Sermons

I preach about grace fairly often. This shouldn’t be too much of a surprise, after all grace is one of the hallmarks of following Jesus so it shows up in the Lectionary texts with some frequency. I also very much enjoy preaching about grace because it is one of the hardest things for me, and ...

 Let me begin by saying how good it is to be back! I had a wonderful time away, Portland, OR is a very lovely city and Heather is the very best person to explore anything with. So why would I preach about dying after a delightful trip? The usual answer works here too, because it is ...

 Just to clear things up from the get-go, there is only one sermon below because today was a joint service with the folks from St. Mark’s Presbyterian joining up with Knox Presbyterian congregation to celebrate the Knox Sunday School year. It seems especially appropriate to have a joint service on Pentecost Sunday so I was ...

 We’ve made it to the end of the season of Easter and our look at how the book of Acts is filled with gifts. This week we are looking at the gift of “God at work.” The Lectionary has us reading about Paul and Silas and their short stay in prison as a consequence of Paul ...

 This Sunday’s look at gifts is a look at one of the scarier gifts . . . outreach. There is something about “outreach” or evangelism or whatever you wish to call it that seems to frighten many church goers. If you ask some of these people to describe this thing they are afraid of you frequently ...

So this Sunday we are looking again into the book of Acts. This time we are looking at the possibility of a changed life. In particular, we are looking at St. Peter and his experience with the vision that told him he could eat anything, even lobster! Which is a good story but what does ...

 We are continuing our look at the book of Acts from the perspective of “gifts,” i.e. gifts to the church of today from the history of the earliest church. This Sunday we are looking at the gift of “the miraculous.” It might seem strange that any religion that purports to serve a transcendent, omniscient, omnipotent, etc. ...

 I have decided to preach what might be conventionally referred to as a sermon series; by which I mean a series of sermons thematically connected. My usual response to the question “Why don’t you preach a sermon series?” is that I do, the series is called, wait for it, the Lectionary! I preach this series ...

Doubt. There are so many things that all people have in common; doubt is simply one more. One of the things I point out in both sermons is that doubt is part of the normal human condition. Being completely convinced of everything at all times is not the sign of good mental health. We see one ...

This Sunday is what is now called Palm / Passion Sunday. When I was little it was simply Palm Sunday, as it still is in many churches, but the exponential increase in busy-ness, working hours, everything, means many people are simply unable to attend a Good Friday service. It is tempting to fulminate against a ...