Sermon for March 15th, 2026

A monster walked into a bar one day. When the bartender looked up and saw a monster standing there, he said "Hey, did you know there's an energy drink named after you?" The monster got really excited, and said "You have a drink named Fred?"

Monsters have terrified and fascinated people since the very dawn of humanity. They appear in our earliest art, literature, and mythology. They adorn the architecture of some of our most prestigious buildings, and they routinely draw larger audiences than some of our highest paid movie actors and actresses. We love monsters. We fear monsters. We love to fear monsters.

But what are they? Where do they come from? Are they real? Imaginary? Good? Evil? Somewhere in between? What does the Bible say about monsters? And what does our fascination with monsters say about us? For the next few weeks, we'll be exploring these questions--particularly three larger-than-life monsters: Behemoth, Leviathan, and Satan, as they are depicted in the biblical Book of Job and in ancient, medieval and modern art.

Along the way, we'll tackle the difficult but important subject of monstrosities in our world today, from horrific natural disasters to very real, very human monstrosities that fill our news headlines on a daily basis. Like the character Job, we'll ask the question "Where is God in the midst of these things?" and what should be our response to them as faithful, intelligent human beings?