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Category Archives: sermon
Word and witness
It is only the creative order of the Word, of God, that makes sense of the world, that sheds light on the life of the world. It is in Jesus, in the humility of birth and Incarnation, even in the confusion of the Cross, in the victory of Resurrection, the transcendence of Ascension that we find light in the darkness. It is in the light of the Word that life makes sense, with all of its joy and all of its promise, even its pain; with forgiveness and with justice, in the Word it becomes a story we can live with. Continue reading
Posted in holy days, lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged Herod, Isaac Asimov, John 1:1-18, R.S. Thomas, Word of God
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Making room
Still, into this tight and griping world, Jesus is born, with the effortful but determined, sometimes complicated but unanswerable, slow but urgent pangs of labour, the contract between heaven and earth that will not be denied. God finds room, becoming small enough to be swaddled and laid in a manger, as the glory of the new covenant splits open the skies and lets the angels loose. Continue reading
Dreamers
On the night before Jesus died, his closest friend denied three times that he even knew the man. In the nights before Jesus was born, Joseph dreamed. Would we be ready to stake our reputation on the acknowledgement that yes, Jesus is the Son of God; that yes, the way of the Cross, the way of self-giving, selfless, vengeance-denying love is the way to life, liberty, and the pursuit of heaven; that yes, Jesus, born of Mary, is God Incarnate, Emmanuel, God with us? Continue reading
Posted in advent meditations, holy days, lectionary reflection, sermon, story
Tagged Advent, Incarnation, Joseph, Virgin birth
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Be patient
When our children were small and there were too many things to do with the two hands that I have, one of the children, wise and observant, noticed that often their requests were met with the same, repeated phrase. I realized this one day when they asked me, “for a drink, now please, and not in a minute.”
Be patient, beloved. Continue reading
Sneaky Jesus
We cannot righteous our way to redemption. That’s where Jesus comes in. Continue reading
Posted in advent meditations, lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged forgiveness, judgement, redemption, second coming, terrorism, Year A Advent 1
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Building up
It is tempting to read Haggai’s prophecies as an allegory for our times. We could imagine him coming into this space, our space, and asking, “Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now?” Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged church building, church decline, church growth, Haggai, Jerusalem, temple, Year C Proper 27
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For all the saints
Even your tears are formed from living water. Even your hunger is a sign of God’s blessing, a sign that you know, deep in your belly, that God has more for you, that God intends you for greater satisfaction. That is the faith of the apocalyptic visionaries: that already, God is making all things new, that death’s days are numbered. Continue reading
Posted in holy days, lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged All Saints Year C, apocalypse, communion of saints, Daniel 7:1-18, Luke 6:20-31, Revelation
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Fight the good fight
The good fight, Paul has learned, is the one that he doesn’t mind losing, so long as he may keep his martyr’s crown, so long as he has hold of the hem of Jesus’ robe.
After all, Jesus himself faced the same judgement of the empire, and the same ignominious, criminal execution at its hands. His enemies thought that it was a defeat. They were wrong. Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged 2 Timothy 4:7, AN Wilson, EP Sanders, Jesus, Paul, Saul
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On the need to pray, and not to lose heart
I pray so as not to lose that heart of God that keeps insisting that justice is possible, that mercy is reasonable, that resurrection is coming. I pray, not so that I can change anyone else’s mind, let alone God’s, but so that God, by her insistence and irritating persistence can change my own heart and mind, bringing them more in alignment with the will and word of God. I pray so as not to lose heart, to hear over and over and over again that widow’s word that God’s justice is eternal, preexisting, loaded with mercy, and final. Continue reading
Posted in sermon, lectionary reflection, prayer, current events
Tagged prayer, judge, salvation, Luke 18:1-8, widow, Black Lives Matter, Charles Fager, John Fischer, Jeremiah 31:30, Matthew 7:1
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over the water 