Category Archives: sermon preparation

Independence Day

It feels like a good day to be contemplating Sunday’s sermon. Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a … Continue reading

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Things I can’t imagine doing this week

Going out for a beer with a corporation. Telling a woman that her choice of contraception is against my religion. Bellowing “no one wants you” to a bus load of children. Carrying an assault rifle into a department store. Carrying … Continue reading

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Paying the piper

But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places and calling to their playmates, ‘We piped to you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.’ …Yet wisdom … Continue reading

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Year A Proper 8: Whoever welcomes you

Whoever welcomes you welcomes me; whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me (Matthew 10:40). When my parents took me home, they invited into their family a whole other set of DNA, a whole other history, a whole other … Continue reading

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Good

On the other side of nothing, the waters of the dark womb rage and writhe, resisting God, labouring the eternal void. On the other side of nothing, over the pitched waters, the breath of God hesistates; surfing the storm, hopeful … Continue reading

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Pentecost: a sounding

I try to imagine the sound. They say a tornado sounds like a freight train; what would the apostles say? We each tell only of what we know. Was it the bluster of flapping canvas familiar from their days at … Continue reading

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Eternal

Jesus said, “And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” Today was my son’s birth day. Small and soft, he begins to unfurl, a birthmark smeared beneath … Continue reading

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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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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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Dry Bones

I cried so long my very bones were dry; I couldn’t raise my head, lay loose-limbed, sunken. I heard a voice cry, “Prophesy!” My body jumped, of its own volition, to attention, knocking the stale breath out of me with … Continue reading

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