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Love and Sacrifice
a Homily for Easter 6B Text: John 15:9-17 Last week’s Gospel pericope ended with verses 7 and 8 which read: If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and…
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Twisting in Intimacy
a Homily for Easter 5B Text: John 15:1-8 One of the problems we face when we read the parables of Jesus is that many of them have a light side and a dark side. They often illustrate what will happen when we are right with God and when we aren’t. Our saving grace, most of…
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The one about the good shepherd
a Homily for Easter 4B Text: John 10:11-18 “I am the good shepherd,” Jesus says. What a great line. The good shepherd. Not at all like the badones, the ones that run away. Or don’t know anything about their sheep. A good shepherd. One that protects the flock. It is a message that speaks even to…
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Why I Don’t Preach Daily Living Sermons
If you’ve been around the church, you know there are many different genres of sermons. With names like “biblical” and “narrative,” we are often asked to classify and name our preaching style. My own style falls into several categories, but I’m pretty sure there is one it does not: the “daily living” sermon. I’ve been…
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Finding Proof in Baptism
a Sermon for Easter Text: Mark 16:1-8 This is the tough Easter gospel. The gospel we know as mark is the only one without joyous celebration and is perhaps a strange note to cast on a celebratory morning like this. These three women, Mary, Mary, and Salome come to the tomb expecting to prepare Jesus…
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The Unsatisfactory Ending
a Sermon for the Great Vigil of Easter Text: Mark 16:1-8 The Down Ending This may seem strange to you, but this gospel reading is by far my favorite text in Scripture. I absolutely love it. Let’s read the last two verses again: But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead…
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Common Humanity
a homily for Good Friday Text: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” [This was my reflection for Word 4 in our eccumenical Good Friday service using the last 7 words format.] Perhaps no line in scripture is more troubling than this. It is the single audible cry in Mark (and Matthew): “My…
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Jesus’s Last Teaching
a Sermon for Maundy Thursday Text: John 13:1-17, 31b-35 There are many interesting parts of the story we tell of Maundy Thursday, but much of it we actually save for tomorrow, Good Friday. Our tradition focuses on two important acts: The Passover Meal The Footwashing The Passover. We heard in our Hebrew reading from Exodus…