Sermons by Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall (Page 17)
Shining like the sun
Photo by MI PHAM on Unsplash 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2 Luke 9:28-36, [37-43a] I don’t know about you, but that reading from 2 Corinthians makes me uneasy. It makes me uneasy because it sounds so anti-Semitic, and humans being humans, I imagine that the idea that Jewish hearts are hardened and their understanding veiled has been used against Jewish people through the centuries. Some commentators think that Paul was simply mistaken in his interpretation of Moses’ veil and as a result disappeared down a…
Blessed are the Poor
Photo by Alvin Decena from Pexels Luke 6:17-26 Just before this morning’s gospel opens, Jesus spent a night praying in the mountains alone, and then calling his disciples to him, specially designating 12 of them as apostles. Afterward, as we heard, “Jesus came down with the twelve apostles and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear…
Gracious Words
Photo by Ales Krivec @ unsplash.com Jeremiah 1:4-10 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 Luke 4:21-30 Psalm 71:1-6 I’m in the middle of a rather dense book called “Jesus in the Drama of Salvation” by Raymund Schwager. It was written in German, and the English translation is not always clear to me, so I have to keep rereading paragraphs and it’s a slow process. Also it’s a lot to take in. The author is focusing on a question that bothers me and I…
We are the Body of Christ
Photo by Randy Fath @unsplash.com Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a Luke 4:14-21 Psalm 19 I love Sundays like today when each of the readings overflows with possibility. Let’s start with Nehemiah. This is the only Sunday in the whole of the three year cycle when we hear from Nehemiah and we never hear from the closely linked book of Ezra. I was in seminary before I knew anything about these guys. After the exile in Babylon, a small…
It’s Us!
Yesterday my good friend, Lynn, was telling me how excited she is about a class she’s taking this year with Eckhart Tolle, a metaphysical teacher. Some of you have probably read some of his books. She is excited to be giving this time and energy to her spiritual journey. It made me think of the three magi who came from somewhere in the East following their spiritual dream in the form of a star. Lynn has been reading Tolle’s books,…
The Intersection of Cosmic and Mundane
John 1:1-18 My sister is an excellent preacher. Although we are different in many ways, we also both tend towards procrastination and dislike housework. We joke that if one of us is cleaning, it is a sure sign that we have a sermon to write. So it will not surprise you that at my allotted sermon preparation time yesterday I found myself cleaning a car mat which had suffered from a particularly sticky holiday food event. As I worked, I…
Making Room for Baby
Photo by Filip Mroz on unsplash.com Many of you know Sarah. She’s expecting to become a grandmother any time now. Last week, the baby was in the wrong position so the doctors decided to do a C section on Monday but when the family arrived at the hospital they discovered that baby had moved into the normal position. But a day or two later baby moved back and so they went back to the hospital for a C section but…
God is Persistent but never Pushy
I always have a little bit of trouble knowing what to say in my sermons at Christmas. After all, you all know this story already. And most of you have heard as many Christmas sermons as there were angels in the heavenly host! So this year, I enrolled in a Christmas Preaching Bootcamp. It seemed a good idea. I figured I would get some new ideas and y’all might get a better sermon. But there was one thing I didn’t…
Good News Hunting
When I was a kid I loved the puzzles where you have to see how many umbrellas or chipmunks or words you can find hidden in the picture. I was reminded of this by this morning’s gospel which ends with the words, “So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.” It left me wondering where exactly the good news is hiding in this account of John’s preaching. It seems that he was mainly talking about…
Make Space for God
Photo by Jeremy Bishop on unsplash.com If you’re about the same age as me, this gospel reading with its quotation from Isaiah immediately brings to mind the beginning of Godspell with its haunting “Prepare the Way of the Lord.” Yet I wonder why the Lord needs the way prepared. Yesterday, members of the altar guild cleaned all our sacred pots and pans in preparation for Christmas. We do this two or three times a year – before the two big…