Christ
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What is a Sacrament?
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3 min read
[This is the first of three posts about the sacraments. Check out the second and third.] What do we mean when we call something a Sacrament? According to the Book of Common Prayer (pp. 857-8): The sacraments are outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace, given by Christ as sure and certain means by…
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With Us
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5 min read
a Sermon for the Great Vigil of Easter C Text: Luke 24:1-12 Our Bible study group that started last fall has slowly been working its way through Genesis. For many of us, it has been a pretty eye-opening experience. We are currently wrestling with Jacob and his return home. I admitted to the group that…
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Rejecting the Cross that isn’t Christ’s
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4 min read
a Sermon for Good Friday C Text: John 18:1-19:42 The Cross Jesus was forced to carry it. He died on it. What more do we know about it? Jesus was being led to the outskirts of the city, right outside the front gate. This is where traitors were hanged and let to rot in the…
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For My Son: Changing the Lord’s Prayer
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3 min read
Right off the bat. I have to confess that I am predisposed to the modern Lord’s Prayer. Even better are some of the rewrites I’ve heard in the last year or so. Some really good praying is happening. Tonight, I’m now all in. Here’s why. Praying with my son. I used to argue that we…
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What I Buy About the Cross
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6 min read
A few years ago, Rose and I were visiting some friends for dinner. After the plates had been cleared and we were finishing our dessert, my friend said “I’m starting to believe that I don’t need a Jesus to have existed to believe in a Christ.” The look on his wife’s face shocked me much…
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Man, Have You Got the Wrong Idea
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6 min read
a Sermon for Lent 3C Text: Luke 13:1-9 No link Jesus raises a question about providence this morning. A question about GOD. About good and evil. About the way of the world. He tackles what is perhaps the most enduring question in human history: why do bad things happen? And yet, before tackling…