Raise your Head
Luke 21:25-36 There are two quite different ways of looking at this week’s Gospel. One is that terrible things are going to happen and we should be prepared less we be trapped; and the second is that actually terrible things happening means that redemption and God’s reign are very near and we should be hopefully expectant. Looking at this textually, the ambiguity seems to come from the fact that we are reading Luke’s gospel. Both Luke and Matthew took Mark’s…
The Reign of Christ
Revelation 1:4b-8 John 18:33-37 I am glad to be home after a rapid visit to my family in the UK. Of course, one person I did not see was my brother Richard who died quite a while back. Every Christmas, Richard faithfully sent out a Christmas letter with the normal kind of information about his family’s activities. But Richard was not an optimist. Every year he told us that things were so bad that the end of the world was…
Hannah pours out her soul, by Berkeley Johnson
Photo by Steven Su on Unsplash 1 Samuel 1:4-20 Mark 13:1-8 Good morning! It is wonderful to be here with you, once again, and to have the opportunity to share the Good News with you, especially on a day where a woman has a central role in fulfilling God’s plan. When Caro+ asked me to preach, she told me this is a different service where we only have two readings, and a slightly longer time for the sermon (lucky you).…
We can, with God’s help
Photo by Jordan Rowland on Unsplash Mark 12:38-44 God of all Goodness, may we daily perceive the joy and wonder of your abiding presence, and offer our lives in gratitude for our redemption. Amen. Let me just take this opportunity to say that it’s great to be back here with all of you again for my second and final year of field education and my final year at the School for Deacons. You are a loving community of faithful, compassionate…
Even though you die, you live
Photo by Dawid-Zawila on Unsplash John 11:32-44 The gospel about Lazarus that we just heard is far too short. John’s narrative starts several verses earlier and is important because the raising of Lazarus cannot, I think, be separated from the teaching about the resurrection and life which precedes it. But there is another perhaps more significant problem. Why was Jesus greatly disturbed in spirit? Jesus was in another place when Lazarus became sick. Bethany is very near Jerusalem, and, apparently,…
Could the Blind lead the Blind? – Carol Brubaker Walton
Photo: The Blind Leading the Blind by Lee McLaughlin Text: Mark 10:46-52 As I began this sermon, I was reminded that keeping oneself informed about world, national and local news can be exhausting. One theologian (prior to the computer age) said preaching needed to happen with the Scriptures in one hand and a newspaper in the other. I’m sure some of you will recall the name of that theologian. If so, you are invited to call it out now. [pause]…
The Cup
Photo by Jametlene Reskp on Unsplash Mark 10:35-45 Not so long ago in a time not unlike this, people thought that there was only one point of view, only one way to see things. Then they found that it was possible to read the same thing but understand it in a number of different ways. So now, when we read the Bible we need to take into account the perspective from which we come. This is called the hermeneutic. For…
St. Benedict
The Fall of the Roman Empire is usually dated to 476 when the Roman Emperor was deposed by Odoacer who was probably from one of East German peoples. Benedict was born just four years later in 480. Although we talk about the Fall of the Roman Empire it was not something that happened overnight – there was a prolonged period of unrest and uncertainty both before and after 476. It was a time of massive migrations in Europe; groups of…
St. Francis
Photo by Taneli Lahtinen on Unsplash Today we complete the Season of Creation as we celebrate the feast of St. Francis. As a young man, Francis rejected his wealthy family and took seriously, and literally, Jesus’ instruction to his disciples to take nothing extra for the journey when he sent them into the villages to preach. He began his ministry in 1209, wearing the clothes of a peasant and preaching repentance. Soon others joined him, and they lived in a deserted leper colony…
Healing the Earth
Photo by Evan Clark on Unsplash.com Revelation 22:1-5 Last night I had a dream. (But not a visionary one like Dr. King’s!) I was in seminary, and one of the students had been murdered. Many of us were involved in trying to dispose of the body quietly. As the dream progressed I became more and more worried about this and aware that I and others might go to prison. By the end of the dream I had decided that I…