John 14: 1-14 There’s a reason that one of the most enduring and popular rock songs of all time is the Rolling Stones’s “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” which was released before I was born and still gets airplay today. Okay, one reason is definitely that guitar riff by Keith Richards, but another reason is that we live in a society that is rooted in dissatisfaction. If that sounds like a too-sweeping generalization, I invite you to imagine what would happen if one day everyone in this country woke up completely emotionally…