Category: Lent
-
What If The Gospel Is Like A Backwards Bicycle?- A Sermon On Mark 8:31-38
Imagine trying to ride a bike but the steering has been reversed and is completely opposite to everything you’ve been taught about and experienced riding a bike. When you turn the handlebars to the left the wheel turns to the right. When you turn the handlebars to the right the wheel turns to the left.… Read more
-
No Dust, No Life – An Ash Wednesday Sermon On Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
One of the things I know about myself is that I am not a singer. You know it too. Some of you have told me I’m not. But did you know that I can play the trumpet and I’m pretty good at it? Here’s what I mean by that. I remember a session in which… Read more
-
The Lenten Treasure Hunt
For many in the Church Lent begins today with Ash Wednesday. It’s forty days long, reflecting the forty days Jesus spent in the wilderness. It’s a time to prepare for the new life that will be revealed on Easter Sunday. Lent is usually characterized by fasting, self-denial, and repentance. Even if Lent is not a… Read more
-
I Don’t Want To Do Lent This Year – An Ash Wednesday Sermon On Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
I’m not sure if this is a confession or just a description of where I am these days but I don’t want to do Lent this year. Do you? Let me explain what I mean by that. We began tonight by praying that we would worthily lament our sins and acknowledge our wretchedness so that… Read more
-
Facing Our Greatest Temptation – A Sermon On Luke 4:1-13
What comes to mind when you think about temptation? What tempts you? What is your greatest temptation today? I ask those questions because I think what we often call a temptation isn’t really a temptation. We often think about temptations as a struggle between ourselves and some other thing or person. We’re tempted to… Read more
-
Unless … – A Sermon On John 12:20-33
I don’t know if “unlesses” is a real word but I am using it as a noun and the plural of unless. We all have our “unlesses.” They’re about how and what we see. They are the restrictions, limitations, and conditions that shape and inform our relationships and understanding of each other, Jesus, and ourselves.… Read more
-
Lifting Up Our Contradictions – A Sermon On John 3:14-21
Some of the funniest and most terrifying aspects of my life are my self-contradictions – the contradictions with which I live, the contradictions that live within me. My wife would probably say they are more aggravating and frustrating than funny. Most days my life is a living contradiction between what I say and what I… Read more
-
Cleaning Out And Enlarging Life – A Sermon On John 2:13-22
I think business as usual is the issue. The animals and money changers are not the problem. They are the symptom that something else is going on. I think Jesus went to the temple that day for one purpose and with one intention; to throw out and overturn business as usual. There are times when… Read more
-
The Most Important Day Of Your Life – A Sermon On Mark 1:9-15
In some ways the past year has felt like a long never ending season of Lent. It has been a time of fasting, self-denial, and giving up; a time when people and things have been lost or taken from us; a time that is continually pointing to our mortality and the fragility of life. What… Read more
Interrupting the Silence 