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Category Archives: sermon preparation
Year B Lent 2: The cross: hoping against hope
Jesus began to teach his disciples that he, the Son of Man, must undergo great suffering and be rejected by his own people, and killed, and after three days rise again. The promise of God with us is a strange … Continue reading
Year B: Last Sunday after the Epiphany
When I told my youngest child that my mother had died, she said, “But she was supposed to get better!” A week or so later, when I was talking to my father about talking to an old friend, he asked, … Continue reading
Year B Epiphany 6: people first
I mentioned earlier this week the ecumenical lectionary group that I am blessed to attend each Tuesday morning, and my colleagues’ influence on my understanding of this Sunday’s readings. A few days later, I am still grappling with one of the effects of hearing, … Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon preparation
Tagged 2 Kings 5, healing, Jesus, leper, leprosy, Mark 1: 40-45, person-first language, Year B Epiphany 6
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Year B Epiphany 6: Who does he think I am?
I’m not preaching this Sunday, but I did attend my regular weekly appointment with an ecumenical group of local preachers yesterday, and this is what struck me when I listened to the reading from 2 Kings (once more realizing that … Continue reading
Sunday, 18th December: Year B Advent 4: The Annunciation
“Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.” Mary was perplexed. She was confused, bewildered, frightened. She was thunderstruck, gobsmacked, utterly flabbergasted. She was troubled. She was shocked. She was amazed. For all of its beauty, I am not sure … Continue reading
Posted in advent meditations, sermon, sermon preparation
Tagged annunciation, archangel, Mary, year b advent 4
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The parable of the talents
While I was growing up, the pretty china with the pink rose pattern lived a life of static beauty in a glass-fronted cabinet in the dining room. We could watch the plates while we ate from the other, everday ones. … Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon preparation
Tagged food waste, Matthew 25:14-30, parable, squander, talents, Year A Proper 28
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Saints and other stories
Is anyone using the lectionary for Pentecost 27 this Sunday? Everywhere I look, we are celebrating All Saints (which is meet and proper). Still, I thought that this Sunday’s readings deserved some prayerful attention, and found in the epistle for … Continue reading
A hard act to follow
God knew that Moses would be a hard act to follow. Joshua knew it, too, and having heard quite a bit about the attitudes of the people with whom he was travelling, no doubt they let him know that they … Continue reading
Posted in sermon, sermon preparation
Tagged chaos, Joshua 3, Matthew 23:1-12, Moses, water, Year A Proper 26
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over the water 
Superstitions and the first commandment
Looking towards Sunday, I read this in the Oxford Bible Commentary about the Exodus reading (Ex0dus 10: 1-17): “Modern preachers interpret this [the first] command in a moralistic way: anything which absorbs a person’s devotion is his/her god … But this is … Continue reading →