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Mary, the Witness
a Sermon for Advent 4C Text: Luke 1:39-55 Learning about Mary One of the things that excited me as a priest and presbyter of the church is how many people have mentioned Fr. Steve Bancroft’s sermon a year ago. Several people have come to me and spoken of that moment in which they heard for…
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Worthy
a Sermon for Advent 3C Text: Luke 3:7-18 (audio will come soon) Hearing of Tragedy I couldn’t go to sleep Friday. Most of the day, I avoided the details that were flowing in about the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. I picked Sophia up from preschool and took her to the park on a sunny and…
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Winnowing Forks (Eating Scripture)
Continuing our Advent and Apocalypse theme, we have more from John the Baptizer. Repent, change, because the big guy’s coming up behind me! Notice, too, the season, the demand for fairness. Just the kind of gospel for the “fiscal cliff” negotiations. Eating Scripture is a short video series in which we explore the juicy and…
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Change Every Thing
a Sermon for Advent 2C Text: Luke 3:1-6 If GOD wants to change the physical world… The evangelist we call Luke compares John the Baptizer to what was written in the scroll of Isaiah, saying that his “proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” is like “the voice of one crying out…
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Sex as Biblical Marriage
Reading Genesis again for our Bible study, I have found this nuance with regards to how the writers use the concept of marriage quite interesting: having sex with someone makes you married. To unpack what this means, we ought to step back from our 21st Century “culture war” arguments about what marriage means or who…
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Every Hill Made Low (Eating Scripture)
Eating Luke 3:1-6 Back in the recesses of my mind I recall a lyric: Second verse same as the first! A little bit louder and a little bit worse! We ended Year B talking apocalyptic and we begin the new year, Year C, by…talking apocalyptic. Personally, I love it. We just aren’t that used to…
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Stand Up!
a Sermon for Advent 1C Text: Luke 21:25-36 Perpetual Crisis Each of us has come across someone who thinks the world is going to end soon. We had Harold Camping predict the world would end, twice. He was wrong. Many believe we have 19 more days thanks to one interpretation of the Mayan Calendar. And…
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When Pilate Finds Jesus
a Sermon for Proper 29B Text: John 18:33-38a Here Jesus stands. It is Friday morning. This is what condemning the Temple and the order of things gets you. Face to face with Rome’s appointed commander for the region: Pontius Pilate. Jesus is quizzed like a commoner. Those that attend our Good Friday worship get the…