Parable of the Prodigal Son
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Between: the Parable of the Prodigal Son(s)
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6 min read
A look at the gaps in the lectionary. This week: the gap between Proper 19C and Proper 20C. The text: Luke 15:11-32. You know this story. Even if you’ve never read it, you know it. It’s in your bones and in your imagination. Artists have mused with it. Writers have cribbed from it. Filmmakers have…
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The Challenge of the Coin
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3 min read
There is nothing worse than recommending someone not come to your church. It pains me to say it, then and now. A young seeker, looking to reconnect with church wanted to talk. We knew each other from previous work, so it was a different kind of awkward. It wasn’t the usual talking-to-strangers kind. She was…
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They Came Closer
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3 min read
I love and hate the good parables. The really good ones. The ones that have so many ways in. The ones that give you so many things to say. Like the one from Sunday. I still dwell on them for days afterward. I have trouble moving on. Maybe I haven’t been preaching long enough to…
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Let’s get this party started
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7 min read
a homily for Proper 19C Text: Luke 15:1-10 In or Out? There are a million different ways to enter into this gospel. It is a familiar enough one that some of our long-tenured members are likely to have heard them all. The favorite approach is this one: these are two of the three “lost” parables:…
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Hate the sin? Chances are you hate the sinner.
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5 min read
a Sermon for Lent 4C Text: Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 Two Sons Most depictions of this story focus on the first half: the sinful son, the return to the farm, the generosity and mercy of the father, and the embrace. It is a wonderful and evocative image. I have a book full of these images, art…
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GOD is here
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6 min read
a Sermon for Epiphany 4C Text: Luke 4:21-30 The teacher is kicked out of school Jesus approaches the front of the synagogue, is given one of the scrolls of Isaiah and Jesus reads out: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He…