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On Perfect Christians
a Sermon for Epiphany 7A Text: Matthew 5:38-48 Rebelling against Jesus You’ve probably seen this phrase on a book cover or on a church sign. It reads: “no perfect people allowed.” Kind of catchy, isn’t it? We don’t want perfect. We don’t really want to be perfect, do we? The phrase also has a sly…
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To Break Free From Ignorance and Pain
a Sermon for Epiphany 6A Text: Matthew 5:21-37 A most unreasonable request We’re following Jesus up the side of a mountain and we’re hearing His most famous sermon. A sermon that begins with blessings: (blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek…). A sermon that highlights all the wondrous things that GOD…
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On the Mountainside
a Sermon for Epiphany 5A Text: Matthew 5:13-20 Going up the mountain Jesus begins walking up a mountain. He invites His disciples to join Him. Finding Jesus up a mountain. We would be hard-pressed to avoid that image here of the holy man and a mountain-top experience. We’ve seen this in books and movies: people…
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You want me to throw what into the sea? (Eating Scripture)
For the last two and a half chapters in the gospel we call Luke, Jesus has been building up this teaching on faithfulness and action. It began with the crowd when he told them three parables about things that were lost and found. Each was lost, redeemed, and forgiven. Powerful stories that we often take…
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Under the Big Tent
[Photo/The Daily Progress/Andrew Shurtleff] The question for Anglicans should not be “How big is your tent?” It should be “How does the way we gather under it announce the Kingdom of God is at hand?” What is Anglicanism? | St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.
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To Choose
a homily for Proper 18C Text: Luke 14:25-33 Listen and read along! The Choice This might shock you, but when pastors get together, we talk about you. Not you in the particular. We talk about congregations and what we hear each Sunday as we shake hands. This is often the only time we get feedback…
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When We Pray
a homily for Proper 12C Text: Luke 11:1-13 The Lord Praying They have left the house of Mary and Martha and it says Jesus was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” Jesus was praying,…
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You Are the Servant Leader
“You’re the pastor” This is the gentle reminder many clergy receive: as if we’ve forgotten. It usually happens when we’ve invited our people into sharing leadership of a ministry. We say “you can do this” and they say “but you’re the pastor”. And for those of us that wear the dog collar, we get reminded…