Sermons

It happens every year at this time. The Christmas decorations are going up, the smell of fresh greenery is in the air, the red velvet bows are still crisp, the melodies of Christmas carols follow us everywhere we go – except in church, of course. There is a festive...

Happy New Year! 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, which is 50 days after Easter, and the First...

Today is the last Sunday in the season of  Pentecost, the longest season of the church year. At one time the church referred to the season of Pentecost as “ordinary” time. From May through the end of November there are no big festivals or celebrations on the...

I was about 10 years old when psychic Jean Dixon predicted the exact date of the end of the world. Somehow in those days before the internet and social media the news of this impending doom raced through our fifth grade classroom, both exciting and...

Today is All Saints' Day, one of the major feast days of the Church, and one of my favorite Sundays of the year. This first Sunday in November is the day that we remember the saints of the church -- all of them, those who have their own day on the church calendar, and...

For the last two months our Old Testament readings have been following the story of Moses and the people of Israel as they journey through the wilderness to the land that God first promised to Abraham and Sarah long, long ago. When the story begins, the Israelites are...

"A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more." These words from the prophet Jeremiah are not in the scripture readings appointed for today, but...

Jesus said, "A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work in the vineyard today.' He answered, 'I will not,' but later he changed his mind and went. "The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered 'I go sir,' but he did not...

This weekend is a special time for our Jewish brothers and sisters. At sunset Friday they began celebrating Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year. Rosh Hashana is not a one-day celebration. It is the beginning of Judaism's High Holy Days, which end with Yom Kippur, the...

Ever since reading today's Gospel this week I have been thinking about a young man I once knew named Todd. Todd grew up in the Midwest as a Jehovah’s Witness. His father was a leader in that denomination’s hierarchy. His mother was active in the local congregation....

In the opening pages of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the penultimate volume in that magical series, the prime minister of England is worried. Strange and ominous things have been happening across his country – dozens have died when a well-built,...

For these four and a half months since Joe's death I have been slowly going through his things, deciding what to keep and what to donate or throw away.  Joe was, to put it politely, a bit of a packrat, so there is a lot to sort through. Sometimes in the sorting I...

The original source of this quote is uncertain,  but the words have stayed with me since I first heard them in seminary many years ago. “A preacher,” the theologian said, “should have the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other.” Since I spent many years...

For the last three Sundays in our Gospel readings we have heard Jesus telling his disciples what life will be like for those who follow him. At first, life as a disciple sounds pretty good. Jesus gives his friends and followers the authority to cast out demons, to...

Her name escaped me long ago, but her actions will haunt me forever. The rural Tennessee woman, whose story I covered as a reporter for the Nashville Banner, was a person of faith, who always tried to do what she believed God would have her do, no matter how difficult...