Paul
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True Wisdom
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3 min read
True Wisdom (Day 7 of A Simple Lent) One of the things I never understood about wisdom is that our word for wisdom is not the same as the word in the Bible. Oh, it is wisdom all right. It just means something totally different. When I think of wisdom, I think of D&D (Dungeons…
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Belong
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4 min read
Belong (Day 5 of A Simple Lent) Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth is one of my favorite pieces of Scripture. It is hasty and imperfect. It is often obnoxious, and divorced from its context, can sound pretty tough. But given who he is talking to, it makes a bunch of sense. When…
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Someone untimely born
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4 min read
Toward the end of Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth, he wrote something that sounds a lot like this: I’ve given you something really, really important, maybe the most important thing that I’ve learned: Christ died because we sin. He was buried. Two days later he was brought to life like it says in our Hebrew…
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Acting like we love Jesus
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5 min read
a Sermon for Conversion of St. Paul the Apostle Text: Matthew 10:16-22 Sacrifice In the years after Jesus died, his closest followers passed on stories about Him. They gathered, started new faith communities, worshiped, sang. They prayed for the Kingdom. They called out to GOD. They taught their children to do the same. They told…
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Asking/Responding
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6 min read
a homily for Proper 29C Text: Luke 23:33-43 This is a potent ending to the church year. Jesus on the cross, mocked, brought low beside two criminals. A passage full of questions—like the questions we all bring with us to church. Questions about… Jesus—Who is He, what is He? What does He want? GOD—What is…
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Saul or Paul?
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5 min read
a Sermon for the Conversion of St. Paul the Apostle Text: Acts 26:9-21 From Saul to Paul In the story of the Conversion of Paul, we have perhaps the ultimate Christian example. Paul speaks of his old self, a conversion, and a transformation. Before he became Paul, he was Saul: a self-proclaimed zealot. He was…