Tag: Humanity

  • Rethinking Ash Wednesday And Lent – A Sermon On Isaiah 58:1-12

    Rethinking Ash Wednesday And Lent – A Sermon On Isaiah 58:1-12

    Years ago I heard a story about a priest who went to a new parish. I don’t know if it really happened; it probably didn’t, but I think there’s some truth in the story.  Anyway, the priest was meeting and getting to know the people and would ask about their relationship with God. Most responded Read more

  • Living In Exile – A Sermon On Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7

    Living In Exile – A Sermon On Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7

    In today’s reading from the Old Testament (Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7) the people of Israel are living in exile. It’s not what they wanted. They didn’t choose to go. They were forcibly sent from Jerusalem to Babylon and their lives will be forever changed. Sometimes life gives us what we neither wanted nor chose. I suspect Read more

  • On Days Like This – A Sermon On John 18:1-19:42 For Good Friday

    On Days Like This – 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 I’ve heard or come up with myself don’t really satisfy. They are mostly ways of Read more

  • Working Out Our Life – A Sermon On John 17:6-19

    Working Out Our Life – A Sermon On John 17:6-19

    In today’s gospel Jesus is praying. He’s not talking to the disciples and he’s not talking to us. He’s not teaching and he’s not giving instructions. He’s praying, and we’re listening in. And what a prayer it is. What do you hear in his prayer? I’m not just asking about what he prays for. I’m… Read more

  • Getting To The Heart Of The Migrant Situation – A Sermon On John 14:23-29

    Getting To The Heart Of The Migrant Situation – A Sermon On John 14:23-29

    Will we live with our hearts at peace or at war? That’s the question each one of us must answer, and we do. Every day we answer that question and our answer to that question determines our way of being toward others. How do we want to be toward the other? Read more

  • Battling For The Heart Of Humanity – A Sermon on 1 Samuel 17:1, 4-11, 19-23, 32-49

    Battling For The Heart Of Humanity – A Sermon on 1 Samuel 17:1, 4-11, 19-23, 32-49

    We all face giants, Philistines, in our lives. Sometimes it’s personal and unique to our particular situation. Goliath might be an illness, loneliness, the loss of a loved one. Maybe a rift in a relationship is standing tall. Or maybe it feels as if your life is moving out of control and you’re powerless to… Read more

  • The Scandal of Being Human

    Every time we say the Nicene Creed we profess the world’s greatest scandal. God chose to become human. God chose to reveal himself through flesh and blood. God chose to enter this world in the usual way, to be born of a human mother the same as you and I were. God chose to live Read more

  • The Life of Jesus: God’s Extreme Consideration for Humanity

    He did not shun; he chose. He did not shun the virgin’s womb; he chose a mother. He did not shun the human body; he chose flesh and blood. He did not shun the angel’s name; he chose a destiny. He did not shun the circumciser’s knife; he chose purity. He did not shun God’s Read more

  • Iconoclasm

    If, as I suggested in the previous post, we all have and venerate icons then maybe there is a corollary to be considered. How are we also iconoclasts? What images have we and do we continue to destroy? Iconoclasm is often justified as an attempt to protect or defend God. The incarnation, however, lies at Read more