discipleship
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Confronting Death
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7 min read
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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I love talking with my Dad about church. He’s a priest. I’m a priest. Both of us are very traditional in many ways; very untraditional in many ways. And the best part is that they don’t always match. I greatly appreciate the way we talk, argue, explore, wrestle with our mutual vocations. Our talk last night…
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a Homily for Easter 7A Text: John 17:1-11 Being Left Behind It needs to be stated for the record that in our liturgical calendar, Jesus has already ascended. We celebrated the Ascension on Thursday night. So having Jesus talking about going away this morning is kind of weird. Especially since this is Jesus talking…
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a Homily for Lent 1A Text: Matthew 4:1-11 Getting our bearings The gospel we call Matthew has a birth story, a flight into Egypt and all that. Then John the Baptizer prepares the way for Jesus, who comes to him to be baptized, and then is immediately compelled by the Spirit to go out into…
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On Perfect Christians
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7 min read
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
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7 min read
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…