Category Archives: sermon

Lazarus, unbound

Feeling the ground with his hands, touching the soil with his feet, kissing the earth, Lazarus, unbound, raises his face to see his friends retreat – in fear they have let him go –  stares at Jesus with eyes too … Continue reading

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Year B Proper 25: What do you want?

“What do you want me to do for you?” When I heard Jesus asking this of Bartimaeus, I was struck by the coincidence that two Sundays in a row we have heard basically the same question. “What is it that … Continue reading

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Year B Proper 24: glory

We live our little lives full face in the glory of God, whether we recognize it or not. Continue reading

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Gloriana

[Sometimes, the search for a sermon feels like a game of free association – chasing words down rabbit holes and across parklands, trying to track down an idea, the spirit of an idea, and bottle it. This week’s wild goose … Continue reading

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Year B Proper 23: of camels, elephants, and us

The only way through the eye of the needle is conversion into something that will fit, something fit for the kingdom of God. Continue reading

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Threading the needle

First, unpack your camel. Divest it of its commodities: sugar, salt, and spices, unguents, oils, perfume, all excisable goods must go; hold a trunk sale if you must. Next, take off its defences; not only the cannons and the turret … Continue reading

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Year B Proper 21: the hell with it

From this morning’s gospel: If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your … Continue reading

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Better

It started out easily enough: I shaved off my hair, my pride and my vanity, and cast it in the fire. Trouble was, I just looked too damned good that way; so I broke the mirror and used the shards … Continue reading

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Year B Proper 20: all the questions you were afraid to ask

A typical conversation with a toddler turning from two to three might go a bit like this: Let’s put on your shoes.   –   Why? Because we need to go shopping for food.   –   Why? So that we have … Continue reading

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Year B Proper 19: Jesus, losers, the cross, and The Donald

Are we ashamed of the continuing bitterness of the world, and Christ’s endurance of it? Do we wish in our hearts that he would come down off that cross and smash it with their mallets and pile the pieces into a funeral pyre for all death and suffering, all grief and strife? Of course. Continue reading

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