Sermons from 2022

4 Advent – December 18, 2022 Matthew 1:18-25          This morning we hear about Jesus’ birth from Matthew, through the perspective of Joseph. We don’t hear much about Joseph in the scriptures, he is the would-be husband of Mary, a quiet, unassuming descendant of the House of David. As Matthew tells the story, the God-fearing carpenter wakes up one morning to find that his world has shattered.  His fiancée is pregnant, he knows for sure that he is not the father,…

3 Advent – December 11, 2022 Matthew 11:2-11          So, today we hear that John the Baptist is in prison.  Imagine John’s cell was dark and dank, because most prison cells are. He paced back and forth, fettered less by his chains than by his misgivings. Allowed at last to see one of his followers, he sends the man to carry a message — a single question, really — that will settle his doubts once and for all. All that…

2 Advent – December 4, 2022 Matthew 3:1-12                So today, in Matthew’s gospel, we are introduced to John the Baptist. This odd fellow in the wilderness, preaching about repentance. In doing so, Matthew is orienting us to the story to come. And it is a story of repair. Confession and repentance loom large in John the Baptist’s prophetic language. John knows no one can repair things without first conducting a thorough exploration of what’s wrong. John insists…

1 Advent – November 27, 2022 Matthew 24:36-44          Our Advent Season begins with Jesus taking us back to the story of Noah and the Ark. It’s a favorite children’s story. But it’s important to notice that Jesus is not doing this to comfort us – he’s doing it to warn us, and to wake us up. Just as the story of Noah once did. Like the people in Noah’s day, or the men in the field and the women…

23 Pentecost, Proper 28 – November 13, 2022 Luke 21:5-19          So, this morning we hear that “some were speaking about the temple”.  Now, the temple, in Jerusalem, was beautiful. It had recently been refurbished by Herod the Great. And apparently, the work had been done very well. The rebuilding project had taken eighty years to complete and included new foundation walls through which Herod had significantly enlarged the temple. It was huge. Sparing no expense, he had employed the…

All Saints Sunday – November 6, 2022 Luke 6:20-31          Today, in our church calendar, we celebrate All Saints Sunday.  All Saints is an occasion to celebrate and revisit the faithful people who have gone before us – it’s not just about those who have been canonically designated as saints.  It is more so about those people whose lives provide inspiration for us. Saints, who are not models of perfection, but real people who opened themselves to the ways that…

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…

16 Pentecost, Proper 21 – September 25, 2022 Luke 16:19-31          My friend Barbara says that “each of us has things we tell ourselves to protect us from the pain of those around us. For example: we’ll say things like, well, if only he had not dropped out of high school. If only she had not had so many babies. If he would just learn more English. If she would only stop drinking. It’s human nature to find some reason…

13 Pentecost, Proper 18 – September 4, 2022 Luke 14:25-33      I don’t know about you, but I see today’s reading as quite challenging. Hating father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters and even life itself.  What’s that about? Here is another case in which context is important.  The phrase “to hate” is a Semitic expression which means “to turn away from, to detach oneself from.”  So, it shouldn’t be taken literally here.  It does not intend to…