June 28, 2020 - The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

Lectionary Readings

Almighty God, guide us to seek your Truth: come whence it may, cost what it will, lead where it might. Amen.

            I know that the sermons over the past month have been heavy – not in a depressing sense, but they’ve been about the weighty matters of justice and race. Well, this Sunday, it’s Genesis giving us a lot to chew on: God said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering.” This is, quite possibly, the most challenging passage in the entire Bible. I’ve been ordained for eleven years and have never preached on the binding of Isaac because I knew enough to not ride the bull the first few times you go to the rodeo. I’m not sure that one is ever ready to wrestle with this text, but Holy Spirit wasn’t going to let me take another pass on it this time through the lectionary.

June 14, 2020 - Proper 6A

Lectionary Readings

O Lord, forgive the sins of the preacher, for they are many, that only your Word may be preached and only your Truth be heard. Amen.

            The Bible is full of verses that are absolutely foundational to our understanding of the faith, and as such, these verses can function as a summary statement of faith. We heard one of these verses in today’s Epistle reading – Romans 5:8 states, “God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” That verse is a clear and consicse description of Christianity, and so I wanted to be sure to lift up that verse in this sermon. Romans isn’t my focus today, but that verse is one worth knowing. And, in a sense, every sermon points to the Good News that is contained in that verse, so there will be connections to the grace of God that Paul writes about in Romans with the grace of God we see in the story from Genesis about the how Sarah became a mother to Isaac.

June 7, 2020 - The Feast of the Holy Trinity

Lectionary Readings

In the name of the Holy Trinity ☩ Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

            There’s no getting around it - this is a difficult Sunday to preach. Even in a normal year, Trinity Sunday is a challenge because when it comes to how we understand that God is a Trinity of persons in a unity of being, as it is classically stated, there are more questions than there are answers. And while the doctrine of the Trinity is full of beauty and fills us with faith, hope, and love, it takes some explanation to get there in a way that the Parable of the Good Samaritan or the Prodigal Son simply don’t.