Tag: John the Baptist
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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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Life Can Be Different – An Advent Sermon On Matthew 3:1-12
The Second Sunday in Advent, Year A – Matthew 3:1-12 What if I preached like John the Baptist? What if I was as blunt and direct as he is? What if one Sunday I began my sermon like this? “So what brought you slithering in here today? You sons of … snakes. Why are you Read more
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It’s About Ordinary Life – An Advent Sermon On Luke 3:7-18
I remember asking the what-to-do question in my teen age and early adult years as I thought about and made decisions. I asked it during my separation and after my divorce. I asked it after our son Brandon died. I’ve asked it after I said or did something that hurt another. I’ve asked it when… Read more
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What Has Laid Claim To Your Life? – An Advent Sermon On Luke 3:1-6
What do you see when you look at your past? What are the feelings and thoughts?Regardless of how we view our past, regardless of what did or not happen back then, to the degree we are enmeshed, entangled, or enslaved to our past, “we can expect the future to look like the past” (Caputo, The… Read more
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The One Among Us – A Sermon On John 1:6-8, 19-28 for Advent 3B
Maybe the greatest barrier to seeing the divine presence among us is that we already have an idea or image of who that one is or should be and what that one should look like and do. In other words, we think we know and we stick with what we think we know. We can’t… Read more
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Comfort For The Displaced – A Sermon on Mark 1:1-8 for Advent 2B
In what ways are you living as a displaced person? What parts of your life feel uprooted and disconnected? What is your displacement? “Comfort, O comfort my people,” are God’s words to displaced people. Isaiah first spoke those words to people exiled in Babylon, people whose lives had been uprooted. Those same words come to… Read more
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A Positive Decrease
John 3:29b-30. “For this reason my joy has been fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease.” I wonder what John the Baptist’s disciples are thinking when they hear him talk about becoming less. Their numbers are decreasing, and Jesus’ group of disciples are increasing. I can imagine them thinking, “And what are you going Read more
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Beauty, Hope, and Repentance – A Sermon on Matthew 3:1-12, Advent 2A
Matthew 3:1-12, Advent 2A If last week’s gospel (Matthew 24:36-44) called us to wake up and be watchful of the worlds within us and around us, then this week’s gospel (Matthew 3:1-12) calls us to respond. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” What does that mean for you? What is John the Baptist Read more
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What Then Should We Do? – An Advent Sermon on Luke 3:7-18
“What then should we do?” That question is at the center of today’s gospel. It has its origin, however, in last week’s gospel and John the Baptist’s call for repentance. Today’s gospel (Luke 3:7-18) is the continuation of last week’s (Luke 3:1-6). You may remember the refrain from last week: Repent. Prepare the way of Read more
Interrupting the Silence 