Tag: Death
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Mortality And The Fragility Of Life – An Ash Wednesday Sermon On Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
We live in a tension between the uncertainty of life and the certainty of death. And we work pretty hard at denying, ignoring, forgetting, outrunning, and overcoming those twin realities. But they are always there. They are always present to us in the same way the ashes with which we will be marked were already… Read more
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The Light In The Valley Of The Shadow Of Death – A Funeral Sermon on Psalm 23
Today we “walk through the valley of the shadow of death” (Psalm 23). Today the familiarity, poetry, and beauty of the 23rd psalm have a different tone. The shadow is dark and the valley is long and deep. I will not mislead you by denying that reality or letting platitudes and sentimentalities echo off the… Read more
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Life Shattered, Life Restored – A Sermon on Luke 24:13-35
Rarely does the gospel tell us what to do or believe. Rarely does it give us a straight answer. And today’s gospel (Luke 24:13-35), the road to Emmaus story, is no different. It doesn’t give us answers. It raises questions and invites reflection. It’s a map by which we orient and find ourselves. It reveals… Read more
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Good Friday? Really? – A Sermon on Suffering and Death
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… Read more
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Walking Through the Valley of the Shadow of Death
Psalm 23:4. “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” Someone whose husband recently died said to me, “I never realized the twenty-third psalm was about me. I thought it was about my husband, Read more
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When A Loved One Dies – A Funeral Sermon on John 14:1-6
I need you to trust me and work with me on what I am going to say next. It won’t seem true but it is. Brian’s love, his life, and his presence are as real today as before he died. I know it doesn’t look like that and it sure doesn’t feel like that. I… Read more
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The Choice is Yours – A Sermon on Sirach 15:15-20 and Matthew 5:21-37
Have you ever gotten exactly what you chose only to realize it was not what you really wanted? Have you ever made a choice that you knew was the right choice, a good choice, but it left you feeling empty, as if something was missing? Despite getting what you wanted, what you chose, your life… Read more
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Resurrection, The First Day Stories of our Life – An Easter Sermon on Luke 24:1-12
Easter Sunday, Luke 24:1-12 “He is not here, but has risen.” That’s it. That’s all I got. That’s the Easter story. There’s really nothing more to be said about this day than that. To say much more than that borders on saying more than we really know or can know. I don’t know how it Read more
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Hell Yeah! – A Holy Saturday Sermon on Matthew 27:57-66 and Job 14:1-14
Job 14:1-14 Matthew 27:57-66 “If mortals die, will they live again?” (Job 14:14) That’s Job’s question. It’s a Holy Saturday kind of question. It’s a question all of us ask on the Holy Saturdays of our lives. Jesus was crucified, killed, yesterday. His body was placed in a tomb. A great stone was placed over Read more
Interrupting the Silence 