Sermons
Not exactly a diplomat
The Second Sunday of Advent is the Sunday of Peace. The Isaiah reading makes sense. The Romans reading makes sense. The Matthew reading . . . well it doesn’t really fit the theme. Or does it. I suppose it all comes back to what we think John the Baptist was trying to do; he wasn’t particularly interested in bring peace. John’s mission was to introduce his cousin, Jesus the Messiah,…
The end of the year
NOTE: I sound the way I do as I am getting over bronchitis, don’t adjust your listening device, it probably won’t get any better. Today is the last Sunday in the Liturgical year, hence the name of this post. The Lectionary ends the church year with Christ the King Sunday, or Reign of Christ Sunday depending on where you worship, which is an interesting idea. The last Sunday before the…
Work is biblical
I like work. I like to work.* I realize that not everyone feels the same way and that’s okay but there are a couple of observations I’d like to make about work. First, work is not a necessary evil because work is not evil. Some work is evil, some is foolish, some is dangerous, etc. but work per se is not evil. I go to some pains to work this…
Remembrance Sunday
Remembrance Sunday isn’t the easiest of Sundays for me . . . and lots of other folks too of course. It isn’t that it triggers my combat related PTSD, I don’t have combat related PTSD, rather it triggers a wave of emotions. Emotions like regret and sadness but also gratitude and joy. I think it is the mixed bag that makes it even less easy. But, just because something isn’t…
What kind of a call?
This Sunday we looked at calling and the kind of people that Jesus calls. As it turns out there are at least two kinds of calls. The first is the initial call that God extends to people. This is the one that some of us experienced when we were so young we barely remember it. Others had a more dramatic, or at least more easily remembered, and later in life…
Payback is . . . not what you think
Ah, payback. “Payback,” or perhaps “karma,” is something we all have experience with. There is even a reasonably familiar saying or proverb that uses a particular vulgarity that prevents me from quoting it here but I’m sure you can fill it in: Payback is a [*****]. But is it always so? As I reflected on two of the Lectionary passages for this Sunday, Joel 2:23-32 and Luke 18:9-14, I was…
Some things only seem easy
Faith. One of those words that we all know the meaning of perfectly well but find very difficult to define. In today’s Lectionary readings we have several references to faith: “the righteous live by their faith” Habakkuk 2:4, “I am reminded of your sincere faith” 2 Timothy 1:5, “The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!’” Luke 17:5 (all references from the NRSV). So what brings all of these…
An age old question
Okay, this might not be a real “age old question” but it is a question that is asked frequently and has been for a long time, namely, is contentment “settling”? That three word question is the sermon title for these sermons and it springs from our Epistle lesson for today, 1 Timothy 6:6-19, feel free to click the link to read the whole passage. There is something in many of…
Sometimes you just have to
Prayer is one of the aspects of the Christian life that most of us are pretty sure we understand. I hasten to add that we don’t think we understand all of it by any means. We are still baffled why God answers some prayers in the way we expect and want and doesn’t answer others. We might struggle with finding time pray or think we could pray better but all…
Don’t beat yourself up
Okay, the post title is good advice more or less anytime. There is something about most of the humans I have ever met that makes it easier for them (and me, who am I trying to kid) to look at all of their many faults and decide that on the basis of said faults they can’t do . . . well many things. Some of these things are quite cut…