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The Servant God
A mother-in-law’s gratitude at odds with the public spectacle. Jesus leaves town, perhaps because of his notoriety, but perhaps also because the people are more interested in him, in the wonders that he has done, in the power that he possesses. And not in what GOD is calling him to actually do. Not in what…
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Called to Transformation
How Jesus calls us to act now to do something audacious, in spite of ourselves, precisely because GOD is audacious a Homily for Epiphany 3B | Text: Mark 1:14-20 Calling I love these call stories: these stories of Jesus calling the disciples to follow him. I think they’re pure gold for us. They may not be…
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Why I Love the Call Stories
Most preachers love the psalms and parables. Me, I’ll take the call stories. The stories where Jesus collects followers like I collected baseball cards and comic books. Intentionally: with respect for big names and the common ones alike. Of course the other stories are sexier. The enduring parables like The Prodigal Son(s), the Good Samaritan, the…
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What Do We See?
Seeing is not just Believing, Seeing is Really Seeing Epiphany 2B | John 1:43-51 Come and See Andrew is a follower of John the Baptist. He’s the one involved. He’s the worker. The devoted one. After John baptizes Jesus, he tells Andrew about it, about him. Who Jesus really is. Andrew gets his…
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Confronting Death
Jesus’s turn toward Jerusalem, following where we don’t want to go, and facing our own fears a Homily for Proper 17 A | Text: Matthew 16:21-28 Fearing Responsibility We are in the middle of a conversation. We always are. The passages of our lives are always small segments of a much longer story. A common place…
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When a rock is not a rock
rethinking Jesus’s vision of church, Peter, and the love of GOD We mistake the naming of Peter as reflective of his character, rather than His. a Homily for Proper 16 A | Text: Matthew 16:13-20 desiring proof Again the Pharisees. Those ancient ideological evangelicals–obsessed with rule-following–return. This time they’ve brought back-up: the Sadducees. Not…
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Making Us Whole – How the Great Commission redeems
a Homily for Trinity Sunday Text: Matthew 28:16-20 Incomplete We return this week to the Gospel According to Matthew, for this writer’s resurrection story. We normally don’t think of this passage that way; as a story of resurrection. We’re focused on the writers we call Luke and John. Their accounts are different. More story-like. These…
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After the Mountaintop: listening/following Jesus
a Sermon for Epiphany LastA Text: Matthew 17:1-9 On another mountain We skip ahead to another mountain; more climbing, more experience with Jesus. Not a place of preaching. No Sermon on the Mount. This time is supernatural. Three followers go; the inner circle. The executive committee. Jesus invites them to follow Him up the mountain.…