One of the advantages of our lectionary — the stories we hear over a three year period — is that we get to hear how the different Gospel writers portrayed different events that appear in the various accounts. Today, we hear of the transfiguration, the story of Christ’s glory which almost certainly preceded the written…
Today, we get the second installment from Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount. Last week, we heard Jesus’ blessing for those of us who live in certain ways, examples of which were called out in the Beatitudes. Remember that Jesus was talking to people on the northwestern shore of Galilee, between Capernaum and the archeological…
For the next three weeks, our Gospel reading from Matthew will be an excerpt from the Sermon on the Mount, perhaps the most famous extended teaching of Jesus from the Gospels. This week, we have the first part of the Sermon, what is often called the Beatitudes. You may recall a sermon where I said…
There are weeks that there is nothing in the readings on which I want to preach, and then there are weeks that have multiple themes that seem like good avenues to preach. There are weeks that the readings that we get just don’t seem to connect to our congregation, and then there are weeks that…
Whenever I invite people over, I check the house—at least the public parts. Is everything relatively neat and clean? Laundry hanging anywhere? Kitchen counters cleared? Magazines and books straightened? If people show up unexpectedly, they get what they get, and it might not be pretty. I could even be embarrassed that things aren’t as perfect…
Isaiah’s words from today’s first reading always get to me in a different way each time we read them. The writer of the passage says “See, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth, I tell you of them” (Is 42:9). You’ll have to give me…
You won’t find a sermon for today, because it’s actually our Christmas Eve service. And you won’t find a sermon for January 8, because it’s actually my report for our annual meeting. But we’ll be back soon with regular sermons!
Listen to what happened to me tonight… you’re never going to believe it, but I swear I’m not making it up. We were out in the fields outside of Bethlehem, just watching the flocks like always. We had to stay awake, or at least take turns staying awake, to make sure that the sheep stayed…
We are almost there… we are almost to Bethlehem… and you have been so very patient! For three Sundays now you have heard the pain and the hope, the judgment and the deliverance of Advent… those themes we hear in anticipation of the Messiah. This is the final Sunday before we celebrate the miracle of…
How many of you have joined the Marie Kondo phenomenon and started cleaning out your clutter while asking the simple question, “Does this spark joy?”? Some say that Marie Kondo has brought joy back into the consciousness of the culture in a big way. Marie says that if your items don’t bring joy into your…
There’s a key phrase in this week’s Gospel reading that I wonder if we all kind of skip over, hoping to get right to the meat of the story: “in the wilderness.” It’s relayed by Matthew not just once, but a second time, echoing the words from the prophet Isaiah. John – the Baptizer…
How many of you have seen the movie Sister Act? For some reason, this reading from Romans always reminds me of the scene where the sisters give Sister Mary Clarence, played by Whoopi Goldberg, an alarm clock because she is having trouble getting out of bed on time. The alarm clock, which is the shape…
