Tag: Bible

Love and Good Deeds

Published on by Adam ThomasLeave a comment
Sermon for Sunday, November 17, 2024 || Proper 28B || Hebrews 10:11-14, 19-25

Every night at dinner at my house, my family shares a simple ritual before we say grace. We go around the table and say where we saw kindness that day. When Leah and I take our turns, our kindness is often that the other person made dinner. Many times, mine also come from people at this church whose kindness ripples out in a multitude of ways. Every kindness we share at dinner stems from a small, simple act, and each alone doesn’t seem like it amounts to much. But when we collect the kindnesses together, we add them, like stitches, to a great tapestry of goodness and love.

Continue reading “Love and Good Deeds” →

The Future

Published on by Adam ThomasLeave a comment
Sermon for Sunday, November 10, 2024 || Proper 27B || The Book of Ruth

Today, I am going to begin where last Sunday’s sermon finished, with the future. I ended by saying, “And Jesus is here, walking with us into the future where God is already, always, and eternally present.” For some of us, that future looks bleaker than it did a week ago. For others, that future looks brighter. But no matter our place on the ideological spectrum, none of us knows what the future holds. And such unknowing is prime fodder for anxiety.

Continue reading “The Future” →

God is Present

Published on by Adam ThomasLeave a comment
Sermon for Sunday, November 3, 2024 || All Saints B || John 11:32-44

Here we are. November 3, 2024, the day we celebrate all the saints. We are two days before a momentous election that pits vastly different visions of this country against each other. The world is mired in the midst of multiple ongoing wars in which so many innocent people have died. We’re grappling with increasingly common and destructive natural disasters due to climate change. And on a personal level we are contending with issues ranging from physical and mental health to addictions to economic hardship to interpersonal relationships. Anxiety and stress are high. Time is fleeting. The future approaches, and we have no idea what it will hold. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been holding tension in my shoulders for so long that I don’t remember what it feels like to be relaxed.

Continue reading “God is Present” →

Listening Well

Published on by Adam ThomasLeave a comment
Sermon for Sunday, October 27, 2024 || Proper 25B || Mark 10:46-52

This sermon is about the art of listening, specifically about how Jesus listens and how we can emulate his practice. Our ability to listen impacts every relationship we have: our spouses and families, our friends and neighbors, our church and community members, our political and ideological opponents, and our partners in God’s mission.

Continue reading “Listening Well” →

Never Alone (updated)

Published on by Adam ThomasLeave a comment
Sermon for Sunday, October 6, 2024 || Proper 22B || Mark 10:2-16

Taking the lead from the Gospel reading this morning, today we are going to talk about divorce and adultery. But mostly, we are going to talk about Jesus’ surpassing dream for all creation – that none of us and no part of that creation will ever truly be alone.

Continue reading “Never Alone (updated)” →

Letting Go the Grail (Updated)

Published on by Adam Thomas1 Comment
Sermon for Sunday, September 29, 2024 || Proper 21B || Mark 9:38-50
My sermons are now available in podcast form. Click here for Apple Podcasts or search
“WheretheWind.com Sermon” on your podcast app of choice.

Just so we’re on the same page, I want you to know that this sermon is about idolatry, but that is the only time I will use the word in the whole thing. And I’m going to spend the first third talking about Indiana Jones. So here’s the scene:

Continue reading “Letting Go the Grail (Updated)” →

This Teaching is Difficult

Published on by Adam Thomas1 Comment
Sermon for Sunday, August 25, 2024 || Proper 16B || John 6:56-69

At one time or another we’ve all edited our bibles. We’ve decided – consciously or unconsciously – that something in the bible doesn’t fit our worldview and so we skip it. Our pre-selected readings on Sunday morning do this pretty often, leaving out verses that make us squeamish. Our third president, Thomas Jefferson, went so far as to cut – literally cut – passages out of his bible, mostly Jesus’ miracles, because they didn’t jibe with his deistic thinking. Narrowing down our focus to Jesus’ words alone, there are still plenty of things we’d really rather skip. Today, I’d like to talk about what we do when we find ourselves skipping over some of Jesus’ words.

Continue reading “This Teaching is Difficult” →

The Foolishness of God

Published on by Adam Thomas2 Comments
Sermon for Sunday, March 3, 2024 || Lent 3B || 1 Corinthians 1:18-25

In today’s sermon, we’re going to indulge in a bit of foolishness. Now, I’m aware that no one – myself included – likes to feel foolish. Feeling foolish quickly spirals into embarrassment, into red cheeks and hot faces, and we get the urge to escape as soon as possible. We all know the awful feeling of being laughed at instead of laughing with. (Though I have always loved Robin Williams’s line in the movie Dead Poets Society: “We’re not laughing at you, we’re laughing near you.”) We go to great lengths not to feel foolish, going so far as not to learn new skills in adulthood because we really don’t want to be bad at them when we’re starting out. This is why I can’t ice skate or hit my driver.

Continue reading “The Foolishness of God” →

Trust This Good News

Published on by Adam ThomasLeave a comment
Sermon for Sunday, February 18, 2024 || Lent 1B || Mark 1:9-15

On this First Sunday in Lent, we always hear the story of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. If you’re wondering if you nodded off during the Gospel reading and missed the details of the temptations, don’t worry. You didn’t nod off. The Gospel According to Mark skips the details in favor of moving the story along quickly from one beat to the next. And that gives us the opportunity to focus on a different element of the story this morning. As Mark moves us swiftly past Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness, the Gospel writer tells us, “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

I’d like to spend our sermon time today breaking down this single sentence because there’s a lot in it. By the time we’re done, I hope you will have an understanding of the concept of “good news” as Jesus is using the term.

Continue reading “Trust This Good News” →

Tarshish and Nineveh

Published on by Adam Thomas1 Comment
Sermon for Sunday, January 21, 2024 || Epiphany 3B || Jonah 3:1-5, 10

In last week’s sermon, we talked about discerning God’s overarching call in our lives, about looking within ourselves for the Holy Spirit’s flame illuminating what brings us most fully alive. Today’s sermon is an extension of last week’s, but today, instead of talking about God’s overarching call, we’re going to talk about God’s movement through our daily walks. We’re going to talk about God inviting us and shaping us into the truest versions of ourselves. And to enter this discussion we’re going to start with the prophet Jonah.

Continue reading “Tarshish and Nineveh” →