Sermons from 2008 (Page 3)

By The Very Rev. Sherry CromptonMay 11, 2008 (Pentecost Sunday) Read: Acts 2:1-21 and John 20:19-23 There is a lot of red in the church today. Red is the color we use to celebrate the Day of Pentecost. The day we were given the powerful gift of the Holy Spirit. The day the church was birthed, given new life…the birthday of the church. The day of wind and fire and languages that were different, yet the same. Each was speaking…

By The Very Rev. Sherry CromptonMay 4, 2008 (Ascension Sunday) Read: Acts 1:6-14 and John 17:1-11 Today in the Book of Acts, we hear of Jesus being lifted up into a cloud. Jesus’ Ascension. Can you imagine how the apostles felt, what they were thinking? As they stood there, staring into the sky in wonder and awe, at where they last saw their beloved Jesus, two men in white robes—angels—said, “Why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus,…

By The Very Rev. Sherry CromptonApril 27, 2008 Read: John 14:15-21 Jesus says today, “I will not leave you orphaned: I am coming to you.” Jesus spends a great deal of time in John’s gospel explaining to his disciples that he is about to die and what they need to know before he leaves them. Jesus is explaining his death as some kind of family reunion. He is going to the Father and in the meantime, the disciples are in…

By Patricia KirknerChildren’s SermonApril 20, 2008Read 1 Peter 2:10 Good Morning. Today we heard in the 2nd reading from 1st Peter, these words: “…let yourself be built into a spiritual house.” When I first read those words about building a house, I remembered one of my childhood stories; The Three Little Pigs. How many of you are familiar with that story? What do you remember? (pause) The story starts with the pigs being old enough to set out on their…

By The Very Rev. Sherry CromptonApril 13, 2008 Read: Psalm 23 and John It’s Good Shepherd Sunday just in case you hadn’t noticed all those references to sheep in today’s scripture readings. It tends to make me think of fluffy, cute little sheep and Jesus holding a lamb gently in his arms. It’s a good thought. Jesus is the Good Shepherd and he does indeed desire to hold each of us in his loving arms. But is there more to…

By The Very Rev. Sherry CromptonApril 6, 2008 Read: Luke 24:13-35 The road to Emmaus. We’ve all been on that road…that road to Emmaus. That long walk after losing an important game, that long walk after losing your job, that long walk after the death of a loved one. It’s the long road back to the empty house, the piles of unopened mail, to life as usual, if life can ever be usual again after our hopes and dreams are…

By The Very Rev. Sherry CromptonMarch 30, 2008 Read: John 20:19-31 Today is often referred to as “Doubting Thomas” Sunday. And many of us think, “poor Thomas”. It’s an unfair label to put on him. Except that it is a clear biblical example of the fact that we can doubt, we can question, and Jesus remains by our side wanting us to develop a deeper faith. To believe. So, why do I, and many others, believe it’s an unfair label…

By The Very Rev. Sherry CromptonMarch 23, 2008 (Easter Sunday) Read: John 20:1-18 Alleluia! The Lord is Risen! Happy glorious Easter! In Bible study someone commented on how wonderful the detail is in our story from John this morning. It allows for us to truly “see” what happened, it’s vivid and it’s real. And, in the detail we see in the first 11 verses, that the word “tomb” occurs 9 times and after verse 12 it is not mentioned again.…

By The Very Rev. Sherry CromptonMarch 21, 2008 (Good Friday) Read: John 18:1-19:42 “Then he bowed his head and gave up his Spirit”. It’s Good Friday. The day we are called to stand at the foot of the cross with Mary the wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene. We are invited to experience our own impotence. Our inability to stop the dying. “The Word became flesh and lived among us,” as the Gospel of John declares. (John 1:14) In a…

March 16, 2008 (Palm Sunday)Read: Matthew 26:14- 27:66 or Matthew 27:11-54 [One of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What will you give me if I betray Jesus to you?” They paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he began to look for an opportunity to betray him. On the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where do you want us to make the…

By The Very Rev. Sherry CromptonMarch 9, 2008 Read: Ezekiel 37:1-14 and John 11:1-45 Close your eyes and look around you. You are dropped into the middle of a deep valley full of bones. The bones are dry..very dry..bleached white from the hot sun. There are a lot of bones. Dry bones everywhere. You feel a sense of hopelessness. Now you are at the graveside of someone you dearly love. He died. He has been dead now four days and…

By The Very Rev. Sherry CromptonMarch 2, 2008 Read: 1 Samuel 16:1-13 and John 9:1-41 There’s something here about outside appearances. Samuel would choose a new king based on different ideas about what makes a good king, what makes a good leader, than God would choose. And then, of course, in our story about the blind man…it becomes comical how all those people around him cannot see. They cannot see this blind man in his new role, in his new…