Sermons
One law is enough
This Sunday we talked about laws and law. There is something fundamentally human about the need to make laws or rules and something equally fundamentally human about trying to circumvent those laws or rules. I wonder if this second tendency is the source of Paul’s observation in Romans 5:20 “But law came in, with the result that the trespass multiplied; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (NRSV)….
Stop with the categories
It is virtually impossible for us, as humans, to keep from putting people and things into categories. Categorization isn’t bad or evil, it is just a thing that we all do. I have read that one of the actions that we do best is pattern recognition, which is all about categories. We put what we recognize into one category and what we don’t in another; friends go here and family…
Debt and grace
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 I expect for others, to keep remembering. Over and over again I find myself living…
Why talk about dying?
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 in the Lectionary. This week’s texts actually have two stories about dying and, what…
Pentecost!
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 very happy it worked that way. Also, I am not in the pulpit for the…
The gifts of Acts – part five
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 exorcising an irritating demon. This story has earthquakes, pseudo-prison breaks, suicide prevention, redemption ….
The gifts of Acts – part four
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 find yourself frightened of it too. Outreach is not “shoving” God down anyone’s throat;…
The gifts of Acts – part three
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 it have to do with us. The short answer is a lot. There are many…
The gifts of Acts – part two
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. God would have to spend any time at all thinking and talking about miracles…
The gifts of Acts – part one
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 with hundreds or thousands of other preachers every Sunday. So why depart from this? There…