Tag: Kingdom of Heaven
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The Mixed Bag Of Our Life – A Sermon On Matthew 16:13-20
What do you see when you look at yourself these days? What stands out for you? And what do you wish you could hide? What do you want others to see? And what’s the last thing you want them to see? I ask those questions because I think it’s easy to take one aspect or Read more
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Fields Of Pain – A Sermon On Matthew 9:35-10:8
There’s a lot of pain in the world today. But you don’t need me to tell you that. It’s an everyday reality; physical pain, emotional pain, spiritual pain, and the systemic pain of violence, injustice, poverty, racism, to mention just a few. We read about in the news. We see it in the tears of Read more
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Imprisoned By Our Blinders – A Sermon On Matthew 11:2-11
What happened to John the Baptist? That’s the question that comes up for me when I hear today’s gospel (Matthew 11:2-11). Last week (Matthew 3:1-12) John was a voice crying out in the wilderness. He was preparing the way of the Lord and announcing that the kingdom of heaven had come near. He demanded repentance. Read more
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Peace For Our Wolves And Lambs – A Sermon On Isaiah 11:1-10
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near,” John the Baptist announces in today’s gospel (Matthew 3:1-12). But it’s Isaiah in today’s Old Testament reading (Isaiah 11:1-10) who describes the kingdom. It’s Isaiah who gives us a glimpse of that kingdom. “The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with 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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“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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A Non-Possessive Life – A Sermon On Luke 12:32-40
Many years ago a close, dear friend gave Cyndy and me a gift. “Open it now,” she said. We unwrapped it and took it out of the box. It was a piece of pottery, about six inches in diameter, beige colored, in the shape of a dome. There was a hole in the top and… Read more
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Dealing With The Unknown, Unchosen, or Unwanted – A Sermon on Genesis 29:15-28 and Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
The problem is that life doesn’t always work that way. Nor is that, Jesus says, how the kingdom of heaven works. Sometimes real life, kingdom life, is like a net dragged through the sea. It pulls up both the good and the bad. Other times it is like a field that you see day after… Read more
Interrupting the Silence 