Interrupting the Silence

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  • Life Before Death – An Ash Wednesday Sermon

    Maybe Lent and the gospel of Jesus are not primarily about being good, a program for changing from a bad person to a good person, so we can get a future reward. I’ve got nothing against being a good person (whatever that might mean) but I’ve never read where Jesus said, “I came that you…

  • The Beautiful Risk – A Wedding Sermon

    Those are not demands we make on each other. They are gifts we offer each other. And with a true gift there is no holding back. It’s all or nothing. If there is a measure of your marriage, it is love, and the only measure of love is love without measure (St. Augustine). So you…

  • Desire Beyond Desire – A Sermon On Luke 5:1-11

    On the surface it would be easy to hear today’s story (Luke 5:1-11) as one in which Jesus fulfills the desires of Peter and the others; the desire to catch fish, the desire to be successful, the desire to make a living. I don’t think that’s a correct reading of this story. I don’t think…

  • The One Thing We All Have In Common – A Sermon On Luke 4:21-30

    The people in the synagogue were looking forward to some hometown privilege. They see themselves as special and they are ticked off when they realize that Jesus won’t play to their presumed privilege and that they are being passed over. That’s what enrages them. They are raging mad about being passed over. And I can’t…

  • Where And With Whom Will You Stand? – A Sermon On Luke 4:14-21

    How far will I go for this gospel I claim to love and follow? What am I willing to do and what am I not? I struggle and wrestle with these questions every day.  Because here’s what I see in the world and read in the life of Jesus. Sometimes, perhaps more often than not,…

  • Water Does Not Turn Into Wine – A Sermon On John 2:1-11

    I don’t know if Jesus literally and physically turned water into wine. But then I don’t think that’s the point of today’s gospel. I don’t think this gospel is ultimately about turning water into wine. It’s about calling forth life where there is none. It’s about transformation. It’s about living a new life.

  • With You I Am Well Pleased – A Sermon On Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

    The question is never, “Do I get a yes? Am I the son or daughter of God, the Beloved, with whom God is well pleased?” That’s a given, the gift of God. It’s the insistence of God in each of our lives. The only question is whether we can discern that gift in the conditions…

  • God Insists – An Epiphany Sermon On Matthew 2:1-12

    Whatever God’s insisting for you might be, whatever the “it” is in your life, “it” is God desiring, maybe even needing, to be seen, known, experienced by you. Epiphany happens at the intersection of God’s insistence and our response, and it requires both. A star that is not seen and followed is just another luminous…

  • Blessing Chalk For An Epiphany House Blessing

    There is a tradition of blessing homes on the Feast of the Epiphany and during the weeks that follow. One way of doing this is to use blessed chalk to mark the doorway as follows: Marking the doorway to one’s home is rooted in the Old Testament. Holy Scripture reminds us that God has at…