Sermons

Good Friday The cross and the lynching tree. Those two images have been with me throughout Lent this year, intertwined with each other in a profound way. We are here tonight to remember and grieve the death of a man we believe was the incarnation of God, who was...

Palm Sunday C Today begins the most sacred week of the Christian year, the week that we walk with Jesus on the path that ends with resurrection, but first goes through betrayal, arrest, torture, and death. Holy Week, as it is called, begins with a note of irony. Today...

Lent 4C “There was a man who had two sons.” Thus begins what is probably the best known of all of Jesus’ stories, usually known as the parable of the prodigal son. This tale of the son who takes his inheritance, squanders it, then comes home to be greeted with joy by...

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 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...