Sermons from October 2022

21 Pentecost, Proper 26 – October 30, 2022 Luke 19:1-10          Crowds follow Jesus nearly everywhere he goes, now. They parade behind him and in front of him, crushing in close or watching from a safe distance. They are curious and want to hear, touch, or maybe just see what happens when others interact with this man people say has come from God. Do you every wonder what essence does he emanate? What do they sense in him, what do…

20 Pentecost, Proper 25 – October 23, 2022 Luke 18:9-14               “You Might Be Wrong.”   So says a sign over a bar in a drinking establishment.  “You might be wrong”. In today’s gospel reading, Jesus tells us the story of two men who went to the temple to pray. One, a sleazy, good-for-nothing tax collector and collaborator with the Romans and swindler of his own people prayed, “God, be merciful to me a sinner.”  He had nothing, claimed nothing and…

18 Pentecost, Proper 23 – October 9, 2022 Luke 17:11-19 This morning we hear that Jesus is “on the way to Jerusalem”. It’s a phrase that Luke repeats often. In other words, we are on the way to the cross. We’re on the way to Jerusalem. And on the way, Jesus is said to be out in the region between Jerusalem and Galilee….so he is out on the border, out in ‘no man’s land’, the shadows.  And there he runs…

17 Pentecost, Proper 22 -October 2, 2022 Luke 17:5-10          This morning we hear the disciples say to Jesus, “Increase our faith!”. And then, how about Jesus’ response that request? I’m not sure I even like Jesus in this passage.  He sounds irritated, and He seems to promise the impossible — a mulberry tree uprooted and planted in the sea?  And then he expects his disciples to regard themselves as slaves.  What is happening in this passage? Despite more than 2000 years separating their…