A sermon preached on November 24th, 2019 – Christ the King Sunday — based upon Luke 23:33-43, entitled, “The Broken Open Heart” The liturgical calendar ends today with Christ the King Sunday. Jesus, the Church declares, is the true “king.” But there is a problem that immediately arises with calling Jesus “king” and that is […]
A sermon preached on November 17th, 2019 based upon Isaiah 43:1-3a on the occasion of the baptism of LilyAnn Hope Bryant, entitled “It Takes Courage to Be a Parent.” Our lives are full of wonder and mystery, but in the unavoidable tedium of the daily grind of life we become deaf and blind to life’s […]
A sermon preached on November 10th, 2019 based upon Luke 20:27-38 entitled, “God is Bigger than Our Arrogance and Our Despair” I’m not good at memorizing lyrics. I have, however held onto a verse from a country song I learned when I was a young man by the great John Prine entitled “Angel from Montgomery” […]
A sermon preached on November 3rd, 2019 – All Saints Sunday – based upon Luke 19:1-10 entitled, “The Story of Zacchaeus and What It Might Tell Us about Recognizing the Saints Among Us.” Before I talk about our Gospel story, I want to talk a little about the trip our family just returned from visiting […]
A sermon preached on October 13th, based upon Luke 17:11-19 entitled, “To Truly Appreciate Grace You have to Remember what Life Feels Like As an Outsider.” There are two stories told by the great story teller we call “Luke” that came to mind this week as I pondered the story we just heard of the […]
A sermon preached on October 6th, 2019 – World Communion Sunday – based upon Luke 17:5-20 entitled, “What Jesus Meant by Faith.” There are at least two potentially distracting pieces of this short passage we just heard. The first is where Jesus says, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could […]
A sermon preached on September 29th, 2019 based upon 1Timothy 6:6-12 and Luke 16:19-31 entitled “The Pitiable Rich Man.” Before I talk about what caught my attention in this morning’s parable, I want to briefly note how often the theme of money — and specifically the spiritual danger presented by wealth — occur in the […]
A sermon preached on September 22nd, 2019 based upon Luke 16:1-13 entitled “Life – and Some Parables – are Messy.” Life is messy. As Christians we are called on a journey to grow in faith, hope and especially love, but the journey inevitably includes many stumblings – many times of getting lost in the dark. […]
A sermon preached on September 15th, 2019 based upon Luke 15:1-10 entitled “The Alternate Universe of the Kingdom of God. No matter your age, pretty much all of us are familiar with Rod Sterling’s classic TV show from the fifties and sixties. Each episode told a different story. The opening minute would conjure up a […]
A sermon preached on September 8th, 2019 based upon Jeremiah 18:1-11 entitled, “Lessons Learned in the Potter’s House: How to Teach Kindness” Last week we heard how Jesus watched people at a dinner party jockeying for position for the coveted seats that conveyed status, leading him to say, “all who exalt themselves will be humbled, […]