Sermons
It’s a journey
“Are we there yet?” a question that can strike fear into the heart of the bravest driver. It doesn’t matter if you are driving your family, friends, co-workers, anyone; the question is one with no good answer other than “yes.” This Sunday I preached on what it means to realize that we are almost there (wherever “there” might be). Being almost there means that you don’t have to stake out…
Oh that lost son
The parable of the Prodigal Son. We all know it well. We know about the wastrel younger son and how that was how we were and the sanctimonious older son is how we might be now. Or do we. One of the most interesting things about this story is how strongly we identify as one or the other son; it depends on how we are feeling about ourselves at that…
Old. Better or worse?
“Old. Better or worse?” How’s that for a context free question? And yet, I am certain that at least some people have a strong opinion on whether old is better or worse, context not at all required. This Sunday’s sermons come primarily from the New Testament lesson, 1 Corinthians 10:1-13. In this passage Paul relates how the original Israelites had made bad choices that led to most of them not…
Sincere or not, imitate
This Sunday’s sermons spring from one of the verses in the Epistle lesson for today, “Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us.” (Phil 3:17 NRSV) Furthermore, people who are in a relationship with God are called to imitate God; “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children” (Eph 5:1 NRSV) seems pretty clear. But are we “allowed”…
So it’s Lent!
Today is the first Sunday in Lent. What does that make you think of? What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of “Lent”? Is it glum people giving up chocolate or beer or TV? Is it the character Klinger on the show MASH giving up atheism for Lent? Is it complete bafflement that anyone would give up stuff just because? I’m not here to tell you…
Transfiguration for everyone
The blog title is just a hair flippant, which shouldn’t surprise anyone really, but it is trying to get across part of what I was preaching about today. Today is Transfiguration Sunday in the church year and it all revolves around the story of the Transfiguration of Jesus on a mountain. He was there with Peter, James and John and suddenly he was transfigured, transformed, into a dazzling figure with…
Not just a Beatles song
This Sunday we talked about love and how could “All you need is love” not go through my head? Well it couldn’t, it even infiltrated the sermon title, “Love is all we need.” So was this just a mushy sermon about how if we all love each other everything will be fine? Not exactly. The text we used is one of the most well known texts in the New Testament,…
One body
So why do you think Paul uses “body” as a metaphor for the church? There are several reasons I’m sure but I suspect one of the biggest ones is that “body” is something that is common to all of us. In today’s Epistle lesson, 1 Corinthians 12:12-31, Paul makes good use of the notion of the church as body of Christ to help all of us remember that there are…
What kind of a question is, “Whose gifts?” anyway?
If you have been following me for any length of time in this blog or in any of the churches I have preached in then you know two things about me.* First, I like sermon titles that are questions and second, I like to talk about spiritual gifts; this Sunday we got both! There is something about asking and answering a question that often, for me at least, stimulates some…
Jesus’ baptism considered
We are “required” to consider Jesus’ baptism every year. The first Sunday after Epiphany is called the Baptism of our Lord Sunday, so it is more or less inescapable; but why? Why is this in the church calendar and given its own Sunday? Why do we we need to revisit something like this every year? I have addressed the benefits of repetition more than once so I won’t bring the…