Tag: Life
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Put Down Your Palms, Pick Up The Truth – A Palm Sunday Sermon On Mark 11:1-11
I wish Palm Sunday was as easy as the people in our first gospel reading (Mark 11:1-11) make it look and sound. I wish we could walk in the Jesus parade, wave palms, sing hosannas, offer blessings, and then just go to lunch. That’s how Palm Sunday used to be for me. For most of Read more
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Living In The Field Of Maybe – A Sermon On Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
“Let both of them grow together,” says the farmer in today’s gospel (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43), referring to the wheat and the weeds. Is that what you do? Do you just let the weeds keep on growing? Does that make sense to you? I’ll bet it didn’t make sense to the workers who want to gather Read more
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Figuring It Out As We Go – A Sermon On John 12:20-36 For Tuesday In Holy Week
On Palm Sunday I told you that Holy Week would be a week of conflict, confrontation, and choices. I told you that again yesterday. Any guesses on what I’m going to say today? In case you missed it the first two times let me say it again. Holy Week is a week of conflict, confrontation, Read more
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Rethinking Repentance – A Sermon On Matthew 4:12-23
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near,” Jesus says in today’s gospel (Matthew 4:12-23) How’s that working for you? Who here has repented today? Anyone? No? Okay, well it’s still early, not even lunch time yet. Did anyone repent over the weekend? No? How about over the past week? No? Is anyone thinking Read more
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Searching For Wholeness And Completeness – A Sermon On Luke 15:1-10
If you were to imagine your life as whole and complete what would that look like and mean for you today? What qualities or characteristics would describe that kind of life? And what keeps that from happening? What is missing or has been lost? What would it take for you to live a bit more Read more
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Changing The Picture of Life – A Sermon On Luke 13:10-17
I suspect we’ve all seen before and after pictures; before and after the diet or workout plan, before and after a re-model, before and after a particular event or experience. If you looked at my before St. Philip’s pictures you’d see brown hair. And after, gray. That’s what today’s gospel (Luke 13:10-17) reminds me of. Read more
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If That’s What Faith Is Like … – A Sermon On Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16
“By faith Abraham … set out [for a place], not knowing where he was going.” How’s your faith these days? I ask that question because there are events, times, and seasons in each of our lives when everything we thought we knew or believed is called into question. The narrative of our life has been Read more
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Pulling Back The Husks On My Life – An Ash Wednesday Sermon On Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
Most weeks as I am preparing my sermon at some point I call a retired priest who, for almost thirty years, has been my spiritual director, mentor, and one of my two best friends. We talk about our lives, the scriptures, my sermon ideas, and how what I am reading and studying are connecting with Read more
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God Wastes Nothing Of Our Lives – A Funeral Sermon On Romans 8:14-19, 34-35, 37-39
Where to begin? What to say? He was a good man, a crazy friend, a character, an operator, an entrepreneur. He was a story teller, funny, gregarious, outgoing, and mischievous. He was a rancher, a pilot, an excellent shot, a great golfer, an Aggie. “He was fun to be with and we had some good Read more
Interrupting the Silence 