Category: Sermon
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Are You Getting Warmer Or Colder? – An All Saints Sermon On Luke 6:20-31
Blessings and woes. “Blessed are you.” “Woe to you.” What do you make of all that? I think it’s easy to hear the blessings and woes in today’s gospel (Luke 6:20-31) as rewards and punishments or as a categorization of saints and sinners, but I also think that would be a mistake and a misunderstanding… Read more
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What About The Unjust Widow? – A Sermon On Luke 18:1-8
We know today’s gospel (Luke 18:1-8) as the parable of the unjust judge. One implication of that title is that the widow is just. Maybe she is. But I’m not convinced. That makes the story too clean and easy. So I struggle with this story. I think it is a difficult and challenging story because… Read more
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Living In Exile – A Sermon On Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7
In today’s reading from the Old Testament (Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7) the people of Israel are living in exile. It’s not what they wanted. They didn’t choose to go. They were forcibly sent from Jerusalem to Babylon and their lives will be forever changed. Sometimes life gives us what we neither wanted nor chose. I suspect… Read more
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Lazarus Is Knocking – A Sermon On Luke 16:19-31
Exclusive communities, membership dues, railroad tracks, border walls, the other side of town; it seems there is always a gate between the rich and the poor. And so it is in today’s gospel (Luke 16:19-31). On one side of the gate a rich man lives in splendor. He’s well dressed in expensive clothes. He sits… Read more
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Searching For Wholeness And Completeness – A Sermon On Luke 15:1-10
If you were to imagine your life as whole and complete what would that look like and mean for you today? What qualities or characteristics would describe that kind of life? And what keeps that from happening? What is missing or has been lost? What would it take for you to live a bit more… Read more
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Hospitality To Strangers – A Sermon On Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16 And Luke 14:1, 7-14
“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers.” So we’re told in today’s Letter to the Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16. So let me ask you, how’s that working for you these days? What does hospitality mean and look like for you and me, Uvalde? I think it’s gotten a bit harder after May 24th. Sure, by… Read more
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Changing The Picture of Life – A Sermon On Luke 13:10-17
I suspect we’ve all seen before and after pictures; before and after the diet or workout plan, before and after a re-model, before and after a particular event or experience. If you looked at my before St. Philip’s pictures you’d see brown hair. And after, gray. That’s what today’s gospel (Luke 13:10-17) reminds me of.… Read more
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Interpreters Of The Present Time – A Sermon On Luke 12:49-56
“How is Uvalde?” How many of you have been asked that question? I have. I suspect it’s a conversation we’ve all had whether about Uvalde or another situation. It’s the obvious and natural thing to talk about after any kind of tragedy, trauma, or loss. That conversation takes place within families, among friends, between concerned citizens,… Read more
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If That’s What Faith Is Like … – A Sermon On Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16
“By faith Abraham … set out [for a place], not knowing where he was going.” How’s your faith these days? I ask that question because there are events, times, and seasons in each of our lives when everything we thought we knew or believed is called into question. The narrative of our life has been… Read more
Interrupting the Silence 