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Category Archives: sermon preparation
Second thoughts
Mary did not float through her pregnancy without her swollen feet touching the ground. When Mary returned to her senses, the bread was burning, and she nearly took the skin off her hands snatching it from the fire in a … Continue reading
The letter of Zephaniah to the Philippians, as recorded in the Gospel of John the Baptist according to Luke
John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, ‘Sing aloud, O daughter Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice, you brood of vipers! Rejoice in the Lord and exult with all your heart! Continue reading
My kingdom is not of this world
A pre-Advent poem for Christ the King The flag I did not come with fire and flood, but with tender fingertips, in flesh and squalling hunger biting through your resignation, splitting hearts and breaking glory down into its humblest parts, … Continue reading
Lullaby for the end of the world
This Sunday’s readings are a little apocalyptic; whether one reads Daniel and Mark, or Hannah’s proto-Magnificat, change is in the air, and much of it alarming. Jürgen Moltmann believes that the Christian should not be afraid of the end of … Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon preparation
Tagged apocalypse, birth, chaplaincy, Daniel 12:1-3, Mark 13:1-8, pain, Resurrection, Year B Proper 28
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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
Posted in lectionary reflection, poetry, sermon preparation
Tagged biblical imagination, conversion, Jesus, John 11, Lazarus
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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
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
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
Posted in lectionary reflection, poetry, sermon preparation
Tagged cross, Donald MacKinnon, Donald Trump, Jesus, Resurrection, shame, Year B Proper 19
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A vain and foolish thing
Vain and foolish, one would not think that with no animal spirit, nor soul, no mind of its own, but an idle thing could inspire such passion, such pain, such tearing, such rending of hearts, of lives apart; only with … Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, poetry, prayer, sermon preparation
Tagged Deuteronomy 4, gun control, gun violence, Mark. 7, WBDJ, Year B Proper 17
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