A sermon preached on May 3rd, 2020 based upon John 21:1-13 entitled, “Surprised by Grace in the Midst of a Quarantine Funk.” This morning we have yet another story of an appearance of Jesus after his resurrection, one that comes from 21st chapter of John’s Gospel. There is something peculiar going on here though because […]
The sermon preached on April 26th, 2020 based upon Luke 24:13 – 35 entitled, “Coming to Understand the Stories of Our Lives through the Light of the One Who Walks Beside Us.” The four Gospels all tell the story of Jesus life, death and resurrection – but of all the Gospel writers, Luke is far […]
A sermon preached on April 19th, 2020 based upon John 20:19 – 31, entitled “More Wisdom for Living through the Pandemic from the Story of Jesus’ Appearance to Disciples Huddled in Fear behind Locked Doors.” So we continue the story in the Gospel of John. You will recall what happened last week – how Mary […]
The sermon for April 12th, 2020 – Easter Sunday – in the midst of the Covid-19 quarantine – based upon John 20:1-18 entitled “The Risen Christ in an Unfair World” It is striking that in all four Gospels it is women who are the first witnesses to the empty tomb — that Jesus was alive […]
A sermon preached on Palm Sunday, April 5, 2020 – the fourth Sunday of live streamed worship because of the Pandemic – based upon Philippians 2:1-11, and entitled, Midway through the Gospels, Jesus makes it clear to his disciples that although he is the messiah sent from God to save the people, he is not […]
A sermon preached on March 29th, 2020, the second Sunday in which our worship was live streamed because of the Coronavirus Pandemic. Rather than read scripture, I told the story that Matthew tells in the 14th chapter of his Gospel. Chapter 14 of Matthew’s Gospel spoke to me this week as we find ourselves dealing […]
A sermon preached online on March 22nd, 2020 based upon Psalm 42 entitled, “Ancient Wisdom to Help Us in this Uncertain Time.” It is helpful for me to remember the great of saints who have gone before us. They dealt with times of crisis and profound struggle, many of which were far worse than what […]
A sermon preached on March 15, 2020 – the Sunday we turned to worship online because of the coronavirus. Our text is Luke 17:6-7, 11-17. A live version of this can be found at our website and at the Facebook page of the Parsippany United Methodist Church. When I began looking for a scripture passage […]
A sermon preached on March 8th, 2020 based upon John 3:1-17. For many of us the Gospel story we are about to hear is a familiar one, containing a couple of the most well-known verses in the Bible. For all of its familiarity, however this passage can be a hard one to make sense of, […]
A sermon preached on February 23rd, 2020 – Transfiguration Sunday – and on the occasion of the baptism of Milania Isabella Ventola. The sermon was based upon Matthew 17:1-9. There is an ancient tradition that arose in Ireland that speaks of certain places being “thin” places. These are places where sometimes the veil that separates […]