Tag: Repentance
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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 Conflicting Snapshots Of Our Lives – A Sermon On Mark 8:31-38
We’ve known times in our lives when we felt unprepared for what we were facing. We looked down the road at what was coming and we didn’t like what we saw. We wanted to cry out, “No. This isn’t happening. This cannot be. This must not be.” Haven’t there been times when you felt scared,… Read more
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The Wilderness Of Gun Violence – A Sermon On Mark 1:9-15
The First Sunday in Lent – Mark 1:9-15 I don’t know how I can stand before you today with any sense of integrity and faithfulness and not say something about the Florida shooting. Something has to be said. I’m just not sure what to say or what can be said. I’m struggling with that. And 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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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
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Repentance, Responsibility, and San Bernardino – An Advent Sermon on Luke 3:1-6
Repent. Prepare the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight. Valleys shall be filled. Mountains and hills shall be made low. The crooked shall be made straight. The rough ways shall be made smooth. By themselves those words have no meaning. They need context. That’s true for any word. We might be able to Read more
Interrupting the Silence 