Sermons on Life of Christ (Page 13)
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God Likes Us!
In the Dickens story, A Christmas Carol, Scrooge the miserable and cold-hearted miser is visited by the ghost of his former partner, Marley, who also spent his life making money and exploiting the poor. Marley warns Scrooge that if he doesn’t change his ways he will, like Marley, be damned. But in order to give him one last chance at redemption, Scrooge is visited by three spirits, the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present and the Ghost…
Life in Death
Today’s parable comes from the final section of teaching material in Matthew’s gospel. It’s in a section that, had he used subtitles, Matthew might have called “Authority.” Jesus is already in Jerusalem, his triumphal entry on the donkey just happened and the religious leaders are doing everything they can to trap him and to diminish his authority in the sight of the people. It’s a plan that’s not going so well. So Jesus tells a very pointed story. The owner…
White Privilege
This morning I want to talk about white privilege. White privilege is a short phrase which encapsulates an enormous amount of social meaning. So let’s unpack it briefly. Privilege is anything that you have and take for granted that others don’t have. This may include finance, education, access to legal help, being able to vote, having a voice, being respected, being valued, freedom to move and to develop a career. If you are enjoying privilege, as we all are to…
Losing in Christ
Genesis 21:8-21 Romans 6:1b-11 Matthew 10:24-39 I am very grateful to have colleagues with whom to share the sometimes daunting privilege of preaching. When I looked at this morning’s readings, I wished that one of them had offered to preach today! These are tough readings. Our Old Testament readings this summer follow the saga of Abraham and Sarah, the great ancestors of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Today we heard the disturbing story of Hagar and Ishmael. Although God had promised…
Why was it necessary?
1 Peter 1:17-23 Luke 24:13-35 This morning’s gospel is a deeply heart-warming story of the two disciples who walked in deep sorrow and in their sadness did not recognize the resurrected Christ walking by their side. Those of us who have experienced grief or illness know how that happens; in our times of deepest pain it is most difficult to recognize God, which is one of the reasons that developing a discipline of looking for God in the midst of…
Deep Sadness
And so we come to the deep sadness that is at the heart of humanity. Today we are faced with our human propensity to victimize the innocent, to resort to violence when we are threatened. Today, dozens of Christians were killed worshipping in church in Egypt. Today, children are dying of starvation in the Sudan and Somalia while as much as half of all the food produced in this country is thrown away. Today, Syria is a desolation. We can…
Jesus Wept
John 11:1-45 Personally, I have two favorite bible verses that I would like to share with you. Through the years, I have found that these two verses have the ability to either give me goosebumps or make me to tear up, or actually sometimes, cause me to do both. The first of the two we heard last year, year “C” in our Episcopal Lectionary. The verse comes from Luke in his account of the Passion of Christ. Two thieves are…