(Sermon for Sunday, November 11, 2012 || Proper 27B || 1 Kings 17:8-16) The widow of Zarephath has come to the end of her rope. I imagine that over the last several weeks, the amount of flour in her jar has diminished at a much faster rate than she hoped, despite careful rationing. She looks … Continue reading »
Category Archives: Sermons
On the Road
(Sermon for Sunday, October 28, 2012 || Proper 25B || Mark 10:46-52) He can’t see them, but he knows they are coming. As he sits by the roadside, he tastes the dust cloud stirred up by their approach. He feels small tremors in the ground caused by their steady, tramping steps. He hears the snorts … Continue reading »
The Overstuffed Life
(Sermon for Sunday, October 14, 2012 || Proper 23B || Mark 10:17-31) During my time in college and seminary, I spent seven years living in dorms. Over that time, I lived in five different dorm rooms, and you know what? They all came with a bed and a dresser and an end table and a … Continue reading »
Letting Go of the Grail
(Sermon for Sunday, September 30, 2012 || Proper 21B || Mark 9:38-50 ) The floor of the ancient structure splits open, revealing a gaping chasm. Nazi sympathizer Elsa, the treacherous blonde bombshell, who earlier in the film skewers the heart of our hero Indiana Jones, falls in, only to be caught at the last second … Continue reading »
The Spotlight
(Sermon for Sunday, September 16, 2012 || Proper 19B || Mark 8:27-38) I put the guitar down on the wooden bench, dropped my right knee to the root-strewn ground, and produced the ring from my pocket. The green light that shone through the trees of the outdoor chapel glinted off the diamond and sapphires, a … Continue reading »
First Fruits
(Sermon for Sunday, September 2, 2012 || Proper 17B || James 1:17-27) This past Thursday morning at about three minutes to eight, I found myself staring at a blank page on my computer screen. I had been contemplating this sermon since I awoke two hours before, but had yet to type more than a few … Continue reading »
Fully Alive
(Sermon for Sunday, August 19, 2012 || Proper 15B || John 6:51-58 ) The trouble with being human is that most of us aren’t very good at it. We are way better at being couch potatoes or social butterflies or chickens. We explain the very act of making more humans by referring to birds and … Continue reading »
Christ be with Me, Christ Within Me
(Sermon for Sunday, August 12, 2012 || Proper 14B || John 6:35, 41-51) I don’t know about you, but these last two weeks, I have felt afraid. Last week, I was excited to go and see the new Batman movie. But then a self-proclaimed Joker – Batman’s chief enemy – calmly walked into a midnight … Continue reading »
Antagonists
(Sermon for Sunday, July 15, 2012 || Proper 10B || Mark 6:14-29) Today’s Gospel reading gives us an entire story about one of the antagonists of the Gospel. Antagonist. This is a tricky word because often in current culture “antagonist” is simply synonymous with villain, enemy, or bad guy. Famous antagonists – a Jeopardy category, … Continue reading »
The Seeds of the Kingdom
(Sermon for Sunday, June 17, 2012 || Proper 6B || Mark 4:26-34) When I was nine or ten years old, I walked into the church across the street from our house really early on a particular morning. Ash Wednesday had always been one of my favorite days. I’m not sure why, but I think I … Continue reading »
