Sermons
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Proper 22, Pentecost 21, Year A: Do Not Be Afraid! (October 5, 2008)
Our lesson from the Hebrew Scriptures is the familiar story of Moses receiving and transmitting to God’s People the Law, or at least that portion of it that has come to be called “The Ten Commandments.” At the end of the reading are verses 19 and 20 of Exodus Chapter 20:
When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they were afraid and trembled and stood at a distance, and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we will die.” Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has come only to test you and to put the fear of him upon you so that you do not sin.” (Exodus 20:19-20) (Read this sermon here.)
Lent 3, Year A: Called to Be Wells: Sermon for Lent 3A (February 24, 2008)
The story we have just heard from the Gospel according to John is very funny! It is a joke! The only problem is that you have to be a first century Palestinian to appreciate it. We have to put ourselves into the life of a first century Palestinian to get the point of John’s story. (Read this sermon here.)
Lent 2, Year A: A Sermon about Nicodemus: Fire (February 17, 2008)
Fire. For just a moment, before we delve into the story of Nicodemus’s conversation with Jesus, I want you to think about fire. Close your eyes and imagine a fire and listen to how one professor of mythological studies describes this archetypical element: “It fascinates and frightens, warms and scorches. Too little and we die. Too much and we die. ….” (Read this sermon here.)
Proper 28, Year C: A Bright, Brand New Day (November 18, 2007)
If you’ve ever been here for the “Midnight Mass” on a Christmas Eve, you may have noticed that when we sing Silent Night, as we traditionally do at the end of that service, I don’t sing. It’s not that I don’t like Silent Night; I do! It’s a lovely carol. Perhaps it’s because I like it too well. The reason I don’t sing it is that I can’t sing it. It’s one of those songs that, for some reason, “tugs at my heart strings.” I get a lump in my throat and I just can’t sing! (Read this sermon here.)
Note: There are no sermons published for Year C Propers 25 through 27.
Proper 24, Year C: God Is a Nag! (October 21, 2007)
What is this parable about? Jesus told this parable to his disciples “about their need to pray always and not lose heart;” at least that’s what Luke tells us this parable is about. But I’m not so sure this is a parable about prayer.
Does Jesus really mean that we are supposed to nag God? Is that what it means? Does it mean that if we harass God enough, if we beg long enough, if we keep asking for something often enough, God will finally give in and give us what we want?
I don’t think so. (Read the rest of this sermon here.)
Proper 23, Year C: Get Going! (October 14, 2007)
The experience of being a candidate for the episcopate is over. Episcopalians in Nevada selected another nominee and so the journey for Evelyn and me is ended. It was a good journey, a voyage of discovery. We learned things about our home state we might never have known. We met and formed relationships with interesting people, one of whom is the new bishop of Nevada. We discerned things about the church there and about ourselves. We grew and we changed, and that is the most important thing.
It really does not matter that I was not elected bishop. That was never the guaranteed end of the journey, as I kept cautioning all of you. No end of any journey is ever guaranteed. But what is guaranteed is that along the path of every journey we will learn things, we will find new things, we will meet new people. Every journey is a voyage of discovery and an opportunity for growth and change. (Read the rest of this sermon here.)
Proper 22, Year C: We Are Worthless Slaves (October 7, 2007)
When driving through town, you come to a light-controlled intersection and the light is red. You stop and wait for the green light. It comes. You proceed at legal speed through the intersection and go on your way. What do you expect to happen? What do you expect the police or the city’s mayor to do because you stopped in obedience to the traffic signal?
Or this … On April 15, you complete all those forms produced by the Internal Revenue Service, correctly reporting your income and accurately computing the taxes you own. You write a check for the amount calculated and enclose it with the forms which you mail to the IRS before the midnight deadline. What do you expect to happen? What do you expect the Internal Revenue Commission or President Bush to do because you obeyed the Internal Revenue Code and paid your tax?
What did the Pharisees expect to happen because they had adequately live up to the purity code? What did the Sadducees expect to happen because they had offered the proper sacrifices and performed the temple rituals in conformity with the holiness code? (Read this sermon here.)
Proper 10, Year C: The God of Surprises (July 15, 2007)
Our reading from the Hebrew Scriptures today is from the Prophet Amos; in fact, it’s one of my favorite portions of the Bible. I love Amos’s response to Amaziah: “I am no prophet, nor a prophet’s son; but I am a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees, and the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’” Amos is an example of how our God is the God of the unexpected, the God of Surprises! (Read the rest of this sermon here.)
Proper 9, Year C: Not a “Christian Nation” (July 8, 2007)
In the ancient tradition of the church, holidays falling on a weekday were celebrated on the Sunday following – that was referred to as being the Sunday within the “octave” of the holiday. But we live in a society which anticipates rather than celebrates, so most churches in our country probably acknowledged the Fourth of July last week, as we did using the collect for the Fourth as the closing petition of our Prayers of the People.
But I have kept that ancient tradition in mind as I thought about preaching this Sunday’s lessons about Naaman (from the Second Book of Kings) and the Seventy (from Luke‘s Gospel). (Read the rest of this sermon here.)
Feast of Sts. Peter & Paul: Visions (July 1, 2007)
If you look through the Kalendar of the Church Year, you will find something very interesting about our Patron Saint, Paul, and his First Century Christian compatriot, Peter … neither of them has a day devoted to him and only to him.
There is, of course, a feast entitled “The Confession of St. Peter” which commemorates the event when Jesus asked, “Who do people say I am?” and then more pointedly, “Who do you say I am?” Peter’s answer was, “You are the messiah! The son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:13-16) We have a day devoted to celebrating that answer. (Read the rest of this sermon here.)
Nativity of John the Baptist: There’s a crack in everything (June 24, 2007)
At our late service on Sunday, June 24, 2007, the local lodge of Free and Accepted Masons joined the congregation. Masons do this once a year in many locations. On what the church calls “The Nativity of St. John the Baptist,” which Masons call “St. John’s Day,” they gather as a lodge and attend church together at one particular place. Because our rector is a member of the local lodge, we agreed to host this corporate worship event and invited the brethren to join the congregation. We used the lessons of St. John’s birthday commemoration instead of the regular lectionary texts: the Gospel lesson is the story of John’s birth, Luke 1:57-80. In addition, we are also baptized a little girl named Hannah at the late service.
The commemoration of the birth of John the Baptist is sometimes called “the little Christmas” because in celebrating this feast we are celebrating Christ’s Incarnation.
Both holidays are feasts of light. The birth of Jesus is observed on December 25 at the time of the winter solstice, while the birth of his forerunner is observed six months earlier at the time of the summer solstice. A popular custom in many countries on this day is the kindling of “St. John’s Fire,” a huge bonfire which symbolizes Christ the Light. As the fire burns, the celebrants dance and sing around it. One commentator refers to the singing as “an indispensable part of the festivities.” (Read the rest of this sermon here.)
Proper 7, Year C: How do we recognize prophets? (June 24, 2007)
How do we recognize Prophets?
In our readings from Scripture today, we have situations in which it was quite easy to recognize God’s messenger … Elijah, the Prophet of the God of Israel, just before going out to spend his time in the desert cave described in today’s reading from the First Book of Kings had, as our reading tells us, slain the false prophets of Baal, the god of the Sidonians, in a sort of battle of prophecy. It was pretty clear from the outcome of that contest that Elijah was a man of God.
I assume that the Gerasenes would have recognized the man freed from demonic possession and, because of his miraculous healing, would have recognized him as some how special, perhaps even as a prophet as he told them about what Jesus had done for him.
Paul assures us in his letter to the church in Ephesus that the gift of prophecy is an on-going charism of the Holy Spirit and that throughout the church “some [will] be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry….” So, how do we recognize Prophets? (Read the rest of this sermon here.)
Proper 6, Year C: Faith AND Works: A Both/And (June 17, 2007)
Since Martin Luther started the Reformation, a debate has raged in Christendom about whether we are saved by faith or saved by works….. This debate was sparked, in part, by the theology of St. Paul written in such letters as the one we hear today. In this epistle to the Galatians the Apostle wrote: “We know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.” (Galatians 2:16) And, again, in the Letter to the Romans, he wrote: “We hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law.” (Romans 3:28)
On the other hand, Jesus seems to answer this “salvation by faith alone” argument by his remarks in Matthew’s Gospel: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21) Today’s story from Luke’s Gospel, Jesus contrasts the actions (the works, if you will) of a self-acknowledged sinner (the woman who washes his feet) with those of a self-proclaimed righteous person (Simon the Pharisee, who is his dinner host)…. (Read the whole sermon here.)
Proper 5, Year C: Stories of Compassion (June 10, 2007)
Today, we are treated to two very similar stories. First, from the First Book of Kings we heard the story in which the Lord sends Elijah to Zarephath in Sidon to be fed by a widow. This doesn’t seem much of a journey to us and the text of our lesson don’t really help us to understand the gravity of this command. If we had started our reading just a few verses earlier ….. (Read the whole sermon here.)