Sermons from June 2013

By The Rev. Sherry Deets 6 Pentecost, Proper 8 – June 30, 2013 Luke 9:51-62 At the turning point of C.S. Lewis’s beloved The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, several significant characters encourage each other with reports that Aslan, the great lion and true ruler of oppressed Narnia, has reappeared to fight the evil witch. Their words of encouragement to each other are as potent as they are succinct: “Aslan is on the move.” In today’s reading from the…

By The Rev. Sherry Deets 5 Pentecost, Proper 7 – June 23, 2013 Luke 8:26-39 Jesus is crossing over the Sea of Galilee to the land of the Gerasenes, which means that he’s not just crossing the sea, he’s also crossing boundaries. Because the land of the Gerasene’s is the land of Gentiles, and no self-respecting Jewish rabbi would be taking his band of followers there. When he gets there, he’s confronted immediately by a man who is possessed. Actually,…

By The Rev. Sherry Deets 4 Pentecost, Proper 6 – June 16, 2013 Luke 7:36-8:1-3 So our gospel story today is about forgiveness. And it’s about the gratitude that forgiveness creates. And it’s about the extravagant acts of love and devotion that gratitude prompts. But it’s also about something else: it’s about hardness of heart as opposed to love, about judgment instead of forgiveness, and about a sense of entitlement instead of gratitude. Notice that telling this short parable would…

By The Rev. Sherry Deets 3 Pentecost, Proper 5 – June 9, 2013 1 Kings 17:8-24 and Luke 7:11-17 There are some similarities between our lesson from 1 Kings and our gospel reading. In both cases there is a widow with a son who is dead. In both cases, the son is brought back to life. One by Elijah and the other by Jesus. Widows held a tenuous position in Jesus’ day. They were often linked with orphans as those…

By The Rev. Sherry Deets 2 Pentecost, Proper 4 – June 1, 2013 Luke 7:1-10 As Jesus entered the city limits of Capernaum, a group of elders from the synagogue were waiting for him. They told him that the local centurion had sent word for him that his servant was near death and wanted him to come at once. Now, in a city like Capernaum, Roman centurions were the law. They commanded a company of a hundred soldiers, hence the…