A sermon preached on February 2nd, 2020 based upon Matthew 5:1-12 entitled, “Acknowledging our Poverty of Spirit.” In my 38 years of being a pastor, visiting and preaching in nursing homes has always been something I’ve done on a regular basis. Nursing homes can be rather depressing places, and I’m not looking forward to the […]
A sermon preached on January 26th, 2020 based upon Mathew 4:12-23, entitled “Learning to Live in the Kingdom of God.” As I mentioned last week, each Gospel writer has distinctive ways of presenting the story of Jesus with particular themes on which they focus. One theme Matthew highlights is the conflict between God’s kingdom (reign) […]
A sermon preached on January 19th, 2020 – the Sunday before Martin Luther King’s birthday — based upon John 1:29-42 entitled “The Light that Transforms Us.” Last week I began my sermon talking about the messiness of the Bible. Some Christians try to deny this messiness by insisting that each word of the Bible was […]
A sermon preached on January 11th, 2020 – The Baptism of Our Lord Sunday – based upon Matthew 3:13-17 entitled, “Embracing the Messiness of Both the Bible and of Life Itself.” When folks read our scripture lesson in worship, I ask them to begin this way: “Listen for the word of the Lord.” And then […]
The Eulogy for John Robert “Bob’ Keller (July 31, 1952 – December 21, 2019) Bob Keller was born on July 31, 1952 to Virginia and Larry Keller and grew up in the small, working class town of Turtle Creek (“Crick”), Pennsylvania, just twenty minutes outside of Pittsburg. His older brother, Larry, Jr. preceded Bob in […]
A sermon preached on January 5th, 2020 – Epiphany Sunday – based upon Matthew 2:1-12 entitled, “Attending to the Spiritual Journey.” In this life we are all obliged to engage in what you could call a “struggle”, or a “battle” or a “quest.” It is the quest to carve out a place for ourselves in […]
Each year I write a Christmas play with an elaborate plot line that arises somehow out of my imagination. There is always something mysterious about the story that arises, with a clear sense for me that the Holy Spirit has a hand in what comes forth. When the three performances are over the story continues […]
A sermon preached on December 15th, 2019 based upon Matthew 12:2-12 entitled “John the Baptist’s Despair and the Joy that is Present in Sorrow” This is a striking little story. Last week we heard how John the Baptist commanded the stage immediately before Jesus’ first appearance in the Gospel in his adult ministry. John appears […]
A sermon preached on December 8th – the Second Sunday in Advent – based upon Mathew 3:1-12 entitled, “Making Room for John the Baptist in Our Christmas Preparations” For most of us, it would be hard to find somebody less likely to put us in “the Christmas spirit” than this grim figure appearing in this […]
A sermon preached on December 1, 2019 – the first Sunday of Advent – based upon Isaiah 2:1-5 entitled, “Watching with the Prophets for a Word from the Lord During the Season of Advent.” The great revelation of the Judaism was that there is but one God, the creator of the universe, and that the […]