Tag: Wilderness
-
The Decisive Moments – A Sermon On Luke 4:1-13
Decisive Moments When you look back on your life what have been some of the decisive moments? I’m not asking about the routine decisions and choices we make every day. I’m asking about those decisions that have profound and lasting consequences. They are the decisions that reveal who we are and what it means to Read more
-
A Word In The Wilderness Of Life – An Advent Sermon On Luke 3:1-6
When was the last time you were in the wilderness of life? Maybe you are there today. We all come to wilderness times in our life. Sometimes the choices we make bring us to the wilderness. Sometimes the actions or words of others send us there. And sometimes it’s circumstances beyond our control that take Read more
-
No Temptation, No Salvation – A Sermon On Mark 1:9-15
Over the last several years I’ve found myself, more often than not, rethinking and working to unlearn much of what I’ve been told and come to believe and understand about God and what it means to be in relationship with the Divine. I’ve encouraged you to do the same. It’s part of my teaching and Read more
-
Make A Beginning Worthy Of Your Life – An Advent Sermon On Mark 1:1-8
I’m jealous of John the Baptizer. In today’s gospel (Mark 1:1-8) he experiences what every preacher dreams of. He has been “the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’” He’s been pushing the people to rethink, reevaluate, reconsider their lives. And darned if they Read more
-
Let’s Not Waste A Good Temptation – A Sermon On Matthew 4:1-11
“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” That’s the first line in today’s gospel (Matthew 4:1-11) and my first thought is, Well, that’s not fair. The Spirit and the devil in cahoots? What are we supposed to do with that? Maybe it’s an opportunity to Read more
-
Facing Our Greatest Temptation – A Sermon On Luke 4:1-13
What comes to mind when you think about temptation? What tempts you? What is your greatest temptation today? I ask those questions because I think what we often call a temptation isn’t really a temptation. We often think about temptations as a struggle between ourselves and some other thing or person. We’re tempted to Read more
-
The Most Important Day Of Your Life – A Sermon On Mark 1:9-15
In some ways the past year has felt like a long never ending season of Lent. It has been a time of fasting, self-denial, and giving up; a time when people and things have been lost or taken from us; a time that is continually pointing to our mortality and the fragility of life. What… Read more
-
Life In The Deserted Place – A Sermon On Mark 1:29-39
Jesus got up early, while it was still very dark, and left the security of the house to go to this deserted place, this wilderness place. My guess is that nobody wants to go to that place and yet we’ve all been there. I wonder what your deserted place is today. What parts of your… Read more
-
The First Sunday Of COVID-19 – A Reflection On Exodus 17:1-7
It was The Third Sunday in Lent. We had planned to celebrate the Holy Eucharist beginning with the penitential order. It ended up being a different kind of Sunday; not your usual Third Sunday in Lent. We omitted the penitential order and began the liturgy with a prayer concerning COVID-19. There was no water in Read more
Interrupting the Silence 