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Category Archives: sermon
Who am I to judge?
The judge of the parable had no regard for anyone, but the God who will pass judgement upon me so loved the world as to become Emmanuel, God with us, to suffer under our unjust judgement, and to die. The God who will, I pray, have mercy upon me hears the cries of the widows to whom I turn a cloth ear, and continues to importune me with opportunities for penitence. Continue reading
Unashamed
If I deny the love that Christ has even for my enemies, I become like the people at the dinner table where Jesus sat, who prided themselves on being in his presence, while he only had eyes for the weeping woman at his feet. I become like the nine who were healed, who received mercy, who went on their way happy, no doubt, and whole, but who missed out on the profound and deep joy of the Samaritan who saw more clearly than any of them the depth and breadth of God’s grace, and fell on his face before Jesus in gratitude for the limitless love that he embodied. Continue reading
Of faith, tides, and tables
Paul writes to Timothy (in so many words), “Do not be ashamed of the faith whose testimony I have given”; faith is a gift, but not one to be locked away in a secret safe, nor set on the shelf for later, nor even hung as a piece of art, an installation, or an exhibit. Like a musical instrument, like a precious crystal flute, as it were, faith is designed to be taken out and played, not merely looked upon, but heard, heeded, acted upon, perhaps even danced with. Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged Cnut (Canute), faith, hurricane, Luke 17:5-10
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The chasm
There is no chasm that Christ cannot and has not crossed for us.
However, we can divide ourselves from one another pretty effectively, and in doing so create hell on earth for some. Continue reading
Power and piety
When we come to a crossroads, and the gospel calls us to walk one way, and the world tells us that way leads to ruin, or rejection, Jesus wants us to have the courage to follow him, even in the way of the cross. Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged Bonhoeffer, hate, Jesus, Jewish Annotated New Testament, love, Luke 14:25-33, Year C Proper 18
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Miracles break the rules
Jesus breaks, not the holy laws of the Sabbath but our imagined laws of cause and effect, sin and sickness, the very cords which bind us in order to set the woman free, in a miracle.
And this is Sabbath for her, and for us: that God is indiscriminate in mercy, unstinting in grace. Continue reading
Posted in sermon
Tagged D066, gender affirming care, Luke 13:10-17, miracle, sabbath, trans rights, Year C Proper 16
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An “unsafe peace”
It is strange that peace should be so divisive: that putting love before enmity, generosity before gain, gentleness before vengeance, patience before pride, kindness before triumph, justice before profit should be a less popular way forward than winning at all cost. But that division has been our shadow side since Cain slew Abel out of envy and Jacob cheated Esau out of his inheritance by using his own hunger against him. Continue reading
… There your heart will be also
“What did Jesus treasure?” Or, to paraphrase a once-popular wristband, “What would Jesus accumulate?”
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Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged Ash Wednesday, heart, Luke 12:32-40, Luke 18:18-25, Matthew 6:21, treasure
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Where your treasure is
This upcoming Sunday’s Gospel reading includes Jesus’ aphorism: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Luke 12:34 and parallels). Last week, looking for something I have already forgotten, I found at the back of my bedside drawer the name tag of my grandmother’s dog, which I have apparently and largely unknowingly kept for some forty years; hence this poem. Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, poetry, prayer, sermon preparation, spiritual autobiography
Tagged Luke 12:34, Matthew 6:21, treasure
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Bonsai, barns, and building a legacy
I had not realized that such a wide variety of trees could be made into bonsai. Perhaps my favourite was the olive grove, a miniature version of the scene that greets visitors to the Garden of Gethsemane in Jerusalem. Some of the bonsai were relatively young; others were hundreds of years old. I got to thinking about the generations of trainers and nurturers who had tended those trees – how many hands must they have passed through? Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged #GunstoGardens, bonsai, Ecclesiastes 2:18-23, inheritance, legacy, Luke 12:13-21, wills
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over the water 