An Episcopal Priest's Sermons, Prayers, and Reflections on Life, Becoming Human, and Discovering Our Divinity
We often come to this day, Good Friday, and talk about what Jesus on the cross did for us. We talk of his death as having accomplished and completed something for us. I think that’s why a little later in…
Read More The Jesus Choice – A Sermon On John 18:1-19:42 For Good Friday
I used to try to understand, explain, or make sense of this day, Good Friday. I don’t anymore. I’ve given that up. What do you say on days like this? What can be said? Besides, most of the explanations that…
Read More On Days Like This – A Sermon On John 18:1-19:42 For Good Friday
Here’s my question. What is the cross of Jesus asking for in your life today? And what is it showing you? Most of us come to Good Friday believing that the cross gave us something. Most of us come to this day saying that “Jesus died for our sins.” I’m not so sure anymore. I struggle with the torture and execution of Jesus. I suspect most of us do. I can’t make sense of it and I’m not sure Jesus could either. I want to rethink the meaning of Good Friday and the usual ways we interpret it.
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 do, what I think and what I say, the values I claim to hold in my life and the way I live my life. My guess is that you have contradictions in your life too. I don’t think they’re unique to me. What if every contradiction is a messenger telling us about a deeper truth?
Good Friday - John 18:1-19:42 What about your death gives meaning to your life today? In what ways is death inviting you to live more fully, to connect more deeply with others, to love more freely and completely? My stomach…
Read More Life In The Shadow Of The Cross – A Good Friday Sermon
We tend to let the cross and Jesus’ death overshadow not only this day, but the entirety of our faith, as if it is the thing and the only thing. But what if it’s just one more thing, one among many? I do not mean to diminish or negate the cross on this day. But there is more to Jesus, his life, and this day than just his cross and death. It’s a part of the story but it’s not the whole story. So I want to try and enlarge the meaning of the cross and this day.
Before I talk about Good Friday I want to talk about Bad Friday. That’s the Friday that I struggle with. Don’t you? How are we to make sense of an all powerful, can do anything, kind of God who seemingly chooses to do nothing? That’s the Bad Friday question.
The serpent that bites and kills and is also the serpent that heals and give life. That doesn't make sense but what if that's really how it is? What if the snaky places are not so much places to escape but places from which soul-medicine arises? Can opposites really coincide in that way?
What is your story of suffering and loss? When was a time you thought your heart couldn't break anymore than it already had? Who are the loved ones you’ve lost? What is the pain that never goes away? When has your world come to an end? When have you cried in the daytime, but had no answer from God, or by night as well but found no rest (Psalm 22:2)? What suffering do you bring today?
“Do you want to know how I got to be so smart?” That’s the question a friend of mine has recently begun asking me at the end of our conversations. He is not only a friend. He is also, for…
Read More Crucifying our Programs for Happiness – A Sermon on Matthew 16:21-28
Interrupting the Silence 