Metaphors
When I was ordained, many people kindly gave me gifts. I was amazed at how many crosses I was given. Crosses to go on the wall, crosses to go on the sideboard, crosses to hang around my neck, crosses to put in my ears. Now please don’t get me wrong, these were beautiful crosses and lovely gifts. But it amazed me that the symbol which Paul describes as a scandal, foolishness and a stumbling block has become an ornament. At…
Plan A
We are now fast approaching the celebration of the core mysteries of our faith – in Holy Week we remember the passion and death of Jesus followed on Easter Sunday by his astonishing resurrection. So this is a good time for us to think about the big picture – what it’s all about. I’m going to be doing that in my sermons on the Sundays of Lent. As we approach this it’s helpful to remember that no-one really knows what…
Transfiguration
I’ve always been a bit bothered by this gospel. I can understand transformation – when one thing gets changed into another – and in the spiritual life we constantly seek to be transformed into the Christlike beings we were created to be. But transfiguration has seemed fairly pointless. Why would God go to the trouble of changing Jesus’ appearance for a brief time with only three witnesses who were later sworn to secrecy? This year it makes more sense to…
Prayer of Assent
This morning’s gospel reading comes from the very beginning of Mark’s gospel. Jesus was beginning his ministry, and we are told that he got up early in the morning and went to a deserted place to pray. Mark doesn’t tell us anything about how he prayed, but we can imagine that this was a regular practice of Jesus’. He rose early in the morning to pray. Prayer, contemplation or meditation are fundamental to the spiritual life. Prayer was foundational to…
The Light of Hope
Each day on my way to work I get to have alone time with God. And, one of my daily prayers is a verse from Psalm 51, which reads: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” Today’s gospel story is Mark’s account of the beginning of Jesus’ ministry following His baptism in the River Jordan. Immediately preceding the story, Jesus has just called Peter, Andrew, James and John from their boats to…
A Whale of a Tale
Jonah 3:1-5, 10 The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, “Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk across. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, “Forty days more, and Nineveh…
Sermon for Martin Luther King Jr. Day by Pat Henry
One of today’s readings, in 1st Samuel states “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears it tingle. On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. For I have told him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them.…
Pageantry and passion
There are at least two ways of approaching Scripture. I’m going to loosely categorize them as the Engineer’s way and the English Major’s way. The hypothetical engineer wants to know the facts of the situation and how these fit with other known facts; the English Major is more interested in metaphoric layers of symbolism in the passage. This morning’s reading is especially troubling to the engineer. There are more unanswered questions than there are certainties with this narrative. Where did…