Author: Adam Thomas

A Better World, with Help from Star Trek

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Sermon for Sunday, November 5, 2023 || All Saints A || Revelation 7:9-17; Matthew 5:1-12

All of this morning’s readings from Holy Scripture point us towards a vision of a better world: a world of mutual understanding, equal justice, and creative peace, all knit together by the God who brings all things back into right relationship with each other. I see this vision in scripture and it brings me, weeping, to my knees at the knowledge that fulfillment of this vision is simultaneously so close – as close as God’s presence in our midst – and seemingly so far, as we humans choose again and again paths that lead away from understanding, justice, and peace. Today, as we celebrate the lives of all the saints who have led humanity towards fulfillment of God’s dream for creation, I’d like to talk about this vision because only by proclaiming it from the rooftops will we ever be able to help make God’s dream a reality.

Of course, to enter into this discussion, I’m going to start with something intensely nerdy. Star Trek.

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What We Mean When We Say ‘Love’

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Sermon for Sunday, October 29, 2023 || Proper 25A || Matthew 22:34-46

Today’s sermon is about love, and I’m going to throw in a few movie quotes to spice it up, okay? In this morning’s Gospel reading, a group of Pharisees gathers together and comes up with what they think is a doozy of a question to test Jesus. One of them (and here Matthew makes sure we know the questioner is a lawyer) asks Jesus, “Teacher, what commandment in the law is the greatest?”

Jesus doesn’t hesitate. He borrows from the book of Deuteronomy when he says, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’” Then Jesus takes this commandment to its logical conclusion: “This is the greatest and first commandment,” he says. “And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

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The Writing Retreat

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I don’t have a sermon for you this week because I was at a writing retreat over the weekend. I had never been on a retreat like this before, and I’m so glad I went. I got to meet people in person that I know from the Internet. And I got to meet a whole bunch of folks I didn’t know. We all shared one thing in common. We are writers.

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The God of Peace

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Sermon for Sunday, October 15, 2023 || Proper 23A || Philippians 4:1-9

In this week of bullets and bombs, of terror and retaliation, of so many dead in a part of the world that always seems one explosion away from the end, I began writing this sermon with zero words on my lips or in my heart. So I did what I always do in that situation. I read poetry, because poetry does not ask you to make sense of the world, only to see the world with new eyes that might, in time, retrain your heart towards beauty. I’m going to begin and end this sermon with poems and we’ll see how the middle shakes out.

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Living the Wisdom of the Ten Commandments

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Sermon for Sunday, October 8, 2023 || Proper 22A || Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20

Our first reading today from the book of Exodus recounts God speaking to Moses what we call the Ten Commandments. Whenever I read the Ten Commandments, I think of that great gag in Mel Brooks’s wildly inappropriate film History of the World, Part One, when Brooks, playing Moses, comes down the mountain with three tablets and says, “The Lord has given unto you these fifteen…” but then he drops a tablet and it shatters on the ground… “Ten! Ten Commandments!”

It’s pretty telling that this joke from an old movie is the first thing that comes to my mind when I think about the commandments. To be honest, for a long time they weren’t all that central to my practice of Christianity. I’ve always known them in the same vague way that you sort of know the words to old folk songs – you can sing along with them, but probably not do a solo.

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The Mind of Christ

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Sermon for Sunday, October 1, 2023 || Proper 21A || Philippians 2:1-13

I’ve preached many, many times over the years about the famous words we heard this morning from Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. Many biblical scholars regard these words about Christ’s descent to be one of us and his subsequent ascension as one of the first Christian hymns in existence. It’s an important passage that I’ve read over and over again, but this time a few words caught me that I hadn’t noticed before: “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” Another translation says, “Have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.” A third says, “Adopt the attitude that was in Christ Jesus.”

That got me thinking. In what ways can we live into this mindset, this attitude of Christ? So, I’ve compiled a Top Ten list for this morning’s sermon. Each one of these deserves its own entire sermon, but instead of dwelling on one particular piece of the mind of Christ, I thought I’d share ten in the hopes that one or more will set a fire in you for further reflection and action. All right. Ready for the Top Ten ways to embrace the mindset of Christ?

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Generous Justice

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Sermon for Sunday, September 24, 2023 || Proper 20A || Matthew 20:1-16

This is one of those Gospel passages that leads to some very…spirited…discussions at Bible studies. There’s just something about this parable that rubs people the wrong way. We get all hung up on the fact that the various groups of workers in the vineyard don’t seem to be getting treated fairly. Some only work one hour, and they get the same pay as those who worked twelve hours! What?! We get stuck on that way of reading the parable and miss the larger point that Jesus is making. We miss the point that the generous vineyard owner keeps coming out and welcoming people into the vineyard all day long and treats even those who only had the opportunity to work one hour as if they had worked all day. That’s what the kingdom of heaven is like, says Jesus. 

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77 Times

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Sermon for Sunday, September 17, 2023 || Proper 19A || Matthew 18:21-35

This sermon is about forgiveness. And we enter into this discussion, as we have several times recently, through the experience of Saint Peter. I’ve been talking a lot about Peter over the last few months, and that’s because he appears more in the Gospel than any other character besides Jesus. In Matthew’s account of the Gospel, which we’ve been reading this year, Peter is even more prevalent. Peter is something of the spokesperson for the disciples; he doesn’t seem to have a filter of any kind. He has no problem asking Jesus questions or answering Jesus’ questions, which he always seems to do with gut responses.

In today’s Gospel reading, Peter has just heard Jesus talk about what to do when there is conflict among the faithful. And now Peter wants to pin down how many times he has to forgive someone. Knowing that Jesus is the generous sort, Peter shoots high. Seven times. Seems a bit excessive, but still in the ballpark of reasonable. And it’s a nice number that, in Peter’s culture, evoked a sense of completion.

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In My Name (updated)

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Sermon for Sunday, September 10, 2023 || Proper 18A || Matthew 18:15-20

This morning I’d like to talk about one of the reasons we share Holy Communion during our Sunday worship services. But first, I’m going to talk about the movie Shakespeare in Love for about three minutes.

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I Will Be With You

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Sermon for Sunday, September 3, 2023 || Proper 17A || Exodus 3:1-15

After such a heady and confusing sermon last Sunday, I thought today would be a good time for something completely different. About twice a year, I preach from the perspective of a character in the scripture. Today, I am going to be Moses. Please imagine with me Moses near the end of his life, talking to his protege Joshua, who is fretting about taking on the role of leader upon Moses’s death.

“I will be with you.” That’s what God promised me all those years ago. “I will be with you.” The memory is as fresh as if it had happened yesterday. God spoke to me, called me to my life’s work, and made me that singular promise: “I will be with you.”

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