Sermons from 2015 (Page 2)

7 Pentecost, Proper 10 – July 12, 2015 Mark 6:14-29 What a story! John’s head on a platter.  But why does Mark tell this story: the longest of the Gospel’s anecdotes and its only flashback? Aside from the Golgotha plot (Mark 14:1-2 + 10-11) and discovery of the empty tomb (Mark 16:1-8), this is the only tale in which Jesus never appears. Its villains never reappear (cf. Luke 23:6-12). It’s a strange story about John in which the baptizer himself…

6 Pentecost, Proper 9 – July 5, 2015 Mark 6:1-13 The Gospel passage appointed for today has a lot to tell us about what it means to be a disciple, a disciple in a challenging, difficult, confusing, and at times painful world which is also and simultaneously a place of beauty and wonder and beloved of God. While there are various elements in what amounts to two connected scenes – Jesus’ preaching in his hometown and then sending his disciples…

St. Cyril’s Day (Proper 8)– June 28, 2015 Mark 5:21-43 Indian wisdom says our lives are rivers. We are born somewhere small and quiet and we move toward a place we cannot see, but only imagine. Along our journey, people and events flow into us, and we are created of everywhere and everyone we have passed. Each event, each person, changes us in some way. Even in times of drought we are still moving and growing, but it is during…

3 Pentecost, Proper 6 – June 14, 2015 Mark 4:26-34 Almost 80 years ago, in 1936, a sociologist named Robert Merton developed a theory about “unintended consequences of deliberate acts.” He was studying the behavior of people who were trying to cause positive social change. He looked at people who had very good intentions and who spent a great deal of time studying ways to improve important services like education, childcare and health standards. Even though they planned carefully how…

2 Pentecost, Proper 5 – June 7, 2015 Mark 3:20-35 “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer,” said Sun Tzu, the Chinese general and military strategist who lived six centuries before Christ. “It is from their foes, not their friends, that cities learn the lesson of building high walls,” said the ancient Athenian playwright Aristophanes. “He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends,” said the 19th–century Irish writer and poet Oscar Wilde. A quick Google search…

Trinity Sunday – May 31, 2015 John 3:1-17 And so, on the church seasonal calendar, today is called Trinity Sunday. And we are Trinity Church. The Trinity – God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. The three-in-one. The Triune God. So, let’s think about the number three. Numbers were very important in Jesus’ day and so it makes one wonder why and how God is represented in the number 3.  And fundamentally, any conception and presentation of the Trinity will address…

Pentecost – May 24, 2015 Acts 2:1-21 Violent wind, fire….if we didn’t know it before, we surely know it now, as the second chapter of Acts unfolds: this is no tame God who comes to us, no safe and predictable deity. This is the God whose loving sometimes takes the form of scorching. Before he left, Jesus told his friends he would send them the Advocate, the Comforter. Now we see this Comforter coming as wind, as flame, reminding us…

6 Easter – May 10, 2015 John 15:9-17 Last Sunday we heard John speaking about abiding.  Jesus saying, “Abide in me as I abide in you”.  Jesus’ words continue this Sunday with  love and joy – “Remain in my love” and “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete”. Recall that Jesus says these words just before his crucifixion; just before he goes to the cross.  So, joy appears…

5 Easter – May 3, 2015 John 15:1-8 So, in keeping with the imagery of the gospel reading that we just heard, have you felt pruned by the news lately?  The earthquake in Nepal, the events in Baltimore?  Or maybe not just pruned, but cut down?  Cut down by life’s tragedies great or small, cut down by disappointment or despair, cut down by illness or job loss or other circumstances beyond our control and left to wither and die. It’s…