Join us for a reflection on Luke 14:15-24, where Jesus tells a parable about a great dinner party and unexpected guests. On this World Communion Sunday, we explore what it means when those initially invited make excuses not to come, and how God's table becomes a place of radical welcome for those who have been historically excluded. This message challenges us to move beyond superficial acceptance to genuine welcome, reminding us that God's invitation knows no borders.
In Luke 16:19-31, Jesus tells a challenging parable about a rich man and a poor man named Lazarus that goes far deeper than a simple morality tale about wealth. Drawing on Robert Frost's poem "Mending Wall," Samuel Wells' A Nazareth Manifesto, and contemporary insights about isolation and community, this sermon explores how we create and maintain barriers between ourselves and others - barriers that can become permanent spiritual chasms if we're not careful. The parable invites us to examine what walls we build, what we're walling in or out, and how we might work toward the kind of beloved community God intends, where no one suffers alone outside the gate.
In this sermon from September 14, 2025 (14th Sunday after Pentecost/Proper 19/Year C), we explore Luke 15:1-10 and Psalm 51:1-10, examining Jesus' parables of the lost sheep and lost coin. These stories challenge us to consider God's relentless seeking of the lost and the true nature of celebration in community. Against the backdrop of recent events and social division, we wrestle with questions of who we consider "lost" and our role in both seeking justice and extending welcome. This message coincides with the ordination and installation of new church officers, connecting their call to leadership with the broader themes of radical hospitality and communal wholeness.
In this sermon exploring Jeremiah 18:1-11 and Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18, we examine how God works both individually and communally to shape us into vessels for justice. Using imagery of pottery and knitting, we consider what it means to remain malleable in God's hands while navigating the tensions between personal spiritual formation and systemic change. The sermon reflects on how covenant community bridges the gap between individual transformation and broader societal reformation.
In this sermon on Luke 14:7-14, Rev. Dr. Howe reflects on Jesus' teachings about power, vulnerability, and radical hospitality in the context of another tragic school shooting. Jesus' words about dinner party etiquette reveal deeper truths about the upside-down nature of God's kingdom. This sermon examines how our cultural obsession with power and control contributes to violence, while Jesus calls us to intentionally choose vulnerability and authentic community. Through the metaphor of the shared table, we are challenged to examine the ways we cling to false power and invited to participate in dismantling systems of violence through radical welcome and genuine relationship.
In this week's sermon, we explore Jeremiah 23:23-29, examining how we often try to contain and domesticate God to fit our human expectations. Using imagery of cats in boxes, wheat and straw, and various types of hammers, we consider the difference between temporary comfort and lasting spiritual nourishment. The sermon addresses current events like challenges to civil rights, connecting them to the biblical call for justice and authentic prophecy. Through Jeremiah's metaphors of fire and hammer, we examine what it means to speak difficult truths in love while resisting the temptation to soften God's transformative word.
In this sermon exploring Hebrews 11:1-16 and Genesis 15:1-6, Pastor Charissa examines what it means to live by faith rather than sight. Through a personal story about navigating unfamiliar roads in England, she illustrates how faith calls us to journey forward even when we can't see the complete destination.
Today's Gospel lesson is from Luke 12:13-21. Jesus responds to an inheritance dispute with a parable about a rich fool who hoards his abundance rather than sharing with the community. The sermon explores different forms of greed beyond material wealth, examining how our relationship with resources - whether money, attention, or influence - reflects our spiritual priorities and understanding of God's kingdom economics. Through this lens, we see how true security comes not from what we store up, but from how we participate in God's economy of grace and mutual care.
Exploring Jesus' teaching on prayer through the lens of community and trust, this sermon examines how the Lord's Prayer shapes both our relationship with God and our connections with neighbors. Beginning with the parable of the midnight visitor, we discover how persistent prayer and radical hospitality transform our understanding of God's provision and our role in meeting one another's needs. The message challenges us to move beyond transactional prayer to embrace a deeper trust in God's abundance and our calling to be part of the answer to "Give us this day our daily bread."
In this July 20, 2025 sermon exploring Luke 10:38-42 and Colossians 1:15-28, we examine the familiar story of Mary and Martha through the lens of Christ's reconciling presence. The sermon unpacks how Mary's radical choice to sit at Jesus' feet connects with Paul's cosmic vision of Christ as "the firstborn of all creation." Through three movements - Martha's dilemma, Mary's unconventional response, and Jesus' affirmation of "the better part" - we discover how choosing relationship with Christ over anxious activity transforms both individual discipleship and community life. This message speaks to our modern struggles between doing and being, challenging us to center our lives on the One who reconciles all things and offers what cannot be taken away.
Year c Proper 9 First Scripture Reading Psalm 66:1–9 Second Scripture Reading Luke 10:1–11, 16–20
In this Ascension Day sermon focusing on Ephesians 1:15-23, we explore how Jesus' ascension completes the narrative arc of his earthly ministry and transforms our understanding of power. Through the metaphor of adjusting to light in a dark room, borrowed from Archbishop Rowan Williams, we see how Jesus becomes not just the light that blinds us, but the light by which we see the world anew. The sermon contrasts worldly power, which takes and dominates, with Christ's power, which serves and uplifts. Pastor Charissa examines how surrendering control and embracing vulnerability in community reveals the true power of Christ's kingdom. This message, delivered outdoors in the park, reminds us that the Ascension isn't just about Jesus leaving, but about his ongoing presence illuminating our path forward as we learn to see and live differently in the world.
First Sunday as the new installed pastor at Sixth Presbyterian Church. Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year C, May 25, 2025. Preaching on John 14:23-29.
Woe to the Rich, the Well-Fed, the Carefree, and the Famous by Charissa Clark Howe
Jesus is exactly where he said he would be by Charissa Clark Howe
Preached at Waverly Presbyterian Church, January 12, 2025. Isaiah 43:1–7 (ESV) 1 But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. 3 For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. 4 Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life. 5 Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you. 6 I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, 7 everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.” Luke 3:15–17 ESV 15 As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, 16 John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” Luke 3:21–22 ESV 21 Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”