Sermons
Sermons preached in a context, but written for people of all sorts and conditions.
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Facing Repentance
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8 min read
In Mark 1:9-15, Jesus reveals the mission of God, but another school shooting tests our resolve to see it, or to listen to his words of hope, saying that the time is now, kin-dom is here! A school shooting tests Ash Wednesday’s invitation to reconciliation Lent 1B | Mark 1:9-15 I had a really good…
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Ashes and Hearts – On Fire
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7 min read
Most of what we talk about on Ash Wednesday is found in the small part of the Sermon on the Mount we get in the lectionary (Matthew 6:1-6,16-21). The rest of the chapter reveals it means so much more. Ash Wednesday is way more than ashes – it’s the work of forgiveness Ash Wednesday | …
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Listen
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7 min read
In the Transfiguration, we get the big spectacle event, so consuming with visual, power, and misunderstanding, we might fail to hear the voice in the middle of it all saying “listen to him.” Are we listening to Jesus any better than the disciples? Epiphany Last B | Mark 9:2-9 The story doesn’t begin at the…
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Immediately
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7 min read
Mark’s gospel uses the word “immediately” a lot. But what if it isn’t literal or a figure of speech? What if the evangelist is getting us to see beyond our reality–to where the kin-dom already is? How the immediacy of Jesus reveals the presence of the kin-dom Epiphany 4B | Mark 1:21-28 Time travel. It’s…
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Nobodies
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8 min read
In calling his first disciples to fish for people, Jesus knows they can’t do that from where they are. But he has already chosen them for who they are. Jesus calls these particular nobodies to give up everythingEpiphany 3B | Mark 1:14-20 Most stories have great opening lines. “If you are interested in stories with…
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Baptized in Love
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8 min read
The Baptism of Jesus is often treated like the necessary means of getting Jesus into the right space with the cosmos: that if he doesn’t get dunked, he’s stuck. Or else we treat it like the perfunctory reason behind our religious rite. But baptism is way more than that. It’s the start of something awesome.…