January 5, 2020 - The Second Sunday of Christmas

Lectionary Readings

In the name of the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ. Amen.

            Have you ever been at a party or social event where you didn’t know anyone? Now, some of you are extroverts and are thinking, “What’s the problem with that?” But maybe it isn’t a party, maybe it’s a hostile meeting at work and everyone in the room is an adversary. Perhaps it’s an airport terminal on a late-night layover. Or maybe you’re in a hospital waiting room, full of anxiety. If you can imagine any of these situations, you know that what makes these tense, uncomfortable, and lonely situations better is having an old friend show up out of nowhere to be with you.

October 11, 2015 - Proper 23B

Lectionary Readings

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

            As I mentioned last Sunday as we began our exploration of the book of Job, this Biblical book forces us to rethink our assumptions. We’ve skipped over 21 chapters since last week and today we have a speech by Job as our entry into the unfolding story. The premise of the book is that Job is being tested to see whether or not he will ever curse God for all the calamities that have befallen him. Job doesn’t quite curse God, but he does curse the day he was born. And then some of his friends come by to offer him encouragement and advice. Today’s reading is part of Job’s response to one of his friends. The book of Job invites us to go deeper into our faith, but doing so will require rethinking some of the most foundational aspects of our faith.

October 4, 2015 - Proper 22B

Lectionary Readings

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

            Imagine that you lost everything. You get into an accident on the way to work and your car is totaled. When you get to the office, you find out that you’ve been fired. So you go home, only to see several fire trucks in front of the place where your house used to stand. Tragically, all of your children also died in that fire. Your phone then rings and it’s your doctor calling you with the test results, and it isn’t good news. Then your neighbor comes over to you and says “What did you do to make God so angry at you?” You insist that your actions didn’t warrant such calamities, but everyone around you insists that this is all your fault. The question that haunts you is “Why did this all happen to me?”

January 4, 2015 - Christmas 2B

Lectionary Readings (Matthew text)

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

            This text from Matthew is an extremely challenging one to preach on. Sometimes this event is referred to as “the slaughter of the innocents.” The word slaughter should never be used in a story about children, and that is what makes this so hard. When an elder dies, we mourn the loss and reflect on what happened in the past. But when a child dies, it is a loss of the future. My stomach is in knots even considering what would happened if we ever lost our dear Ellie. Exactly one month after Ellie was born, I sat on the couch at home, holding an innocent newborn in my arms, while the news on the television was that 20 children were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School. I simply cannot imagine.

July 20, 2014 - Proper 11A

Lectionary Readings

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

            Life isn’t fair. It’s a truth we all know, but that doesn’t make it any easier. How do you respond to the fact that life isn’t fair? By having a me versus the world mentality? By pessimism? By blaming God and others when things don’t go your way? While those might be some of the first responses, they are not the sort of response suggested in today’s readings. It has been said that parables are earthly stories with heavenly meanings. Today’s gospel narrative about the farmer who awakens to find that an enemy has sowed bad seeds among his crops isn’t fair on several levels.