Sermon Archive (Page 29)

By The Rev. Sherry Deets 4 Easter – April 29, 2012 John 10: 11-18 Our gospel text begins, “I am the good shepherd…” What we need to know is that, in Jesus’ day, the term, “good shepherd,” would have been heard as an oxymoron – a contradiction of terms. In Jesus’ day, shepherds were anything but good. They lived as nomads, grazing their sheep on other people’s land. They were notorious for lying, cheating and stealing. They were Jews, all…

By The Rev. Sherry Deets 3 Easter – April 22, 2012 Luke 24:36b-48 Last week, we heard about Thomas, his doubts, his questions about the risen Jesus. That was John’s account. This week we hear this story from a slightly different angle, from the writer of Luke. In his story, Jesus also suddenly appears among the disciples, but according to Luke, all of the disciples were fearful and unbelieving. The disciples huddle together behind locked doors, afraid that the authorities…

By The Rev. Sherry Deets 2 Easter – April 15, 2012 John 20:19-31 The movie, Simon Birch, tells about a boy, Simon, whose growth has been stunted–but he believes that God has a purpose for his life. Simon has a friend, Joe, who is a doubter–we would probably call Joe a realist. After all, what boy could believe that his buddy–who happened to be a midget–could be destined for great things? In the movie, we see Simon and Joe walking…

By The Rev. Sherry Deets Easter Day – April 8, 2012 Mark 16:1-8 Happy Easter! Ok, so Mark’s gospel ending this morning is not really a great ending. If you notice in your bulletin, there is a longer ending to Mark added. Most all scholars believe Mark ends at 16:8a, where the Easter reading traditionally breaks off. Most of our bibles have additional endings, most likely added later, perhaps centuries later, because none of the earliest manuscripts contain them. But…

By The Rev. Sherry Deets 5 Lent – March 25, 2012 John 12:20-33 “Sir, we wish to see Jesus”. That is what struck me in today’s gospel reading from John. Don’t we all wish to see Jesus? My friend speaks of a family picnic. “We went out to one of these lovely state parks; and the water was so green, so blue green as it is around here on the high mountain streams. The water came tumbling down that white…

By The Rev. Sherry Deets 4 Lent – March 18, 2012 Numbers 21:4-9 and John 3:14-21 “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness” (v. 14). The story is from Numbers 21:4-9, and every Jewish child knows it. The Israelites sinned by grumbling against God for bringing them out of Egypt into the wilderness. God punished them with a plague of fiery serpents, killing many Israelites. The Israelites confessed their sin and begged for mercy, so God…

By The Rev. Sherry Deets 3 Lent – March 11, 2012 John 2:13-22 Last Sunday’s text focused on the Lenten question, “what does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus?” Today’s text focuses on the question “what does it mean to be the church of Jesus?” To a faithful Jew, the temple was sacred space, the dwelling place of God on earth. It was a magnificent place. In a futile effort to win over his “ungrateful” subjects, Herod the…

Propterea sicut per unum hominem in hunc mundum peccatum intravit et per peccatum mors et ita in omnes homines mors pertransiit in quo omnes peccaverunt.

By The Rev. Sherry Deets 1 Lent – February 26, 2012 Mark 1:9-15 This morning I’d like to talk about the wilderness experience. We heard that Jesus was driven out into the wilderness for 40 days and tempted by Satan. Sooner or later, almost everyone experiences that uncomfortable feeling that, no matter how confident we were at the start of a journey, we are now lost. The feeling may come on gradually. Something doesn’t seem quite right. There’s this odd…

By The Rev. Sherry Deets Ash Wednesday, February 22, 2012 A friend shares one of childhood experiences. He said there was an assumed rule in the house. Whenever someone in the family saw an important person come up the driveway, he or she was legally, ethically and morally responsible to scream, “Fire Drill!” Whoever was within earshot of those resounding words was obligated to find anything on the floor that did not belong—like clothes, dishes, magazines, newspapers—gather them up and run…

By The Rev. Sherry Deets Last Sunday after the Epiphany (The Transfiguration) – February 19, 2012 Mark 9:2-9 Surfing is a sport that confounds popular wisdom. Most of us outsiders can marvel at the beauty of the ocean and the obvious joy that riding waves brings to surfing enthusiasts. But at the same time, most outsiders view surfing as inherently too dangerous. The most common question asked of surfers is: “Aren’t you afraid of getting attacked by a shark?” Most…

By The Rev. Sherry Deets 6 Epiphany – February 12, 20122 Kings 5:1-14 This morning I want to talk about the passage from 2 Kings – Naaman and his leprosy. This is a wonderful story for many reasons. It is a passage about the breaking down of barriers and the beginning of new life. You know, one of the oldest story lines in literature is “a stranger comes to town.” In this case, the stranger is Naaman, a powerful commander…