August 30, 2015 - Proper 17B

Lectionary Readings

In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

            There was a father and son who had become estranged from each other. The cause of the estrangement really doesn’t matter, but the rift in the family was real. At the urging of wife and mother in this family, the father and the son begrudgingly agreed to go on a fishing trip to patch things up. They got in the car and spent the three hour drive in awkward silence. Eventually, they arrived at the river that they had grown up fishing in, but before they could even get the bait on their lines, the silence had been broken. The argument started over what sort of bait would be best to use, but at least they were talking to each other. Somehow, by the grace of God, one of them put their finger on the source of their estrangement, and their yelling turned into crying, which turned into a hug of reconciliation. They fished the rest of the day and didn’t catch a thing. When they got home, a neighbor asked them if they caught anything. They said “Nope.” And the neighbor said, “So the fishing trip was unfruitful.” This is a sermon about missing the point.

August 16, 2015 - Proper 15B

Lectionary Readings

In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

            Jesus said, “Whoever eats of this bread will live forever.” Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? Whether it’s Ponce de Leon’s search for the fountain of youth or the latest miracle treatment, we’re all ears when it comes to eternal life. Over the past several weeks, the sermons have been focusing on the readings about King David that we had from 2 Samuel, but you may have noticed that the Gospel texts the last three Sundays have all come from John 6. This chapter of John is called the “Bread of Life discourse.” It begins with the multiplication of the loaves and fish and then Jesus talks about the implications of that miracle.

August 9, 2015 - Proper 14B

Lectionary Readings

In the name of God- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

            “Christianity is all about salvation,” is a phrase that you’ve probably heard. And it’s true, Christianity is about salvation. Sometimes, though, we use words that are so big and nebulous that they actually have very little meaning- and salvation is one of those words. Salvation from what? What happens if we are not saved? Who does the saving? These are all good and valid questions, but they are questions for another day. Instead, today, the question before us is what are we saved into? That is, what does it mean to be a recipient of salvation?

August 2, 2015 - Proper 13B

Lectionary Readings

In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

            You’ll recall a few Sundays ago that I mentioned that the lectionary gives us three strikes against King David. The first was three Sundays ago, when David relocated the Ark of the Covenant for his own political gain. Two weeks ago, David built himself a very fine house of cedar before he thought about building such a house for God. Then last week, when I was on vacation, you all heard the story of David and Bathsheba. I understand that the guest preacher focused on the Gospel last week. So as an introduction to today’s reading from 2 Samuel, let’s quickly review the events of that third strike against David which we heard last Sunday.