Sermons from 2013 (Page 3)

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…

By The Rev. Sherry Deets 7 Easter – May 12, 2013 John 17:20-26 It is often said that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Life in all of its intricacies is a journey. From our beginning, our birth, we are pilgrim travelers seeking our place of self-worth. A story is often told of life’s travels when it is said, “One cannot control when you are born, where you are born, or to what family you…

By The Rev. Sherry Deets 6 Easter – May 5, 2013 John 5:1-9 John says when Jesus got to Jerusalem he entered the city by the Sheep Gate and went to the pool of Bethesda nearby. The Sheep Gate still stands today. It was called the Sheep Gate because shepherds would drive their sheep into Jerusalem through this gate and on over to the Pool of Bethesda to the right, where they would be washed before taken to the temple…

By The Rev. Sherry Deets 5 Easter – April 28, 2013 John 13:31-35 This section of John, begins with the account of the Last Supper and the moving words that summarize the whole: “Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” As this particular passage commences, the one we just heard, Jesus has already washed the feet of his disciples, Judas has just departed to betray him, and the rest of the disciples…

By The Rev. Sherry Deets 4 Easter – April 21, 2013 John 10:22-30 In John’s gospel for today, it was winter; the festival of the Dedication in Jerusalem. We know this as Hanukah today; the festival of lights, which commemorates the rededication of the temple in 164 BC after its destruction. So, we watch as a lone figure approaches and walks in the temple. Jesus is walking in the portico of Solomon, not out in the open; perhaps sheltered from…

By The Rev. Sherry Deets 3 Easter – April 14, 2013 John 21:1-19 Redemption. Today’s scripture readings have me thinking about redemption. And according to Dictionary.com the definition of redemption is: 1) an act of redeeming or atoning for a fault or mistake, or the state of being redeemed. 2) deliverance, rescue. 3) deliverance from sin, salvation. 4) atonement for guilt. Simon Peter had been one of Jesus’ most ardent disciples but, when the chips were down, he had stumbled.…

By The Rev. Sherry Deets 2 Easter – April 7, 2013 John 20:19-31 We are so accustomed to comparing ourselves favorably with poor Thomas, whose famous doubt has come to be considered part of his name-Doubting Thomas-that we overlook something important about the way the resurrection works in us: Thomas isn’t the only one who must absorb the fact of the risen Christ in his own way. We all do that. That’s why people were often unable grasp who the…

By The Rev. Sherry Deets Easter Sunday – March 31, 2013 Luke 24:1-12 Christ is risen! Alleluia! Parker Palmer wrote an Easter meditation entitled: An Upside-Down Easter Meditation. I love it. His focus was on the words that were the title of a book: Threatened with Resurrection. Threatened with Resurrection. Those words had a huge impact on his life at a time when he was suffering with depression – which he called a death-in-life experience. The title jarred Palmer into…