Sermons

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...

Easter 2019 Every year on the Tuesday before Easter, the clergy of the Diocese of Atlanta gather at the Cathedral to renew our ordination vows. At that service we are asked this question: “Will you continue as faithful stewards of the mysteries of God?” Our answer is,...

Easter Vigil Dear friends in Christ: On this most holy night, in which our Lord Jesus passed over from death to life, the Church invites her members, dispersed throughout the world, to gather in vigil and prayer. For this is the Passover of the Lord, in which, by...

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...