Sermons on Spiritual Life (Page 19)
A Voice in the Wilderness
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 John 1:6-8,19-28 When asked who he is, John the Baptizer quotes from Isaiah, I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ and these words have become so familiar to us that its easy to gloss right over them. But imagine that you live in a wilderness area – somewhere where its hard to live, you don’t see many people, but you just about get by. Perhaps you’re…
Goat Walking to Bethlehem
Isaiah 40:1-11 Mark 1:1-8 Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13 Prepare the way, O Zion Your Christ is coming near. Let every hill and valley a level way appear. Greet one who comes in glory, foretold in sacred story. O, blest is Christ that came in God’s most holy name. Advent hymns dwell in my head this time of year And I diligently try to not let them Get pushed aside by Christmas Carols. I think today’s readings are my favorite…
80lbs of silver
Matthew 25:14-30 As the church year comes to an end, our readings have taken a turn towards the end of time with warnings to be on our guard, to be ready, to be prepared. This morning’s parable is one of these stories, warning us of what will happen if we get it wrong. I expect that you have heard this story of the talents before – it’s a favorite of Sunday School teachers because it seems to have such a…
Rolling with Change
“Rolling With Change” –Mike Eggleston at St Benedict’s Episcopal Church with Amos 5.18-24, Wisdom of Solomon 6.12-16, I Thessalonians 4.13-18, Matthew 25.1-13 I chose to write this sermon last Monday, the day before election day. I did that because it was possible that I might have no coherent words to say after the election. Like Job’s friends, it was possible that we could all be sitting seven days in the dust grieving in silence. The other reason I wrote before…
Holiness
On Tuesday mornings, we are currently reading and reflecting on a book by Richard Foster which describes different strands or emphases in Christian thinking. This week we talked about the Holiness tradition. Now I had seen it as being about rules of behavior and associated it with anti-gay sentiment. But Foster sees it quite differently. For him holiness is about virtuous living, it is about being Christ in the world. And he says, “virtue is good habits we can rely…
Be Careful What You Pray For
Isaiah 45:1-7 Matthew 22:15-22 There is an old admonition: Be careful what you pray for. So, in today’s collect what DID we just pray for? Do we dare go back and check it out? “Almighty and everlasting God, Preserve the works of your mercy”… That’s us. Preserve us. Not make everything happy, happy, well and wonderful; But in other words, help us to stay alive, intact, free from decay, Not rancid, sour, putrid, rotten. And why are we…
The Fig Tree
Fig trees are especially suited to the Middle East because they can grow in poor soil and a seasonally dry climate, though they do need water and often grow deep roots to reach an underground water supply. The fig is one of the first plants that was cultivated by humanity and the ancient Hebrews considered it a sign of abundance. There is a passage in the prophet Micah which describes a future of peace and justice. It says: “The Lord…
No Separation
Welcome to the Season of Creation! It’s good to be here with you all again after two weeks of being away enjoying the wonders of God’s Creation. I was grateful to be north of the fires and so suffered very little from the smoke. We stayed in a little house with a veranda that looked into the forest and every morning and evening the bird feeder was visited by a tribe of steller’s jays. One of the interesting things about…
Losing Yourself to Find Yourself
Exodus 3:1-15 Proper 17 – A Romans 12:9-21 St. Benedict’s, Los Osos Matthew 16:21-28 August 30, 2020 Losing Yourself to Find Yourself I. Jesus Foretells his Suffering A. Jesus makes the first of his predictions of his own suffering and death in the gospel reading from the 16th ch. of Matthew. 1. He has just heard of John’s violent death at the hands of Herod. a. At the same time at this point in his ministry he is aware of…
“You are the Messiah”
To match the weirdness of this week, Smoke and heat on top of pandemic virtual school starts And election brew-ha-ha…. I have a weird sermon. My brain decided to give me the topic of zombie apocalypse As I started my sermon preparations of reading, thinking, pondering. Now, I’m not a fan of that genre, but I’m been seeing references to it quite a bit In my media posts….. Usually something to the effect of: “Well, 2020 has…