Category Archives: sermon

Year B Proper 28: It’s (not) the end of the world

As we move towards Advent, when we await the arrival of God among us, we start looking in our scripture readings at the end of the world. Every year, whether the 2012 famous for Mayan millennium angst or any other … Continue reading

Posted in sermon | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Hannah’s hope: Eli’s affirmation

One last story about Hannah and me before Sunday. Eli saw Hannah praying in the temple, and assumed that she was drunk, because her lips were moving but she made no sound. He tried to send her away; but she … Continue reading

Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon preparation | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Hannah’s hope: Anticipation

I don’t often tell this story, because it makes me seem a little bit mad. But Hannah understands. Hannah left the temple and she ate and drank and her countenance was no longer sad. She wasn’t pregnant; she had no … Continue reading

Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon preparation | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Hannah’s hope

I could say a lot about Hannah. I feel as though I almost know her, I have almost met her, across a crowd, just out of reach. I recognize her, the tilt of her head, her hair obscuring her face. … Continue reading

Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon preparation | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Year B Proper 27: Loving and giving

Naomi had lost everything. I mean, everything. It is just too hard to imagine, to think about Naomi’s loss. When she came back to Bethlehem, she wouldn’t even answer to her given name. When her old neighbours recognized her and … Continue reading

Posted in sermon | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Year B Proper 27: All

Naomi had lost everything. She had nothing left to lose, nowhere left to go but home, no one on whom to lean, on whom she had a claim. So she gave it all up, sent her daughters-in-law away, tore up … Continue reading

Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon preparation | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Year B: All Saints

I want to talk today about baptism, and our participation in our baptismal covenant. Baptism is and has always been an important stage in the Christian journey: it was one of the two sacraments commanded and enacted by Jesus himself, … Continue reading

Posted in sermon | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Year B Proper 25: Beyond our ken

I grew up as the youngest in our family, which meant that I was also the smallest and often the slowest. On car trips and family outings, when my mother and my brother spotted interesting things out of the window, … Continue reading

Posted in sermon | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Bartimaeus and friends

A sermon from my rather limited archives, preached at St Peter’s Episcopal Church, Lakewood, OH, in October 2009 This morning’s readings are full of happy endings. Job’s fortunes are restored, and Bartimaeus, once blind, can now see. But these happy … Continue reading

Posted in sermon | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Year B Proper 24: Skip to glory

sermon for Sunday, October 21, 2012, Church of the Epiphany, Euclid, Ohio “You do not know what you are asking.” That was Jesus’ first response to James and John’s audacious requests for the places of highest honour in Jesus’ coming … Continue reading

Posted in sermon | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment