Category: Society

Seven Ways

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Sermon for Sunday, January 25, 2026 || Epiphany 3A || 1 Corinthians 1:10-18

There is so much going on in our world today, from armed conflicts stoked by authoritarian overreach to civil wars in overlooked parts of the globe to the rising stakes of climate catastrophe. As a country, we must band together against state-sanctioned violence, hatred, xenophobia, and the scapegoating of vulnerable groups. Closer to home, our neighbors need stable, affordable housing options, food security, and better health outcomes supported by reasonable healthcare insurance. All of these crucial issues are swirling around us as we come to worship God here at St. Mark’s this morning. And while I am not going to address these issues directly in this sermon, everything we do here helps us respond to the needs of the world, as we partner with God in God’s mission. Because today is the day of our annual meeting, you can think of this sermon as a “State of the Church” address. And what better way to talk about the state of the church than to talk about how we are engaged in God’s mission of healing and reconciliation.

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Bring Forth Justice

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Sermon for Sunday, January 11, 2026 || Epiphany 1A || Isaiah 42:1-9

I wrote a version of this sermon on Tuesday, which is my normal sermon-writing day. Then the events of Wednesday happened – ICE agents shot and killed Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis – and I knew I would be writing a new sermon on Saturday. But the more I reflected on what I had planned to say, the more the bulk of the words I wrote on Tuesday made sense to share this morning, not despite of the events of Wednesday but because of them.

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The Missing Verses

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Sermon for Sunday, January 4, 2026 || Christmas 2 || Matthew 2:13-15, (16-18), 19-23

In a 2003 song, the band Death Cab for Cutie sings, “So this is the new year / And I don’t feel any different.” That’s about how I feel today, and it’s not a great feeling. The new calendar on our kitchen wall features pictures of our kids and our nieces and nephews a year older than they were in last year’s calendar. But other than that, nothing has changed. The turn from December to January is symbolic only. Four days ago, we marked that the earth completed another revolution around the sun, but every day could mark the same. Indeed, other calendars set the date later this year: Chinese New Year is February 17th, Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) is September 11th.

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Doing What is Right

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Sermon for Sunday, November 16, 2025 || Proper 28C || 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13

“Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.” So says Paul at the end of his second letter to the church of the Thessalonians. Other translations say: “don’t get discouraged in doing what is right”; “never tire of doing what is good”; and the venerable words of the King James, “But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing.” All of these translations have two things in common. First, the idea of weariness. Second, the need to persevere in doing what is right. In these days of continuing political upheaval, fracturing of society, and disregard for the most vulnerable among us, along with violence, war, disease, oppression, and so many other things that break the heart of God, Paul’s words hit differently. Our weariness is bone deep, spirit deep. And yet our need to do right remains as potent as ever.

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This is the Way

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Sermon for Sunday, November 2, 2025 || All Saints C || Luke 6:20-31

Today, on the day we celebrate all the saints, I’d like to talk to you about one element of sainthood that binds together nearly all the saints – their utter dedication to the words Jesus speaks in this morning’s Gospel lesson. The people we honor as saints were not superheroes of the faith; rather, they were ordinary people who trusted God to shape their lives into vessels of justice, peace, and love. The saints who were martyred could have fought back, but chose death instead of abandoning their commitment to nonviolence. The saints who modeled the values of God’s reign could have shrunk into the scenery of their centuries, but chose instead to speak out about the injustices happening around them. The saints who were denigrated in their time could have reflected the hate and fear and indifference of their societies, but chose instead to shine brightly with the light and the love of God.

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New Covenant

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Sermon for Sunday, October 19, 2025 || Proper 24C || Jeremiah 31:27-34

A few weeks ago, I preached a sermon about hope. With the Babylonian armies beating down the walls of Jerusalem, the Prophet Jeremiah purchased the field at Anathoth. Jeremiah then had the deeds of purchase sealed in earthenware vessels to last a long time. This prophetic action signaled that the Israelites would return from their exile and once again purchase houses and fields and vineyards in their own land. Today’s reading from Jeremiah begins with the realization of that hope. “The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of humans and the seed of animals.…I will watch over them to build and to plant.”

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The Unchained Word

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Sermon for Sunday, October 12, 2025 || Proper 23C || 2 Timothy 2:8-15

There is a line from today’s reading from Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy that struck me this week. The line is: “The word of God is not chained.” Paul is contrasting his own imprisonment because of the Gospel with the overarching truth that the word of God can never be imprisoned. That’s what we’re going to talk about this morning: the unchained nature of the Word of God.

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The Field at Anathoth

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Sermon for Sunday, September 28, 2025 || Proper 21C || Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15

This sermon is about hope. More specifically, this sermon is about what we do when the world is falling apart. And we’re going to start today with the Prophet Jeremiah, who lived at a time when the world as he knew it was ending. Centuries earlier, the Assyrians had conquered the northern kingdom of Israel. But the southern kingdom of Judah held on, thanks in part to the geographical impregnability of Jerusalem. Now, in the early sixth century BCE, the Babylonians were the conquerors, and they were laying siege to Jerusalem. Jeremiah, like the Prophet Isaiah before him, told the truth about the present circumstances: that divisions in his society, a widening gap between rich and poor, and a lack of care for the most vulnerable were all signs of Judah crumbling from within. This only emboldened aggressors like Babylon, and here they were, at the very gates of the city. Indeed, in 587 BCE, the Babylonians succeeded in conquering Judah. In the process, they destroyed the temple and took a host of prominent Judeans into exile.

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I am Ashamed to Beg

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Sermon for Sunday, September 21, 2025 || Proper 20C || Luke 16:1-13

The parable Deacon Chuck just read is, admittedly, very confusing. But one thing the dishonest manager says leapt out to me this week, and that’s what we’re going to focus on today. After his boss is getting ready to fire him, the manager says, “What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg.”

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Sin and Salvation

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Sermon for Sunday, September 14, 2025 || Proper 19C || 1 Timothy 1:12-17; Luke 15:1-10

Today we’re going to talk about sin and salvation. We’re going to talk specifically about two ways of looking at salvation, one which is more helpful for our lives of faith than the other. I’ll get to these two ways in a minute, but first I want to talk about Jesus’ response to the Pharisees and scribes in this morning’s Gospel reading.

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