An Episcopal Priest's Sermons, Prayers, and Reflections on Life, Becoming Human, and Discovering Our Divinity
If you heard a political candidate espousing today’s gospel (Luke 6:27-38) as her or his agenda would you vote for her or him? Is today’s gospel the platform on which your political party stands and governs our nation? If we…
Read More Living Large – A Sermon On Luke 6:27-38
Photo by Andrew Haimerl (andrewnef) on Unsplash When was the last time Jesus just really ticked you off? When have you been filled with rage at Jesus for something he said or did? And what was that about? When was the last time…
Read More Raging At Jesus – A Sermon On Luke 4:21-30
I went home from work one evening last week and told Cyndy, “I had the best afternoon. I was doing what I love and, I don’t mean to brag, but I did it really well.” I suspect you’ve had days…
Read More Today Is The Day – A Sermon On Luke 4:14-21
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 that’s what happened. I think there is more to this than fish, success, and making a living. Here’s why I say that. What did they do with the fish, their success, the money they would have made at the market, once they got back to shore? “They left everything and followed [Jesus].” They walked away. Those were not the end of the story but the beginning of the story. Their initial desires took them to the lake but it was a “desire beyond desire” that called them beyond the lake.
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 help but wonder if we might not be the hometown crowd, if we somehow see ourselves as Jesus’ favorites. I can’t help but wonder if we don’t also assume some privileged status when it comes to Jesus, as if he always chooses (or should choose) our side, our church, our party, our country. And I can’t help but wonder if we’re not also in danger of being passed over.
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, the gospel asks us to make a choice, to take a stand, that will inconvenience us, be contrary to our self-interest, or put us in conflict and even opposition with others, ourselves, our family, our country, our religion.
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 and circumstances of our lives.
We are always discerning God’s insistence in our lives, to hear God’s call and claim on us. We are always listening for the yes to which we can answer yes.
Romans 2:29. "Rather, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart— it is spiritual and not literal. Such a person receives praise not from others but from God." One of…
Romans 2:13. "For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but the doers of the law who will be justified." There is more to doing the law than simply following the rules. When…
Luke 9:51-62, Proper 8C “He set his face to go to Jerusalem.” We all have a Jerusalem. We all set our faces to go in a particular direction. What is your Jerusalem? In what direction is your face set? And…
Read More Setting Our Faces To Go To Jerusalem – A Sermon on Luke 9:51-62
Interrupting the Silence 