October 23, 2022 - The Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

Lectionary Readings

God, be merciful to us sinners. Amen.

            Writing 1,000 years ago, the Archbishop of Canterbury wrote, “you have not considered the weightiness of sin.” As we heard in Psalm 65, “Our sins are stronger than we are.” Other translations put it as “My deeds of mischief are too much for me” and “We are overwhelmed with our inequity.” Sin is one of those words that can often conjure up images of a wrathful god, inducing fear, guilt, and shame. And though we have a Confession each week in worship, and pray daily “forgive us our trespasses,” it does not mean that we have considered fully the weight of sin. Certainly, some traditions overly focus on sin, which is not what I am advocating for. But as someone who swings kettlebells six days a week, I can tell you that we can get into a whole lot of trouble if we don’t know how heavy the weight we’re working with is.

October 16, 2022 - The Feast of St. Luke & the Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Lectionary Readings for Proper 24C & The Feast of St. Luke

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.

            Today, we mark the Feast of St. Luke and as we remember this saint who wrote both Luke and Acts, we also celebrate this particular beloved community that bears his name. It was 8 years and a month ago that I was called to serve as the Rector of St. Luke’s and there’s not a day I don’t give God thanks for this call. This is such a fantastic parish – we have a gorgeous building, we have dedicated members, we have become known as a church of beloved community, the Foundation and mission committee help us in spreading the love of Jesus beyond our walls, our liturgies are vehicles for God’s grace and peace to be communicated to all, and, in all serious, this is pretty much a drama-free congregation. Truly, this is a special place and it is a blessing to be a part of it.

October 9, 2022 - The Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Lectionary Readings

Give us grateful hearts, O God of love, that we might receive your grace ☩ in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

            The English poet and priest George Herbert wrote, “Thou hast given so much to me / Give one thing more – a grateful heart; / Not thankful when it pleases me, / As if thy blessings had spare days; / But such a heart whose very pulse may be / Thy praise.” When it comes to life and faith, grateful hearts make all the difference. When we receive as a gift, we are opened to the transformative power of God in our lives. And, when we are not grateful we end up with a lot of resentment, entitlement, and fear. Gratitude is a forgotten virtue, but it is one of the ways in which Christ makes all the difference.

October 2, 2022 - The Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

Lectionary Readings

O God of love, grant us the gift of your grace, mercy, and peace ☩ in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

            We’re all here this morning because of faith. When times are tough, we sometimes hear “You’ve just got to have faith.” As an introduction to the Creed, I invite us to “proclaim our faith in the words of the Nicene Creed.” In this morning’s reading from 2 Timothy, we heard St. Paul write of how the faith was passed down from grandmother Lois, to mother Eunice, and then to Timothy. But this all begs the question: what is faith?

September 25, 2022 - The Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Lectionary Readings

Compassionate God, help us to see what you would have us to see and not be blinded by the distractions all around us ☩ in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

            If last Sunday’s parable of the dishonest manager is the most difficult parable there is, we might have run into the second most challenging parable this morning. Sure, it seems like a fairly straightforward parable about the consequences of ignoring the needy, but, as always, Jesus doesn’t give us the parables as moralistic fairy tales. Instead, the parables are about the shocking, subversive, and saving grace of God. What makes this parable difficult is that there are so many things going on in it that we can be distracted from those notes of grace.

September 18, 2022 - The Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Lectionary Readings

Gracious Lord, help us to follow you, especially when we do not know how to ☩ in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

            I hate this parable. Yes, I know that in Second Timothy we read that “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,” but still, I hate this parable. I mean, seriously, “make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth”? That sounds more like something from an Enron deposition than it does Jesus. The parable does not have a clear meaning, it’s confusing, and just has a general feel of “ickiness.”

September 4, 2022 - The Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Lectionary Readings

Help us, gracious God, to love in you all things and above all things ☩ in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

            In the reading from Jeremiah, we have that wonderful image of God as the potter and us as the clay. Psalm 139 speaks of the intimacy and profoundness of God. And Philemon is the only Biblical book with only one chapter – so preaching on an entire book is rare opportunity. For the last week and a half, I’ve been trying to plan a sermon about one of those three texts.