Tag: Change
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By Another Road – An Epiphany Reflection On Matthew 2:1-12
A couple of weeks ago I had a dream that has stuck with me, asking for some attention and consideration. Toward the end of the dream, I decide to go home. The road home is on the other side of a small hill. I’m on my bike and when I get to the top of Read more
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The Ending of a Pastoral Relationship
All: For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven. (Ecclesiastes 3:1) V: So teach us to number our days:R: That we may apply our hearts to wisdom. (Psalm 90:12)Let us pray. O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look favorably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred Read more
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Life In The Gap – An Advent Sermon On Jeremiah 33:14-16 And Luke 21:25-36
Recently, someone said to me, “I’m ready to move on. I don’t like being in this in between place.” I know what he means and I’ll bet you do too. I sometimes think about it as life in the gap. It’s the gap between what was or is and what will be. It’s the gap Read more
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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
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“Get Up And Do Not Be Afraid” – A Sermon On Matthew 17:1-9
Today’s gospel (Matthew 17:1-9), the transfiguration of Jesus, is often thought of, described, or spoken of, as a mountaintop experience. And I think it is a mountaintop experience, but I’m beginning to think it’s not the mountaintop experience we often understand it to be. For most of us, the mountaintop experience is a big deal. 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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Life Can Be Different – An Advent Sermon On Matthew 3:1-12
The Second Sunday in Advent, Year A – Matthew 3:1-12 What if I preached like John the Baptist? What if I was as blunt and direct as he is? What if one Sunday I began my sermon like this? “So what brought you slithering in here today? You sons of … snakes. Why are you Read more
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Life on the Potter’s Wheel
Jeremiah 18:6. “’Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just at this potter has done?’ says the LORD. ‘Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand.’” Who I am today is not who I was a year ago, five years ago, or fifty years ago. I Read more
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When Life Changes – A Sermon on Matthew 17:1-9
Listen to him. Be raised up. Do not be afraid. What if those words are holy wisdom for times of change? What if they are the means by which we step into our own transfiguration? Maybe it wasn’t Jesus who changed on the mountaintop. Maybe it was Peter, James, and John. Maybe their eyes were… Read more
Interrupting the Silence 