Sermons

Lent 2C One summer years ago I had a conversation with my then four-year-old niece, who was eager to tell me about Vacation Bible School. “What are you learning there?” I asked her. “Everything about God,” she replied. “Well, what have you learned about her?” I asked....

Lent 3C It starts out as just an ordinary day. Moses is doing what he always does, leading his father-in-law’s flock to food and water. Tending someone else’s herd isn’t much of a job – in fact it is work usually given to women and children. But Moses really can’t...

Lent 1C Did you notice anything different when you walked into church this morning? We have entered into a new church season, the season of Lent. Even if you didn’t know that, there are visual clues that might tell you something has changed, even before worship began....

Epiphany Last C In the rural countryside of Burma, in a part of the country where no electric or telephone lines mar the landscape, is a mountain. Even today it is accessible only by foot, and climbing its well-worn paths is not an easy task. But people do climb it...

Epiphany 5C “If I speak in the tongues of mortals and angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.” When you heard that passage read a few moments ago, did you look around for the wedding couple? Just as the 23rd Psalm – “the Lord is my...

Epiphany 4C They looked just like any other couple. A slightly older man with a younger wife, carrying a new baby boy, about six weeks old. Just like hundreds of other faithful Jewish couples at the Temple in Jerusalem, following Jewish law by presenting their first...

Epiphany 3C Those who are preaching this Sunday were given an embarrassment of riches from which to base a sermon. We have Jesus in his first recorded public teaching in Nazareth, giving what in essence is his inaugural address, setting forth his vision of the kingdom...

Epiphany 2C (MLK) The year 1963 was a tumultuous one in this country. Issues of civil rights dominated the news, beginning in January when George Wallace was sworn in as governor of Alabama declaring, “Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.” That...

Epiphany You may have noticed some changes when you walked into church this morning. The most obvious are the two stars on display – one in the back of the church hanging over the baptismal font, and the other on the beautiful banner hanging in front of the church....

Christmas 2018 It is good to be gathered here with you on my favorite night of the year, the night that we celebrate the birth of a baby who will change the world. Everything about this evening is special – the music that our choirs and instrumentalists have practiced...

Advent 4C I read a column in The New York Times this week about the phenomonon of on-line churches. The author was not talking about churches that live stream services for members who are not physically able to come to church. Instead, she was making observations...

Advent 3C When I looked at the scripture readings for this week I was reminded of a game from Sesame Street. Four objects would be shown on the screen while one of the characters sang these words: “One of these things is not like the other. One of these things just...

Advent 2C We hear today from the beginning of the Gospel of Luke, the gospel that gives us the most beloved stories of Jesus’ birth – the angel’s visit to Mary announcing she will have a son, Mary’s beautiful song of praise in response to that startling news, the...

Advent 1C Today is the first day of Advent, the beginning of a new year in the church calendar. We have spent the last six months in what the church calls “ordinary time,” that long period between Pentecost, 50 days after Easter, and the First Sunday of Advent....

Proper 6B I recently finished a haunting novel, Before We Were Yours, in which Lisa Wingate tells a fictionalized account of the true story of one of this country’s great scandals, the Tennessee Children’s Home Society and its director, Georgia Tann. From the 1920s...