April 2012
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Why I Don’t Preach Daily Living Sermons
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3 min read
If you’ve been around the church, you know there are many different genres of sermons. With names like “biblical” and “narrative,” we are often asked to classify and name our preaching style. My own style falls into several categories, but I’m pretty sure there is one it does not: the “daily living” sermon. I’ve been…
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The Postmodern Condition: Blame Must Be Shared
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4 min read
I watched a TED Talk a couple weeks ago that included a simple picture. The speaker began talking about distraction, because the picture, like the one I’ve provided below, demonstrated what he meant about distraction. The original picture was of a Dad at the park and he was playing with his smart phone while the…
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Finding Proof in Baptism
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4 min read
a Sermon for Easter Text: Mark 16:1-8 This is the tough Easter gospel. The gospel we know as mark is the only one without joyous celebration and is perhaps a strange note to cast on a celebratory morning like this. These three women, Mary, Mary, and Salome come to the tomb expecting to prepare Jesus…
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The Unsatisfactory Ending
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5 min read
a Sermon for the Great Vigil of Easter Text: Mark 16:1-8 The Down Ending This may seem strange to you, but this gospel reading is by far my favorite text in Scripture. I absolutely love it. Let’s read the last two verses again: But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead…
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Abuse of the Cross
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5 min read
a Sermon for Good Friday Text: John 18:1-19:42 Reading the Passion narrative from the gospel we know as John provides the postmodern hearer with two challenges (besides the obvious, of course): dealing with John’s use of the phrase “The Jews” and the need to repent for the cross. The writers of John use the phrase…
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Common Humanity
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3 min read
a homily for Good Friday Text: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” [This was my reflection for Word 4 in our eccumenical Good Friday service using the last 7 words format.] Perhaps no line in scripture is more troubling than this. It is the single audible cry in Mark (and Matthew): “My…