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Category Archives: sermon
Maundy Thursday: the mother of all mercy
What should Jesus have done about Judas? In a way, Thursday was the final chance. There is a pipeline from here to the tomb. Once Judas has left the table, Jesus knows that his fate is sealed. Yet earlier in … Continue reading
Posted in holy days, homily, poetry, sermon
Tagged Augustine, foot washing, Incarnation, Jesus, Judas, Maundy Thursday
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Palms and passion
A sermon for Palm Sunday, 2017 Dietrich Bonhoeffer was an acclaimed theologian of the twentieth century. He became iconic after his martyrdom at the hands of Hitler’s Nazi government, shortly before the end of the second World War. According to … Continue reading
Posted in holy days, sermon
Tagged Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Jesus, Palm Sunday, Passion Sunday, refugees, rejection
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The prayer of Lazarus
The prayer of Lazarus, silent by necessity. Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, poetry, prayer
Tagged Adam, creation, death, Lazarus, mortality, prayer, Year A Lent 5
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Why Jesus wept
Lazarus, lying in the tomb, locked in death, was not deaf to the call of Jesus upon his body, and his spirit, and his enduring life. Continue reading
Posted in sermon, spiritual autobiography
Tagged grief, Jesus, John 11, Lazarus, miracle, mortality, Resurrection, Romans 8
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Marked men
Later, they sit silent as the grave side by side,
watching a late sun set over the Jordan… Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, poetry, prayer, sermon preparation
Tagged baptism, Dead Sea, Jesus, John 11:1-45, Jordan, Raising of Lazarus, Resurrection, Year A Lent 5
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Telling stories
When Jesus’ disciples see a blind man begging at the side of the road, they are tempted to turn his life story into a theological conundrum for Jesus to answer: “Who sinned, this man or his parents?” Continue reading
Posted in sermon
Tagged #Westminster, backstory, compassion, image of God, Incarnation, Jesus, John 9:1-38, man born blind, story of God, Year A Lent 4
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Forgiving Jesus
The readings for the third Sunday in Lent include Jesus’ encounter with a Samaritan woman at a well, and Moses’ miraculous striking water from stone. In the old stories, this encounter beside a well would have ended in marriage. Jacob’s … Continue reading
Well
“Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did.” John 4:29 Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, poetry, prayer, sermon preparation
Tagged John 4, woman at the well, Year A Lent 3
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Fear of falling
The lectionary lessons for today are about Adam and Eve, the fall, temptation, redemption, resistance … The devil dared him to be fearless. The devil dared him to be brazen, in God’s face; a son so independent in his own … Continue reading
Posted in holy days, lectionary reflection
Tagged Lent 1, Matthew 4:1-11, temptations of Christ
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The sun also rises
The love that Jesus describes is unflinching, unafraid, and it is relentless. Rebuked and reviled, love nevertheless persists. It refuses to be overcome. It will not give way to injustice. It turns the other cheek. Continue reading
over the water 