Sermons
What are we looking for and where are we going?
Two of the most common questions we have at significant points of our lives are “what are we looking for?” and “where are we going?” Most of the time we don’t ask these questions because already know the answers. But there are times when we really need to know. If we need to know because we are on vacation in a new city (remember those things? vacations?) then there is…
Sheep and shepherds, not sheep or shepherds
Sheep and shepherds. If there is a prevailing image in the Bible it might just be this one. There are 218 uses of “sheep” in the NRSV and and another 113 of “shepherd” or “shepherds.” I don’t know how that stacks up against any other significant word in the Bible but that’s a lot. So does our familiarity with this image, or these images I suppose, mean we have nothing…
Faith and doubt, courage and fear
This Sunday we have another one of those things that is from the Bible but not everyone knows the origin, namely, “Doubting Thomas.” I have known several (many?) people use the phrase who were very surprised to find out it was from the Bible. That doesn’t make them bad people or anything, rather it highlights the universality of the story in our Gospel reading for today. I suspect everyone has…
It’s Easter no matter what!
It is Easter Sunday! The Sunday where we celebrate the Resurrection of Our Lord by getting together and worshiping and then eating with family and friends . . . except this year is different. Everything about this year since March is different, why would we think Easter would be spared? We can complain about it if we wish, we can pretend nothing is different, we can turn our backs on…
Cognitive dissonance Sunday?
So today is Palm / Passion Sunday. I’m drawing a blank on any other day of the year that draws together two such disparate notions. On the one hand we have Jesus entering Jerusalem in triumph, lauded by the crowds with palm branches and cloaks thrown on the road before him. On the other hand we have Jesus being crucified. Who had the bright idea to put these together? The…
Dead? Are you sure?
We all know what dead means. During these days of the COVID-19 pandemic the notion is probably closer to the surface than usual.It is all too easy to see “dead” as the end because it usually is an end. Even someone who dislikes binaries and false-dichotomies as much as I do admit the binary of dead and alive. But sometimes there are exceptions. Two of the Lectionary texts for this…
The darkness is not too dark
This is quite the new normal we are finding ourselves in. Social distancing is changing almost everything we do from personal interaction to buying groceries to how we do church. Church is one of those things we may not think is too important until we are forced to think about what it is like when we can’t go. The two congregations it is my joy to serve, Knox Presbyterian and…
Thirsty?
Thirst is one of those things we can all relate to. Everyone has been thirsty at some point in their life. Water is something we are all familiar with. The Lectionary texts for this Sunday have a couple of stories about water and thirst. In the Old Testament lesson, the Israelite people complain about the lack of water and God provides water for them (Exodus 17:1-7). In the Gospel lesson,…
Where are we going?
Very few of us like being kept in the dark about where we are going. There might have been a time when we were happy to jump into a car with our friends who were going “somewhere” without knowing where “somewhere” was . . . but lots of us, certainly me, are past that sort of thing. If I’m going somewhere I want to know where that is. How do…
Let’s talk mountains and mountaintops
Mountaintop experiences . . . everyone has had them. Some people have even had them on the top of physical mountains. I’m not one of those people. I have never been on top of a mountain, I’ve barely been on the top of a hill. But I have had “mountaintop” experiences. “Mountaintop experiences” are the shorthand we have for profound experiences which generally take place out of our usual context….