Today is All Saints’ Day, one of the major feast days of the Church, and one of my favorite days of the year. This first Sunday in November is the day that we remember the saints of the church – all of them, those who are important and have their own day on the church...
It has not been a good time for the people of Israel when the prophet Joel enters the scene. Wave upon wave of locusts have descended upon the country, each causing more and more destruction, until finally nothing is left. “The fields are devastated, the ground...
One afternoon this week I began my sermon writing ritual. Spread out on my desk were a Bible open to today’s scripture passage, several commentaries, and a notepad. I was just getting absorbed in the work when Dunstan suddenly appeared. For those of you who are new to...
It was not the word from the Lord that the Israelites were hoping or expecting to hear. God is addressing the survivors of the Babylonian invasion of Israel, almost 600 years before the birth of Christ. Those who survived the...
Easter 5C It is the very first church controversy, and like the hundreds, if not thousands, since then, it threatens to tear apart the church. The controversy is ancient, but its content could be pulled from today’s newspapers – who should be allowed in the church and...
Easter 6C It sounded like it was going to be such a nice, feel-good story. “A Life Without Fear,” the NPR announcer called it. This will be good, I thought. But what I expected to be an inspiring story of courage and bravery instead turned out to be – well,...
Easter 4C It is my favorite tv commercial of all time. A group of cowboys gallop across the screen on their horses, dust flying everywhere, whips snapping in the air, yelling at each other as they try to guide the herd across the dusty plains. Then you notice the...
Easter 2C Every year the Sunday after Easter we hear his story. Thomas, the disciple who doubted. Thomas, the one who listened in disbelief as his friends tell him that they have seen Jesus raised from the dead. Thomas, the one who said he wouldn’t believe it until he...
