Sermons
Of Saints and Parachute Packers
Charlie Plumb was a fighter pilot in Vietnam. He returned safely from 75 combat missions. But on his 76th flight, his plane was hit by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected from the plane just in time, pulled his parachute, and drifted to the ground. He was captured...
It’s Not Getting Easier
I was doing some web surfing this week when a headline caught my eye. "My Church Doesn't Know What to Do Anymore" it screamed at me. "Leading a church is harder now, in 2021, than it was in 2020," writes Elizabeth Felicetti, rector of St....
Proper 25B – The Rev. Bill Deneke
St. Dunstan’s October 24, 2021 When I was a young child, I would go with my mother shopping in downtown San Antonio, where I lived for the first nine years of my life. I remember sometimes seeing someone sitting on the sidewalk holding a cup, asking for a...
Lacking One Thing
Jesus said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” St. Anthony of Thebes, brought up in a wealthy Christian family, but orphaned at age 18, heard these...
Who’s the Greatest?
Sometimes I think the most amazing thing about Jesus is the patience he has with his disciples. Today’s Gospel reading is a good example. Jesus is trying to tell the disciples something important. He knows that his time on earth...
What Do You Say?
It seems to start out as just a casual, idle conversation. Jesus and his disciples are walking to the village of Caesarea Philippi, in the northernmost part of Israel. His actions have been gaining notice lately – the healing of a...
Proper 18B – The Rev. Bill Deneke
Proper 18B Sermon St. Dunstan’s September 5, 2021 A few days ago my wife and I were headed to the University of the South, Sewanee, when I saw a big sign beside the interstate that read: Biden, there is a damn crisis at the...
Be Kind
"Be kind to one another." It's such a simple instruction Paul gives to the Christian community in Ephesus. Be kind to each other. They are words that we might be tempted to skip over. We've all heard them all our lives. Be kind,...
Tossed To and Fro
"We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming." These words were written by the apostle Paul to the church in Ephesus almost 2,000...
The Trouble with Miracles
Do you believe in miracles? It's a fair question to ask people of faith. Our scripture is full of miracles, defined as "an extraordinary and astonishing happening that is attributed to the presence and action of an ultimate or...
The Language of God
"Jesus saw a great crowd and he had compassion for them." Compassion. It's at the core of who Jesus is. Time and time again in the gospels we hear of Jesus' compassion -- for the crowds who have gathered to see and hear him, for...
Returning from Exile
You know it is going to be an interesting week of sermon preparation when you open a commentary on the Gospel lesson and read this, “The story of the beheading of John the Baptist is hardly a text one would spontaneously choose for a sermon.” No...
For All
Happy Fourth of July! On this day that we celebrate the founding of this great nation that we all love, it seems appropriate to begin the day in church with prayers for our country. By any standards the past year has been a difficult one for...
Slaying Giants
It is one of the most familiar stories in the Bible, the battle between David and Goliath. This tale of the young boy who, using only a sling shot, defeats a mighty giant of a warrior, has become the iconic tale of the triumphant underdog....
When You Least Expect It
When I was growing up, in the days before cell phone cameras were ubiquitous, there was a popular TV show called “Candid Camera.” Those of you who are old enough may remember that the program’s premise was that the show’s crew would set...