Sermons
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April 7, 2024: "Steadfast Thomas?"
I grew up in a tradition where doubters were not welcome. Doubts were a sign of weakness of faith. Doubts were a sign that we did not believe sufficiently. Doubts were an indication that we were headed off the straight and narrow and on the road to hell. Yet Doubting Thomas shows us a different way. He shows us that we can have faith not just despite doubts but with the help of doubts.
March 31, 2024 | Easter: "What's So Good About Good Friday?"
more deeply into the story. Jesus has told the disciples to meet him in Galilee. We wonder if they did and how the message got to them. The ending also suggests that we go back to the opening of the Gospel. If we do, we notice afresh the first words, “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” This reminds us that what we are reading is only the beginning. There is not the sense as in other gospels that the work is over.
March 29, 2024 | Good Friday: "What's So Good About Good Friday?"
The question often arises what is so good about Good Friday? After all, this is the day of our Savior’s crucifixion and death. What could be good about murder, even if it was the work of the political system against a perceived threat? Why would we celebrate the execution of a man, especially a man that we know did nothing to harm anyone?
March 28, 2024 | Maundy Thursday: "Towel Day is Every Day"
Two thousand years before The Hitchhikers Guide, someone else took an ordinary towel tied it to his waist and turned it into something special. According to John’s Gospel, on the night of the Last Supper Jesus did something remarkably humbling. He took a basin of water and proceeded to wash the feet of the men he called his disciples, his students. He was their teacher and master and he knelt down and washed their dirty feet.
March 24, 2024: "The Men Who Would Be King"
While it is not obvious at first glance, today’s Gospel readings give us two, albeit unrelated, opposing sons. In the action of the entry into Jerusalem and in the crucifixion, we have two kings. The kings are Jesus whom Pilate labels the King of the Jews and the Emperor of Rome who is the king of Rome. These two are also referred to as sons of God. Jesus is the true Son of God while the Emperor Cult insisted that he was a son of God. They are not going head-to-head as so often happens in the Bible, but the conflict is there, nonetheless. Indeed, the first believers in Jesus knew exactly what they were doing when they called Jesus the Son of God. They were challenging the cult of the emperor, imperialism, and Roman Authority.
March 17, 2024: "To Meet The Messiah"
In today’s Gospel reading when the outsiders ask Phillip if they can meet Jesus, I wonder who they were looking forward to meeting. Did they want to meet the teacher who spoke in parables or the preacher who told about the coming of the Kingdom of God? Or did they want to meet the troublemaker who upset the tables in the Temple? Did they want to meet the miracle worker who healed the sick and lame, and raised people from the dead? Did they want to meet the erudite Rabbi whose education was a mystery? Or did they want to meet the Rabbi who violated the Sabbath?
March 10, 2024: "God So Loved"
Helping others to know Jesus is not some blunt force practice of beating it into them. Helping others know Jesus is living the life he lived. A life of self-denial, asceticism, poverty, and most importantly love and care for others. Those others were often the people that the fundamentalists of his time considered the outsiders. They were the people that the religious elites considered sinners. They were the people that the good and faithful would have nothing to do with. Yet Jesus ate with them, consorted with them, talked with them, and loved them.
March 3, 2024: "Ten Commandments or Suggestions"
Indeed, the Bible is not so much a rule book, but collection of books that calls us to ponder, think, and pray. God gave us brains and hearts to be discerning. To take what is in scripture and learn to apply it to new situations. It is hard because we want simple answers. Simple answers to complex questions makes our lives easier. But life is neither easy nor simple.
February 25, 2024: "The Joy of Lent 3"
When we put our faith in God we realize we do not need to build fortresses around ourselves. We find freedom when greed and fear no longer motivate us. We will continue to save for a child’s education, retirement or a rainy day, but we know that our savings are not the bedrock of our security. Rather we are secure in the promises of God. Even promises that seem as unlikely as those made to Abraham and Sarah.
February 18, 2024: "The Joy of Lent 2"
The season of Lent like the season of Spring is a season of joy. We rejoice in the natural world coming back to life as trees and flowers bud and bloom. We rejoice in Lent because as it is said in the Ash Wednesday liturgy “that we may remember that it is only by your gracious gift that we are given everlasting life.” We use Lent to strengthen our connection with the divine in gratitude for all that has been given to us by God through the life, ministry, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
February 14, 2024 | Ash Wednesday: "The Joy of Lent"
God wants us to come closer. God wants us to repent, in the sense of the Greek word metanoia, to turn around or to change our minds; or as Baptist preachers of my youth would say “to get back on the straight and narrow.” God wants us to find joy in this life. God’s gifts are to be relished, savored, and embraced. God wants us to be a people of love for ourselves and one another.
February 11, 2024: "Fast Car"
In a country that so desperately needs symbols of togetherness and accord across races, beliefs and generations, we can find it in the most unlikely places if we are open to what God is doing in the world over against human manufactured war, discord, violence and disillusionment.
February 4, 2024: "That's Enough"
For us to live a more Christ–like life involves two things. One is to be like Christ and live among those in need. Serve those who have less in terms of money, education, resources, and other advantages. When we serve the everyday people we are doing Jesus work. To paraphrase Teresa of Avila we are being Christ’s hands and feet in the world. The other aspect of a Christ-like life is to acknowledge that despite our many advantages we are also needy.
January 28, 2024: "Maybe I'm Amazed"
We know in our hearts that Jesus is here in worship with us every time we meet regardless if it is Sunday morning worship, midweek Evening Prayer, or Thursday Holy Eucharist. If we come expecting to be astounded and amazed I can assure you, we will be. My teaching may not be amazing, and as far as I know I have not exorcised an unclean spirit or physically healed a disabled person. Yet, we can be amazed...
January 21, 2024: "The Sound of Silence"
When we are able to calm our hearts, souls and minds we are able to connect with God more clearly and deeply. When we are busy with tasks, concerns and thoughts God has a hard time breaking through. When we are busy asking for something from God as we often do in our prayers we do not give God the room to get a word in edgewise. There has to be silence and quiet to hear God, just as we need to be quiet to hear another human being.
January 14, 2024: "God Knows"
For God’s sake and your own allow yourself to be awestruck, amazed, filled with wonder, love and praise. It is there for each of us as it was for Samuel, Eli and the psalmist. Maybe even moreso because we have their examples and writing to help point the way. Allow yourself to be enchanted. Only God knows what wonders you might see.
January 7, 2024: "Revelation for All"
Today is the Baptism of Our Lord. The day we commemorate Jesus’ baptism by John in the Jordan. The liturgical timeline may be confusing. Jesus is born on Christmas Day, thirteen days later he is a toddler being visited by the Magi, and the next day he is thirty years old being baptized by John. When people say that kids grow up quickly these days they should check out Jesus.
December 25, 2023: "Could This Be the Year"
We are a people whose hearts have been broken again and again by this world. We have put our trust in ideas, philosophies, governments, and movements and they have all turned out to have clay feet. We know there is something genuine because we have experienced it—in a sunset, in the touch of our beloved’s hand, in the smile of a stranger, in the thrill of a song, or in an unexplained, but very real, joy.
December 24, 2023: "A Child's Christmas"
Perhaps we feel that it is inappropriate to feel so much joy, that it is only children who should be allowed this much fun. Perhaps there is a social prohibition to being so joyful. That we will be stigmatized as immature or childish. That kind of merriment is only for youngsters who do not know the difficulties of life. Who do not know how hard it is to have to work to support a family or ourselves. Who do not know the many disappointments that are ahead, profound disappointments that far exceed not getting the desired gift for Christmas. Who have not felt the pain and loss of relationships and death.
December 24, 2023: "All You Need is Love"
Love God and love each other. It seems rather straightforward but goodness gracious is it hard to put into practice every day. We have a way of getting on each other’s nerves. We do things that hurt one another unintentionally and sometimes intentionally. We get tired and we get short tempered. We endure the changes and chances of life and we lose our cool. Sometimes we regret it and sometimes we don’t.
December 17, 2023: "Let It Begin with Me"
The writer of third Isaiah must have felt the way Mary did when she was anointed by God to give birth to the Christ child. There is something so empowering when we are touched by God and given a task to complete. But I have long wondered how many young women God asked to bear the child before God got an affirmative answer. Were there other young women in Israel equally qualified, but unwilling to take on this monumental task? How many of the people with whom third Isaiah shared his prophecy turned aside rather than take on the care of the poor, oppressed, imprisoned, and brokenhearted?
December 3, 2023: "Angst Be to God"
Each year on this first Sunday of Advent we are given a gospel reading that is apocalyptic in nature. This year it is what is known as the Little Apocalypse from the Gospel of Mark. It feels to me like such a dark way to begin this season of expectant waiting. Jesus calls us to “Keep awake” and ready for this day of judgement and it feels a bit scary.
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November 26, 2023: "Sheep and Goats"
For some the Christ in them shines forth like a polished diamond from day one. For most of us the diamond is in the rough and needs cutting and polishing over a lifetime. For others the diamond gets hidden under pain, abuse, hardheartedness, sadness, depression, and difficult circumstances. Regardless, the Christ is still there and Jesus calls us to look for and serve it in everyone.
November 23, 2023: "Giving Thanks"
This Thanksgiving Day let us acknowledge our dependence on God, and rededicate ourselves to “do justice, and love kindness, and to walk humbly with [our] God?”
October 22, 2023: "Heads or Tails"
It is obvious that the coin belongs to the emperor, his face is on it. But what exactly belongs to God. Jesus did not say. He just said, “Give … to God the things that are God’s.” What do you suppose Jesus meant by that?
October 15, 2023: "True Heaven"
As we have discussed, Jesus’ parables are not fables with simple moral endings like Aesop’s fables. Neither are they allegories with a clear cast of characters thinly disguised and easily identified. Parables are not supposed to be easy. They are supposed to make us uncomfortable. Parables are supposed to help us understand how God’s Kingdom is different from the world in which we live.
October 1, 2023: "Walking Humbly with God"
All the puffing up we do makes no difference. Humility and repentance are what God asks of us. They are what give us peace.
September 24, 2023: "Loving Response"
Now if I were Jonah I would be rather proud of myself. He preached one of the simplest and most effective sermons in all of history. Billy Graham, the Pope, and televangelists have even greater crowds hear their sermons and proclamations without such dramatic effect. Jonah did a remarkable thing converting Nineveh to worship God. Yet, his response is to sulk.
September 10, 2023: "The Rest is Commentary"
The scriptures this week are strange in that they are all kind of preachy and somewhat churchy. They are about rules of being saved from God’s wrath, how to live your life, or how to treat challenging members. The passage from Matthew is the prime example...
September 3, 2023: "Burning Questions"
Regardless of what God calls us to do whether the task is large, medium or small, God also promises to be with us in the doing of the work. Just as with Moses God will supply our needs. We may be afraid to ask God what God wants us to do with our lives, because, like Moses we are comfortable where we are. We may even be afraid to pray to God for fear that God will ask us to do something we don’t want to do.
August 27, 2023: "The Power of Love"
Thank God for all of the “powerless” women in this story who took hold of power in the ways that they could. By the grace of God, they used their perceived weakness to overcome the cruelty of the powerful who sought to use power for evil purposes. They knew millennia before Paul wrote it that, “If God be for us, who can be against us?
August 13, 2023: "Envy Will Kill Ya"
Failings like envy can go so far as to damage our souls beyond repair. Beware of it. Do not fall into its trap. Pray that these negative emotions will give way to something better. These Old Testament stories are there for our edification as well as to show how God can take something bad and turn it to good.
August 6, 2023: "Transfigured for Love"
We are called this Feast of the Transfiguration to take the challenge that was first offered to Peter, James and John. That is to wake up to the power of God’s message in the person of Jesus Christ. To live as he lived loving God with all his heart, soul and might. To love all of humanity with the same lovingkindness as Jesus does.
July 16, 2023: "Seeds of Love"
The farmer chooses and prepares a specific plot of land for planting. The farmer selects land that will produce abundantly. The farmer tills the soil, pulls out the rocks, stumps, and weeds in order to give his precious seed the best chance to produce. Undoubtedly God seeks to prepare you and me to receive the precious teachings and commandments, but God does not limit the distribution of love just to those who are best prepared and most worthy.
July 2, 2023: "Do You Hear What I Hear?"
This passage begins with the narrator saying that God put Abraham to the test, but God has been testing Abraham from the get go. Whether it was the command to go forth from Haran to an unknown land, the promise of a child to aged parents, the promise of numerous progeny to a childless couple, and the promise of blessings from many people. Each command and each promise has been a test of Abraham’s faith.
June 18, 2023: "Sarah Laughed"
One of my most embarrassing moments in life happened in church of all places. It happened on a Sunday morning. Following Sunday School some of us would sit together in the first or second pew of the church worship. This particular Sunday it was just my friend David and me. I do not know what got into David, but he decided that it would be fun to tell me jokes during the sermon.
June 11, 2023: "The Path of Prayer"
I am going to ask what will seem to be a strange question especially for church. I do not want you to answer verbally or by raising your hand. Simply answer this question in your heart. Do you believe in God? As you ponder this you are welcome to have doubts.
June 4, 2023: "Trinity of Love"
Medieval mystics liked to describe the Trinitarian God as living in an eternal sacred dance. This God is creating a universe that has all of the needed attributes to be a self-loving creation. It also has all that is necessary to love not only itself but to love God. That breaks down when the human creature starts to think that it is the one capable of creating out of nothing, or at least not needing anything in order to create. It is when humanity gets too big for its britches as my mama says, that it pushes God aside as unnecessary.
May 28, 2023: "Fire in the Soul"
Like other feasts of the Church Pentecost is not just about remembering what happened a long time ago and far away. We are also called to accept the power of the Holy spirit into our own lives. The power that made it possible for the disciples to become apostles. That is to move from being students of Jesus to the ones that Jesus sends out into the world. That power is ours to claim.
May 21, 2023: "We Are Not Alone"
It seems to me that Jesus is not sending the backup team, the second stringers or bench players to take his place. Rather we are getting a double dose of the Godhead. The Son in our heart and the Spirit at our side. It is not a bad deal; a sort of spiritual BOGO i.e. buy one get one free.
May 14, 2023: "The Lifeboat of Jesus"
The more compelling argument is that the church is like the ark; a place of safety, security and the dwelling place of God’s favor. Church architects took this to heart centuries ago. Many churches, especially Episcopal, Church of England and Roman Catholic, have interiors that are shaped like the inside of a ship.
May 7, 2023: "Forgiving and Forgiven"
I find Thomas’ responses to be more questions than doubts. Everyone but him was present for Jesus’ first resurrection appearance. I can imagine that when the disciples say that Jesus appeared to them that they had to think they were pulling his leg. Remember there are two certainties in life—death and taxes. While tax laws change death is a constant.
April 23, 2023: "Other Sighted"
Today’s Gospel lesson is kind of a flash back. We are already two weeks past the Resurrection, but this lessons takes us back to that day of confusion, anguish, and pain that so many of Jesus’ followers experienced, including these two people walking down from Jerusalem toward a town called Emmaus and seven miles from Jerusalem.
April 16, 2023: "Doubters Welcome"
I find Thomas’ responses to be more questions than doubts. Everyone but him was present for Jesus’ first resurrection appearance. I can imagine that when the disciples say that Jesus appeared to them that they had to think they were pulling his leg. Remember there are two certainties in life—death and taxes. While tax laws change death is a constant.
April 7, 2023: "You Think This Happened Only Once and Long Ago" | Good Friday
Good Friday is a strange name for this day to modern ears. The Good comes from the archaic meaning of good as pious or holy. Thus think of today as holy Friday. Even with that understanding, when we read or hear the Gospel accounts everything, except for the crowds, seems so matter of fact.
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April 6, 2023: An New Commandment | Maundy Thursday
I encourage you to treat these next days not as a remembrance or a holiday that interrupts your regular plans and activities. Rather live into the very depths of this holy Paschal Triduum—Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. Feel the wonder of this night experiencing the Lord’s Supper as if you were one of the disciples present at the first one. Pray with Jesus in Gethsemane and stay awake unlike the disciples. Experience the fear and anxiety as Jesus is arrested. Feel, as the disciples did, vulnerable because your leader is under arrest and they might be coming for you next.
March 26, 2023: When Jesus Wept
Jesus hears the complaints and anguish of Martha and Mary. He also hears the crowd who say, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” Then he asks to see where Lazarus has been entombed. As he stands outside of the tomb he weeps. The crowd interprets it as a sign of his love for Lazarus for he is weeping as they have. But I wonder. Jesus knows that in a moment he will raise Lazarus from the dead, there is no reason to weep for his death. Perhaps Jesus weeps for another reason.
March 19, 2023: Blind Sighted
In today’s Gospel reading we hear about Jesus curing a man blind from birth. For some people the miracle part of the story may be the hardest to believe, because modern people don’t believe in miracles, or because we have trivialized the meaning of a miracle. As an example of the latter how many times will we hear during March Madness that a player made a miraculous shot.
March 12, 2023: Come and See (2)
This encounter with the woman at the well is remarkable for many reasons in addition to the length of the conversation. It is remarkable for the Gospel of John to show Jesus having human need. In this case thirst. In the Gospel of Mark Jesus is very human, but in John he is usually more Christ like.
March 5, 2023: Night Shift
Nicodemus could be an example for how we can approach Jesus when we feel confused, concerned or anxious. Instead of feeling that we must have it all figured out, we can approach Jesus in the dark of our mind or in the dark of our room much as we would that old roommate or friend whom we spoke to in the dark. We can invite Jesus into conversation as we would a friend. Allow the darkness of the room help us feel safe.
February 26, 2023: Desert Days
We are four days into Lent, and I bet that some of us are in a quandary. On or before Ash Wednesday we decided what we might abstain from for the duration of Lent or what spiritual practice or service opportunity we might take on. I find that in the first days of Lent I am either very zealous and I am keeping up with my intentions, or more often I am very forgetful and keep foiling my own good intentions breaking my fast or forgetting my new practice. There is also the in between where I intend to keep my promises, but I start bargaining with myself about them.
February 22, 2023: An Opportune Time | Ash Wednesday
I think it is best to enter Lent with the attitude of opportunity rather than duty. Otherwise our Lent is like those drive by ashes events—all show and no substance. If we prepare ourselves for the entry into this time of reflection in the hopes, not of earning some brownie points in the afterlife, but rather for a closing the distance between ourselves and the God we are more likely to feel a sense of joy in this time.
February 19, 2023: Tell it Slant
James and John seem to be dumbstruck. Peter on the other hand seems to never be at a loss for words. He is not dumbstruck just dumb. He starts to jabber some foolishness to Jesus while Jesus is in the midst of this conversation with the prophets. Peter wants to build three dwellings to honor the event. That is actually not a bad idea. The ancient Jews often built altars, cairns, or booths to mark something momentous. But on the whole it seems a rather inadequate response to what is happening.
February 12, 2023: Blessed Atonement
Having said that the righteousness of the Pharisees and Scribes is hollow, Jesus speaks about the difference between the letter and spirit of the Law. His first example is quite jarring. His listeners knew the sixth commandment was, “Thou shall not commit murder,” but Jesus says it is not only murder that kills. Anger to the point of murder, anger that becomes spite, or anger that becomes a grudge also kills. This level of anger may not kill bodies, but it kills relationships. This level of anger destroys hearts. It destroys the one who is angry as well as the recipient of the anger.
February 4, 2023: Jot and Tittle
Like many of you I grew up reading the King James Version of scripture and I am still enamored with their translation of verse 18, which reads “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” Jot and tittle are so evocative and charming. A jot is the dot over an i or j. A tittle is the line that is used to cross a t. Jots and tittles are the most insignificant of marks used to make letters. Jesus makes it clear that nothing will pass out of the Old Testament (that is what he is referring to when he says the law and the prophets) until all that he is teaching is accomplished.
January 22, 2023: Come and Follow
When Jesus is calling the brothers by the seashore, he uses the fishing metaphor because it makes sense to them. They understood fishing and the effort it took. They understood the patience it required. They also knew that commercial fishing is not a one-person operation. It required a group to haul nets, steer the boat, repair nets, sort fish, and get them to market for sale. Fishing is not a one-man show, and neither is evangelizing the world.
January 15, 2023: Come and See
The season after the Epiphany is a time of revelation in the church. We hear stories about Jesus being revealed as the Messiah at various times in the gospels. Last week it was the revelation to the Magi as representatives of the Gentiles. This week we hear how John the Baptizer reveals to his followers who Jesus is.
January 8, 2023: Maybe I'm Amazed
Albert Einstein said, “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” If we live as though everything is a miracle, then we are opening ourselves to the possibility of countless epiphanies each day.