Sermons by Sherry Deets (Page 3)

24 Pentecost, Proper 27 – November 12, 2023 Matthew 25:1-13          This parable reminds me of dragonflies. I know that sounds odd, but are you aware of the life of a dragonfly? It may surprise you to know that dragonflies spend most of their lives underwater. Before they are born as the adult dragonflies we know and recognize, they spend anywhere from two months to five years and even more developing as larvae in the water. Only after this lengthy…

All Saints’ Sunday – November 5, 2023 Matthew 5:1-12          Today we are celebrating All Saints’ Sunday.  All Saints Day is actually part of what we call a Triduum.  Triduum meaning a three-day observance.  We have All Hallows Eve (otherwise known as Halloween), All Saints Day, followed by All Souls Day.  This year that was Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday – October 31, November 1 and November 2.  It is Hallowtide, but we usually condense it to a Sunday observance. But…

22 Pentecost, Proper 25 – October 29, 2023 Matthew 22:34-46          The United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing was a large group of English Quakers that would come to be called Shakers. They were called Shakers because of their distinctive movement during worship. And the Shakers are also known for their style of furniture. The minimalist style of Shaker furniture is governed by the guiding principles of honesty, utility, and simplicity. Every item was designed to work well…

21 Pentecost, Proper 24 – October 22, 2023 Matthew 22:15-22          So this morning, we are hearing about some of the Pharisees and Herodians plotting to entrap Jesus. They first use flattery and then ask him a question designed to make him look bad. The Pharisees of Jesus’s day saw the tribute tax as a heretical and antinationalist capitulation to a pagan emperor, while the Herodi­ans viewed refusing to pay the tax as sedition.  Jesus understands that answering either way…

20 Pentecost, Proper 23 – October 15, 2023 Matthew 22:1-14          So, this morning we hear another uncomfortable parable from Jesus. And I needed to remind myself that parables were designed to make us uncomfortable. If we read them and find ourselves unprovoked, then we aren’t really seeing them.  Jesus was no teller of cozy bedtime stories; his parables are designed to show us things we don’t really want to see. And this week’s parable of a wedding banquet gone…

18 Pentecost, Proper 21 – October 1, 2023 Matthew 21:23-32          Let me start by giving you some context for our story this morning: Jesus has just spent the weekend entering Jerusalem on a stolen donkey, receiving the adoration of the crowds, cursing a fig tree, and slinging a whip around the temple to cleanse it of corruption.  In other words, he has just spent the weekend making holy trouble, and the religious establishment is furious with him.  They can’t…

17 Pentecost, Proper 20 – September 24, 2023 Matthew 20:1-16          Be honest. When you heard our gospel reading just now, did your heart leap for joy? Were you excited when you heard that the workers who’d toiled and slaved all day long in the hot sun were going to get the same day’s wages as those who’d worked only one hour? Probably not, huh? This is not a favorite parable. It goes against one of our most cherished values,…

16 Pentecost, Proper 19 – September 17, 2023 Matthew 18:21-35           “How many times do I need to forgive my brother or sister?” That’s the question which prompts the parable of the unmerciful servant that we hear today. This passage follows on last week’s reading, which Jesus concluded by assuring us that wherever two or three are gathered in his name, there he is, in our midst. And Peter,…..well he doesn’t allow us to linger in that moment. He knows…

15 Pentecost, Proper 18 – September 10, 2023 Matthew 18:15-20          “We need to talk.”  How do you feel when someone says these four words to you?  “We need to talk”.  What happens in your body when you hear them? Most of the time, if another person approaches us with those words, they’re not saying they want to chat about the weather, or relive highlights from yesterday’s football game, or share the latest celebrity gossip.  They’re saying, “Something is broken…

14 Pentecost, Proper 17 – September 3, 2023 Matthew 16:21-28 Last Sunday we heard Jesus saying to Peter, you’re “the rock on which I will build my church” and this Sunday he’s calling Peter “a stumbling block.” That’s not just great word play – from cornerstone to stumbling block – but such a reversal of relational fortune that it had to be incredibly painful for Peter. Can you imagine? And perhaps that’s the difficulty. Peter couldn’t imagine. He couldn’t imagine…

13 Pentecost, Proper 16 – August 27, 2023 Matthew 16:13-20 In our reading from Matthew’s gospel this morning, and by the way, it also appears in Mark and Luke’s gospel, Jesus asks his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” It’s instructive that this question was raised, and that it survives in our three gospel accounts. It indicates that the memories of the earliest believers varied considerably about the identity of Jesus. Exactly who was he? From then until…

12 Pentecost, Proper 15 – August 20, 2023 Matthew 15:10-28          I recently learned how a lobster grows.  Did you know that a one-pound lobster can grow to be a three-pound lobster, even a ten-pound lobster?  So, the question is, how does a lobster grow while protected and confined by a hard shell?  I learned that when a lobster becomes crowded in its shell and cannot grow anymore, by instinct, it travels out to some place in the sea, hoping…