Tag: Sin
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It’s Just One Thing After Another – A Sermon On Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
Do you ever have days when you just go from one thing to the next? Sometimes they are planned appointments or errands. Sometimes they are interruptions of your plans. And often it’s both in the same day. That’s the kind of day Jesus is having in today’s gospel (Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26). And it started even 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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Lift Me Up and I Shall Live Again
From Blessed Paul Giustiniani as quoted by Dom Jean Leclerq in Alone with God (p. 113); ‘The Lord lifts up those who fall’ [Ps. 145:15]. I never tire of repeating this word, which is the foundation of all my hope. I have fallen, Lord, but You are my God and my king: According to your Read more
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No More Admirably Arranged Lives – A Sermon on Romans 6:12-23
A priest was visiting with a new parishioner and asked, “How’s your relationship with God?” The parishioner says, “There’s not much to tell. I like sinning. God likes forgiving. We get along just fine.” That story is an adaptation of some lines from W. H. Auden’s poem, For the Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio. In Read more
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When We are Good and Lost – A Sermon on Luke 15:1-10
“This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them” (from Luke 15:1-10; Proper 19, Year C). That’s what the Pharisees and scribes said about Jesus. So how does that strike you? What do you hear in those words? Are they words of complaint and disagreement or ones of hope and invitation? At one level the words Read more
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The Freedom of Forgiveness, A Sermon on Luke 7:36-8:3
“Simon, ‘Do you see this woman?’” Jesus is not calling Simon’s attention to this woman. She has already done that. Her tears, her hair, her kisses, her touching, her anointing. Simon, no doubt, has been watching her. He has seen her. That’s not Jesus’ question. Jesus wants to know if Simon understands. Does he know Read more
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When Exile and Words of Comfort Meet – A Sermon on Isaiah 40:1-11, Advent 2B
The collect and readings for today, The Second Sunday of Advent, may be found here. The following sermon focuses on Isaiah 40:1-11. “Comfort, o comfort my people.” These are God’s ancient words to his people; spoken through the prophet Isaiah in the 6th century b.c. Their relevance and timeliness, however, are not lost on us Read more
Interrupting the Silence 