Sunday, February 3rd, 2019 by David Oliver-Holder Have you ever found yourself thinking abo ut your life, only to say suddenly, “How in the world did I end up here?” Many, maybe even all, of God’s faithful saints must have asked themselves this question. For God works in mysterious ways, we say, and we often see the evidence of that in our…
Delivered on Sunday, January 27th, 2019 by David Oliver-Holder Next Sunday, this congregation held its annual meeting of the corp. Like most congregations, and all Presbyterian ones, we meet annually to report on the fiscal aspects of the past year. This church has done this, I would assume, just about every year since its founding in 1856. And I anticipate that it…
Delivered on Sunday, January 20th, 2019 By David Oliver-Holder A wedding ceremony as the symbol of God’s grace, as an image of what God wants to happen in the word, as the scene of an epiphany, a revelation of God. It’s almost too much to be believed. Someone has written that “Weddings are accidents waiting to happen.”[i] I have not yet seen,…
Delivered on Sunday, January 13th, 2019 By David Oliver-Holder Welcome to the Season after Epiphany. Gone are the trees of Advent and Christmas, the lights, the ornaments, and those seasons’ music. All packed away. With the arrival of January 6th, we begin a new season, with signs and showings, revelations, epiphanies. For our Orthodox sisters and brothers, January 6th is Christmas Day,…
Delivered on Sunday, January 6th, 2019 By David Oliver-Holder I greet you all in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Happy New Year! Although Christians have already begun our new liturgical year with the First Sunday of Advent, for many folks the first of January marks an important turning point. Some of us watched the ball drop in New…
Delivered on Sunday, December 23rd, 2018 By David Oliver-Holder From time to time, I will hear a song somewhere, that will stick in my head and will not go away. You know how it is. Well, it happened to me this week. The song was “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” Since it has been cycling through my mind this week, I’ve…
Delivered on Sunday, December 16th, 2018 by David Oliver-Holder Rejoicing. That’s our task for today on this third Sunday of Advent. The Christians of ancient Rome called it Gaudete. Rejoice Sunday, based on this passage we have heard from Paul’s letter to the Philippians. And what a needed word for us in these days. We want to rejoice. We want the joy…
Delivered on Sunday, December 9th, 2018 At First Presbyterian Church, Urbana By David Oliver-Holder In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said: “Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.” We know, as his followers, that searching is a fundamental aspect of faith. Saint Augustine knew this, and sought…
Delivered at the First Presbyterian Church, Urbana On Sunday, December 2nd, 2018 (Advent C1) By David Oliver-Holder There are few things that move our hearts and minds more than a good story. As good parents through the ages have done, very early in the lives of our children, we begin to tell them stories, to read stories to them. In our house,…