Sermons

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...

There’s a funny thing about history. It changes depending on who is telling it. For many years, history textbooks told the story of this country’s past from the viewpoint of white men. Stories of women, Native Americans, African Americans, and other minorities were...

I was talking to a friend a few days ago, who commented that she had heard people talking about the three-day holiday weekend. "When did Fathers' Day become a national holiday?' she asked. Well, today is Fathers' Day, and we give thanks for all the fathers among us...

A few years ago I visited a friend in Wilmington, Delaware, and preached at her church, Trinity Parish. The more than 100-year-old church was once one of the predominant features of the downtown Wilmington landscape. But now its spires are dwarfed by the immense...

The pattern is the same every year. We celebrate Easter and God’s victory over death in the resurrection of Jesus, the son of God. Then 50 days later we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit to the disciples at Pentecost. And then the next Sunday, before we launch...

John Howard Griffin was 16 when he left his home in a small south Georgia town to study in France in the years before World War II. Once there, he joined the French Underground and began helping to smuggle Jewish people out of Germany, putting them on boats to safety...

In Sunday School this spring we are viewing a video series called Living the Questions that explores what it means to be a progressive Christian, how and what we believe. Last week, the discussion centered around how we interpret scripture, including how a story may...

“Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good?” We hear that question asked in our second reading today. It’s a rhetorical question, and at first hearing sounds a bit naive. We all know that doing the right or the good thing is no guarantee against being...

“All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.” I have been preaching for almost three decades now, and in all those years I have never preached on this...

Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ will come again. We say those words just about every Sunday in the Eucharistic prayer.  The Christ has died and Christ risen parts we understand. Or at least we talk and preach about fairly regularly, particularly in...