Tag: Christian Life and Practice
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Too Big For Your Britches? Good – A Sermon On Mark 10:35-45
James and John want to be on top. They want to sit on either side of Jesus in his glory. The other ten disciples are angry about this. I picture them looking at James and John and saying, “You arrogant, selfish, and presumptuous sons of Zebedee. Who do you think you are?” It sounds like Read more
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Becoming Our Better Selves – A Sermon On Mark 9:30-37
“On the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest” (Mark 9:34). How do you imagine that argument went? Today’s gospel (Mark 9:30-37) doesn’t tell us what the disciples said but it’s not difficult to imagine. We need only recall the times we’ve argued about and striven to be the greatest. Maybe Read more
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Here We Are – A Baptismal Sermon On the Beatitudes, Matthew 5:1-12
Emmitt, though you are only four and a half months old you are never too young to hear the Beatitudes for the first time, and neither are the rest of us too old to hear them again for the first time. Today you are being immersed in the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12) as a way of… Read more
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Love’s Only Hope In This World – A Sermon On Matthew 22:34-46
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind,” and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” These, Jesus says, are the two commandments on which everything else hangs. They are two sides of the same thing. You can’t truly have one without… Read more
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There’s Got To Be More Than This – A Sermon On Matthew 22:1-14
If what we hear in today’s gospel (Matthew 22:1-14) is really what the kingdom of heaven is like, then I’m not interested. Who needs God’s kingdom – at least as Jesus describes it today – when we already have more than enough leaders throughout the world who are abusing their power, when violence is perpetrated… Read more
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A Prayer And A Pledge For The 2020 Presidential Election
The following liturgy and pledge were prepared after a conversation the vestry (the parish’s governing body) had about how we want to be toward one another in the time leading up to the 2020 presidential election and afterwards. The liturgy incorporates a theme expressed in my sermon, We Are Nineveh. The vestry and clergy of Read more
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“Show Me Your Work” – A Sermon On Matthew 16:13-20
I thought I knew or had some idea of what it meant for Jesus to be the Messiah. The events of the last six months, however, have caused me to rethink what it means. It used to be mostly a Sunday morning kind of question, but now it’s an every day kind of question. It… Read more
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Filling The Jesus Gap – A Sermon On Matthew 11:2-11
The Third Sunday in Advent, Year A – Matthew 11:2-11 John yelled at his disciples, “The Messiah is doing what!?” His voice escaped between the bars of his cell and echoed throughout the prison. Maybe his disciples told him what Jesus was doing. Or maybe he overheard the guards talking about it. Maybe he found Read more
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The How Of Life – A Sermon On Luke 6:20-31, Feast of All Saints
The Feast of All Saints, Year C – Luke 6:20-31 Blessed are the poor, the hungry, and the ones who are weeping. But woe to the rich, the full, and the ones who are laughing. Poverty over riches, hunger over fullness, and weeping over laughing. Are those the priories you have in your life today? Read more
Interrupting the Silence 