Sermons from 2022 (Page 2)

12 Pentecost, Proper 17 – August 28, 2022 Luke 14:1, 7-14          This morning we are ushered into a room where a dinner party is in progress. At the head of the table is the host, a Pharisee, a leader of the local community. The leaders were watching Jesus closely. But, as the guests arrive Jesus notices how they are jockeying for the seats of honor next to the host. If we’re honest with ourselves, this sort of things still…

10 Pentecost, Proper 15 – August 14, 2022 Luke 12:49-56          Oh my!  Our gospel passage for this morning is unsettling to say the least. Jesus coming to bring fire to the earth, division, calling us hypocrites.  Where is the good news for us in this message? This is certainly one of those readings where context is important – in other words, remembering what the world was like when Jesus walked the earth. Back then, following Jesus meant division and…

9 Pentecost, Proper 14 – August 7, 2022 Luke 12:32-40          This week’s gospel reading is full of shifting identities. For example, it seems to describe a thief as both a threat (verse 33) at the beginning of our passage and then as creation’s salvation at the end (verses 39-40). How do we account for metaphors that keep shapeshifting from verse to verse—particularly in relation to the Divine? We might call this week’s reading: Shepherd, Master, Servant, Thief.            Is God’s arrival…

8 Pentecost, Proper 13 – July 31, 2022 Luke 12:13-21          As is often the case the case with Jesus’ parables, there is more here than meets the eye.  At first read, we could look at this and say, why is the rich man a fool? Isn’t it wise and responsible to save for the future? The rich farmer would probably be a good financial advisor. He seems to have things figured out. He has worked hard and saved wisely.…

7 Pentecost, Proper 12 – July 24, 2022 Luke 11:1-13           Our passage from Luke’s gospel today begins with Jesus “praying in a certain place.” When he has finished praying, one of his disciples asks, “Lord, teach us to pray…” . In response, Jesus offers a three-part teaching, including a model prayer, a parable about prayer, and some sayings about prayer. But isn’t it interesting that one of Jesus’ disciples asks about how to pray? The disciples weren’t ignorant or…

5 Pentecost, Proper 10 – July 10, 2022 Luke 10:25-37           The story of the Good Samaritan is one of the most well-known of Jesus’ parables. This can make it difficult to really hear what Jesus might be trying to tell us, today. So, let’s try our best to re-imagine this story in different ways this year. I was reminded that by the time Jesus told this story, the hostility between the Jews and the Samaritans was ancient, entrenched, and…

4 Pentecost, Proper 9 – July 3, 2022 Luke 10:1-11, 16-20           Jan Richardson tells the story of a church trip to the Anchorage Museum of History and Art in Alaska. It held an exhibit entitled A World of Maps. These maps were unlike any she had ever seen. Artists from across the United States had taken the familiar forms of cartography, stretching and pushing and translating them into a fascinating library of landscapes. There were altered maps, painted maps,…

Trinity Sunday – June 12, 2022 John 16:12-15           So, today is Trinity Sunday, when we celebrate the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the three and one. Trinity Sunday asks us to embrace an idea, a theological abstraction, a doctrine. The Trinity is Christianity’s most unique, defining, incomprehensible and awesome mystery.  It is the revelation of who our Creator God is – an infinite Being existing in eternity as three co-equal, infinite Persons, consubstantial yet distinct. Clear as…

Pentecost – June 5, 2022 Acts 2:1-21 and John 14:8-27 Happy birthday!  It’s the feast of Pentecost and it’s also known as the birthday of the church.      It’s a birthday story like no other, full of wild details that challenge the imagination. Tongues of fire. Rushing winds. Accusations of drunkenness. To put it bluntly: God showed up fifty days after Jesus’s resurrection and threw the world an unforgettable party. There is another unforgettable story of a birthday. The birth of…

7 Easter – May 29, 2022 John 17:20-26           So, here we go again. Another school shooting, additional violence. It stirs up anger, deep sadness, confusion, all sorts of emotions, because here we go again. Nothing’s changed. In our Thursday service, we prayed for radical ideas – because let’s face it, our system is broken on so many levels.  And for this to stop, we need to go about things very differently, we need a multi-faceted approach. And so, the…

6 Easter – May 22, 2022 John 14:23-29           Today’s reading from John’s gospel is rich and complex. Jesus speaks of love and peace and the Holy Spirit. In this case, love is not the romantic, affectionate kind of love. It is not about emotions. It is what in Greek is called agape love. It is a loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another. Agape love involves faithfulness, commitment, and an act of the will. In short, this…

4 Easter – May 8, 2022 John 10:22-30           Jesus’ identity is in question in our gospel passage for this morning. This is the only time in John’s gospel that Jesus is asked directly whether he is the Messiah. “Tell us plainly”.  And Jesus’ answer is less than clear.  Instead of saying, “I have told you that I am the Messiah,” he responds, “I have told you.” What, Jesus? What have you told us? But then, Jesus goes on and…