Sermons on Life of Christ (Page 11)
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It is I: be not afraid
Photo by Brian Cook on Unsplash John 6:1-21 I really don’t like being hungry. I’ll do a lot to avoid even the possibility of hunger. And I don’t like to think of those I love being hungry. In today’s gospel reading, I’d be the one who made sure that my kid had plenty of food with him when he went off to follow the great teacher and healer. All four gospels contain this story; the story of the 5000 hungry people. But today…
A Deserted Place – Berkeley Johnson
Wow. What a journey it has been getting here! My connection to TEC began with youth ministry in VT in 1994, at the age of 33. It hit me as I was preparing this that the oldest students that year would have been 17, and it’s 24 years later, which means they’re now 41. And that just about blows my mind. Rock Point is the diocesan retreat center in Burlington, VT. Itoint sits on the shores of Lake Champlain, and…
The Mind of Christ
Ephesians 1:3-14 Mark 6:14-29 The beheading of John the Baptist has been a powerful image in the minds of artists through the ages. And not surprisingly. Here the death of the one who was speaking truth to power is literally served up on a plate. This must have been a deep sadness to Jesus, as well as an omen of how his life was likely to end. He and John were cousins, probably brought up together and John’s imprisonment was…
The Reign of God – here and now
2 Corinthians 12:2-10 Mark 6:1-13 A few months ago, I was visiting my cousin while she was having tile laid. When I was chatting with the tile guy he told me that he was the pastor of a local church and had started the community food distribution. I had to adjust my perception and no longer see him as just a tile guy but as a rounded human being with special gifts beyond laying tile In today’s gospel reading, Jesus…
Hearing God’s Call
I have often wished that I could hear the voice of God as clearly as Samuel did in the first reading this morning. It’s worth noting where he was when he heard God – he was in the temple, where the ark of God was. For the Hebrew people, the ark of the covenant was the resting place of God, the Holy of Holies. Samuel was physically in the presence of God. Our contemporary understanding of God is that God…
The Ascended Christ
When I was in elementary school, my mother took me out of school once a year on a Thursday to go to church for the feast of the Ascension so I totally agreed with St Augustine who called it the crown of all Christian festivals.[1] The Ascension is celebrated on the Thursday that comes forty days after Easter, but we no longer have a service that day. So it is the focus of our worship this morning instead. The…
Why?
Acts 3:12-19 Luke 24:36b-48 Why do you wonder at this? Why are you frightened and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Both this morning’s readings ask why. Why are we surprised at the way God works among us? Why do we doubt when miracles happen? The first reading this morning from Acts is a short passage taken out of its context in a longer story. In the exciting, heady days of the early church, Peter and John were going…
It is not yet the end
Alleluia The Lord is Risen! He is Risen indeed! Alleluia! We often think of Easter as being the end of Jesus’ story. After years of preaching, healing and challenging the religious authorities, he was betrayed and died. But then, like all good heroes, he turned the tables on his opponents in the ultimate triumph and rose from the dead. This morning I want to suggest to you that the resurrection is not even the climax of the story, let alone…