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.

March 17, 2019 - Lent 2C

Lectionary Readings

O God, in your abundant grace you sent your Son to be the light of the world: Grant that we may come and see the difference that Christ makes in each of us as we seek to become your beloved community; and as we gather in intentional worship, may we ever be reminded of your transformative love which is the foundation of our faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

            What are those events that have made a difference in your life? The birth of a child, the death of a spouse, your parents’ divorce, a heart attack, the day someone took a chance on you and gave you a job, marrying the love of your life – these are all difference-making events, as they not only mark a change of status, but they also fundamentally change how we live and move in the world.

February 21, 2016 - Lent 2C

Lectionary Readings

Be with us, O Lord, for if you are with us, nothing else matters; and if you are not with us, nothing else matters. Amen.

            FDR famously said “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” He said that in his first inaugural address in 1933 at a time when the nation was in the depths of the Great Depression. Fear can be paralyzing, keeping us from moving forward. When we are gripped by fear we do things that we never do otherwise. When we are afraid of being caught, we will lie. When we are threatened, we will hurt others to protect ourselves. When we fear that there might not be enough, we hoard. When we fear death, we end up denying the vigor of life. Fear narrows our vision and calls out the worst in us. That’s probably the reason why so often in Scripture we hear the refrain “Do not be afraid.” As author Marilynne Robinson recently wrote, “Contemporary America is full of fear, and fear is not a Christian habit of mind.”  Today, the Psalmist puts it this way: “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom then shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom then shall I be afraid?”

December 27, 2015 - Christmas 1C

Lectionary Readings

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

            “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” During Christmastide, we celebrate the Incarnation, the coming of God to us in Jesus. Matthew and Luke give us nativity stories with Mary, Joseph, wise men, angels, and shepherds, but John gives us a cosmic nativity scene. And in doing so, the gospeller John connects Jesus to Moses and to John the Baptist. Our reading notes that Jesus “came to his own people.” Though there is a very transcendental nature to Jesus that is not confined by time or space, Jesus also lived in a very finite context. He was born in modern-day Palestine, spoke Aramaic, and grew up learning about the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jesus was Jewish, and that fact not only influences our interpretation of him in Scripture, but also has important implications for us today.