Dave Buerstetta on striving to do justice and love others while walking humbly with God
Our sermon series, “Privilege and Promise: This is America” concluded a few weeks back with a powerful sermon from Pastor Danita and an insightful special guest on the Zoom chat following worship. By the end of that Zoom call, I felt encouraged and hopeful about the leader of the Woodridge Police Department, the culture that …
We said from the beginning that our sermon series, “Privilege and Promise: This is America,” would make us all uncomfortable. We said from the beginning that this series would make us incensed and mournful. We said from the beginning that this series would challenge us but also, we hoped, teach us. We said from the …
Last Sunday my wonderful colleague, Rev. Danita Anderson, gave us a powerful sermon about a legit American hero: Rep. John Lewis. I’ve written previously about how, shamefully, I was in my 30s before I really knew who John Lewis was and why he was so important to our country’s history — and present. As I’ve …
My dad, Ken, would have turned 83 today. Pretty sure I only wrote about this once before. For reasons I cannot fathom, I feel compelled to do so again today. Just over four years ago, my dad died suddenly after one last night out on the town. I'm being more than a little facetious with …
As promised in my previous post, what follows are some of the resources that have educated me and influenced my recent sermons. (A version of this first appeared in my church blog.) As you know, we are in the midst of our summer sermon series on racism and becoming actively antiracist, “Privilege and Promise: This …
It was my turn to preach again Sunday. (We are on a break from the "Privilege and Promise: This is America" sermon series. But it returns soon. Of course, it is objectively obvious that racism does not take a break, so let’s not stop striving every day to be actively antiracist.) The lectionary gave us …
Last week I shared what I wrote to our congregation in response to the racist murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and so many others (to which we must now add Rayshard Brooks). I recently followed that up with a post of next steps, especially for we who are white. Here's what I wrote. I hope …
Merry Christmas! The closest thing I have to a tradition on this blog is this Christmas day offering. Each Christmas I post the Isaiah passage below (which is a reading for Christmas Eve worship every year); John Lennon's "Happy Christmas (War is Over)," which I find the world's best and most challenging Christmas song; and …
Merry Christmas! The closest thing I have to a tradition on this blog is this Christmas day offering. Each Christmas I post the Isaiah passage below (which is a reading for Christmas Eve worship every year); John Lennon's "Happy Christmas (War is Over)", which I find the world's best and most challenging Christmas song; and …
What lessons are our young people learning from us? In what ways are we teaching and sharing the messages they receive? That video has been making the rounds across the interwebs lately. It's an incredible performance and a stark reminder that our children and youth are extremely perceptive and they see and hear things we …
All That I Can't Leave Unsaid 