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Category Archives: sermon
The cornerstone of mercy
The constant between these two parables is the vineyard, the symbol of God’s loving care and tending to God’s people. In both stories, others are invited into that loving care with, let’s call them, mixed results. Continue reading
The witness
And in the dirt between the rows a single grape transfixed my pity, split, seed spilt on unforgiving earth, ragged skin torn from purple flesh; like a dog, I wanted to kneel down and lick the wine from its tender … Continue reading
Love and authority
A sermon for the parable of the two sons (Year A Proper 21), delivered at Trinity Cathedral, Cleveland’s Solemn Sung Eucharist, 1 October 2023 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,who, though he was in … Continue reading
The tax collectors and the prostitutes enter a fancy hotel called The Kingdom of God
Please, I said, go ahead, sweeping open the door in a hurry so that I need not sully my hand with your grime; a false smile is no crime in the service of good manners and fine hygiene. You scurried through as though afraid that I might change … Continue reading
The justice of God is love
if the waiting, the hoping, the living become heavy enough that you feel the scales tipping, I want you to do three things. I want you to have the suicide crisis line, dial 988, on speed dial in your phone. And I want you, if you have guns in your home, to find someone you trust to take them out of your reach. And I want you to remember this: the vineyard owner did not give up on the day, or the people awaiting good news. Continue reading
The middle man
#preparingforSundaywithpoetry
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Quality and quantity
This discourse about the community of mercy is exposed, laid bare, solved by Jesus’ unmathematical formula. Seven, the perfect number of creation, used biblically to represent what is holy, is itself multiplied until we no longer know even what the number is supposed to be. Seven, the number that crowns creation with sabbath, with rest, is multiplied toward the peace of God that passes understanding.
It is not the quantity of forgiveness that is in question, then, but the quality. Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged forgiveness, gun violence, Matthew 18:21-35, racism, repentance, seventy times seven, Year A Proper 19
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Seventy times seven
How many hurts accumulate like straws under a camel’s nose before it sneezes, before the involuntary blast of anger, grief, ugliness propels one’s inside out, clutches at the throat like stone eggs, tears a slow, impassible river floating faded, sodden … Continue reading
No stray bullets
There are no stray bullets, just as there were no stray nails pounding themselves into the Cross. Continue reading
Our hope is in Jesus
We are a house full of sinners. We are hurt and hurting, hurt-full people.
So when Matthew describes how the church is to be, in matters of discipline, order, and offence, it is no surprise that he anticipates that it will not always be easy to repair the breach. But it is telling, I think, that he ends with this promise from Jesus, that where two or three are gathered in his name, he is with us. Continue reading
over the water 