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Lent is about trust
In the first Sunday of Lent, we read about the Temptation of Jesus. But is Jesus really tempted? Or is there something else going on? Who really needs to worry about temptation? And what is Lent really about? If you were at St. Paul’s on Sunday, you may already know, but the rest of us…
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No Retaliation
My sermon for Proper 7A (yesterday) is up here. It deals with our culture of retaliation and Jesus’s encouragement to see another alternative; an alternative that we have trouble seeing because we are so committed to violence and retaliation. I thought it was a little spicy. What do you think?
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Destroying Dogma
My sermon for Epiphany 5A is up here. The topic is Jesus’s preaching on freedom, law, and Kingdom-life. It followed the previous week’s discussion of the Beatitudes, called “Blessed“. This week continues the Sermon on the Mount and will be posted next week. Look for a teaser soon.
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Blessed (Beatitudes)
Epiphany 4A | Matthew 5:1-12 [Note: the original sermon was preached from sparse notes. What follows is a fleshing out of those notes as best as I can.] GOD of Hope and Wonder, you gave us Jesus as Messiah and Lord. Open our hearts to love as he loves, our imaginations to dream as he…
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When Moses becomes Aaron
Perhaps the most appropriate passage for religious leadership in all of Scripture can be found in Exodus 3: the burning bush story. We know how it goes. GOD reveals the divine name and identity to Moses and gives him instructions. It is one of the most iconic moments in the Judeao-Christian shared story. It is…
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Piety and generosity
I have just posted a couple of sermons from the last month on my sermon page. The first is on piety and proximity in Jesus’s actions with the “sinners” called “Risking Cooties“. The second is on the mustard seed and slave parable called “Gotta Have Faith“.
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A pretty good picture of the Kingdom
[The following is a book review of Colors of God by Randall Mark Peters, Dave Phillips, and Quentin Steen. For more information on the book or for other reviews, please check out Viralbloggers.] I’ve had countless conversations about preaching and it seems that people see only two methods: with a script and without; or perhaps…
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The Fool
“You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you.” This week’s gospel in the RCL is Luke 12:13-21. It deals with Jesus preaching to this crowd of thousands and he is describing how radical the Kingdom of GOD looks compared with the world we live in. It is a pretty profound message…