Gospel of Matthew
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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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With Us
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7 min read
a homily for Advent 4A Text: Matthew 1:18-25 “Don’t be afraid” The most common phrase Jesus utters in His ministry is some variation of “don’t be afraid”. So often, the disciples are in the midst of something really hard, something truly frightening. Like Jesus appearing to them in the boat, rocked by storms and He…
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Technicolor Faith
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5 min read
a homily for Advent 3A Text: Matthew 11:2-11 From Repent to Doubt When John appeared in the wilderness, a wild man dressed the prophet’s part, we caught a glimpse of his vision for the kingdom of heaven. He preached repentance and preparation: turning away from our pasts and toward a new future, living in a…
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Jesus Offends Us
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3 min read
John the Baptist is locked in a cell, full of doubt, wondering what the whole Jesus experiment is really all about. He is left questioning everything. What is my role in this? Was I wrong? What he’s really thinking is this: Jesus isn’t the Messiah. This Sunday’s gospel is Matthew 11:2-11, and just in case…
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Priorities
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6 min read
a Homily for Thanksgiving Text: Matthew 6:25-33 An Unthankul Story Tonight we’ve gathered to give thanks. More specifically, to give thanks to GOD for all of our blessings and all that we have to be thankful for. To give thanks to a GOD for so much wonderful stuff. But we know not everyone feels that…
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Our Marks, Like Dust
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3 min read
a Sermon for Ash Wednesday, B Text: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 We’re trained from an early age to hate red ink. Our tests and composition papers were often so riddled with red, contrasting starkly with our own black or blue markings on the white piece of paper. Each of our teachers counted up those red marks—with…