Dave Buerstetta on striving to do justice and love others while walking humbly with God
This past Sunday, our son and I simultaneously arrived at our driveway from opposite directions. I, returning from church. He, from baseball practice. Our conversation went something like this:Him: How was church?Me: Good! The band played for the first time in a while and sounded great! We had a good crowd, including some folks we …
To paraphrase one of our great musician-philosophers, “Infinite war, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing!” But in the whole of human history, what has been more constant than war? Further, many of us were taught history, both of our country and of the world, through a series of wars. War seems to define us. …
Continue reading ‘Infinite War or Excelsior!?’ a sermon on Isaiah 36
I am bad at posting the text of my sermons -- mostly because I don't usually write a manuscript from which to preach and then post. Plus, I'm convinced that sermons are best experienced when heard, rather than just read. Here then, is the audio from yesterday's sermon. My editing talents are limited so there …
Merry Christmas! It's my Christmas day tradition to post this Isaiah passage (which is a reading for Christmas Eve worship every year), Lennon's "Happy Christmas (War is Over)" (the world's best - and most challenging - Christmas song), and a lighter second song that changes each year. You're welcome. 😉 Isaiah 9:2-7: The people who …
Note: Celebrating Sabbath is my attempt to begin each week with a reminder of our true identity: whose we are and who we are called to be. I find these word from Isaiah doubly good as they are the ones Jesus references, according to the gospel of Luke, in his first public speech. In other …
You might think that putting up a sermon is the easiest kind of post. I mean, really, the content is already created, how hard could it be? Yet, somehow, it never ends up being that easy for me. Once again, here it is Thursday and I'm just now posting my sermon from this past Sunday …
Do you want to your faith to matter? Matter both to you and to the world? Do you want your life to be full, meaningful, deep, resonant, beautiful, everlasting? I asked this in my Jan. 27 sermon. I said that to answer those questions in the affirmative means making Jesus’ way our home. What is …
Not exactly sure why, but unlike many of my more disciplined colleagues, I've never been one to post a written version of a sermon. Probably has mostly to do with not preaching from a manuscript. Posting a few notes with a few more-fully written paragraphs and a few other thoughts that end up not being said...well, …
Continue reading “That’s some salty language!” – final version of Feb.6 sermon
All That I Can't Leave Unsaid 