Tag: Homily

  • Gathered by the Spirit

    Finding and reclaiming our common purpose in Terre Haute a Homily for a special evensong  |  Text: 1 Peter 2:1-9 [Last night St. Stephen’s gathered for evensong with our neighbors from St. George’s in West Terre Haute. It was a wonderful gathering of mutual celebration and commitment that marks a big anniversary for the Episcopal Church’s…

  • For the Great Creator

    For the Great Creator

    Stephen, Righteous Abel, and the blessing of creativity a Homily for St. Stephen’s Day (observed)  |  Text: Matthew  23:34-39 And yet GOD never said he didn’t appreciate Cain’s gift! GOD just loves being surprised. GOD loves to see us stretch ourselves and try new things and use all of our gifts and currencies to express our…

  • The Blessed Community

    The Blessed Community

    Jesus, the Sermon on the Mount, and all of the saints a Homily for the Feast of All Saints  |  Text: Matthew  5:1-12  For us, this principal feast we call All Saints is not so much about honoring the dead, but honoring the community: the whole community: past and present and future. For honoring only our…

  • First, Love

    First, Love

    How Jesus’s subversive call to love continues to challenge us a Homily for Proper 25A  |  Text: Matthew  22:34-46  Commander Love Love GOD. Love neighbor. This is the basis for all of our teaching. We can see it, too. When we read those first five books of our sacred scripture, those written in Hebrew, we…

  • Rejecting the Trap

    The dishonesty behind asking compromises any answer Jesus may have to the question a Homily for Proper 24A  |  Text: Matthew  22:15-22 The Trap This is not a story about taxes. This is a story about a trap that backfires. A trap set to deal with authority. And every time we go near the question of…

  • Closer to the Kingdom

    Closer to the Kingdom

    How the negative helps us find the positive in the Parable of the Wicked Tenants a Homily for Proper 22 A  |  Text: Matthew  21:33-46   It is a great honor to be here to join you this morning. I am so thankful for the grace and generosity that has been shown to me already. I…

  • Childproofing Church

    Order, stumbling blocks, and what real Christian community looks like a Homily for  Proper 18 A  |  Text: Matthew 18:15-20   what we mean by sin When Jesus speaks to the disciples in this passage, He speaks of sin against each other. This isn’t so much fault-finding, which we all do so easily, but sin-naming.…

  • 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…