Jesus
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Untalented
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8 min read
How the talents Jesus speaks of aren’t really gifts a Homily for Proper 28A | Text: Matthew 23:34-39 And the master rewards this behavior (dare we say, stealing) of the first two slaves. They know what this man is like. Chances are, they take on this behavior. Think The Wolf of Wall Street and the…
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The Blessed Community
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8 min read
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…
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Rejecting the Trap
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6 min read
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…
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Learning to Feast
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7 min read
The Wedding Banquet, the king’s demands, and a kingdom of opportunity a Homily for Proper 23 A | Text: Matthew 22:1-14 A Strange Wedding There’s a part of this story that Jesus tells the Pharisees that makes sense to us and a part that doesn’t at all. This is the story of a weird kind of…
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Closer to the Kingdom
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7 min read
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…
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How to Not Be a Stumbling Block
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4 min read
A re-imagined sermon for those that have missed church recently After calming the storm, Jesus and the disciples come to shore, bombarded by people looking for healing. It is from here that Jesus takes his disciples aside and asks them who they think he is. Peter’s declaration: “Messiah!” is followed by his fear for Jesus’s…