Category Archives: sermon

First Peter: first thoughts

Haiku towards a reflection on the Flood and the ark as symbols of baptism: 1 Peter 3:13-22, Year A Easter 6 Children of the flood, each of us was drowned at birth, startled to breath.

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Year A Easter 5: In Jesus’ Name

Some years ago, a friend’s child got sick. Then she got sicker. … The child recovered, but she had not survived the experience unscathed. Neither, of course, had her parents. During that difficult time, a group of friends were discussing … Continue reading →

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In Jesus’ Name

John 14:13-14 “I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.” What if I were to say: … Continue reading →

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When is a door not a door?

Jesus is posing his listeners a riddle when he talks of himself in the language of the sheep pen. We only get part of the passage today; we don’t hear Jesus, today, call himself the Good Shepherd. That comes immediately … Continue reading →

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Year A Easter 2: Thus and so

“But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power.” So says Peter to the masses of the Jewish people gathered in Jerusalem in the aftermath of the … Continue reading →

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Easter 2014: Do not be afraid

DO not be afraid. Not the way you expect Easter to begin: do not be afraid. After all, the hard part is over, the trial, the cross, the tomb, the harrowing of hell. What is there left to fear? Yet … Continue reading →

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Good Friday 2014

With condolences to all victims of violence and their families. Last Sunday, a short while after the Passion Gospel was ended in churches across the nation, across the world, a man took a shotgun to the parking lot of a … Continue reading →

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Maundy Thursday: footprints

Almost all of you have heard this poem at one time or another, or seen it printed on pretty pages in the inspirational section of the bookstore or Christian gift shop. I refer, of course, to the both famous and … Continue reading →

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A sermon for the Palms and the Passion

At the beginning, the tempter had urged him to make bread, to bow down, to throw himself from the temple and be saved by the angels. In the end, the people would taunt him and tempt him to leave his … Continue reading →

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Year A Lent 5: Lazarus and other resurrections

Of course, they all would ask him about it, after the event. What was it like, being dead? Lazarus would tell them, “I don’t know what I can say to you about that. I can tell you what it was … Continue reading →

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