Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost – Genesis 45:1-14; Matthew 15:21-28; Faith Supreme – I wanted to talk about Joseph’s journey into a foreign land, today. It’s a beautiful story. It’s one of the moving narratives in all of Hebrew Scripture. It’s about death and resurrection, in much the same way that is echoed throughout the New Testament.…
Tentth Sunday after Pentecost – Gemesis 37:1-4; Mattthew 14:22-33; Coming Home through the Storm – It’s good to come home. You may know that I was away for a time of study leave and vacation. It began with a week at the St. John’s Abbey in Minnesota. I went longing for a bit of peace, quiet,…
Fourth Sunday after Pentecost – Genesis 21:8-21; Matthew 10:40-42; Sent by Jesus: Seeing the Reward – Our two Bible stories seem opposite in Spirit. Abraham sends Hagar and Ishmael alone into the desert wilderness where jackals and bandits prowl. He offers a bottle of water more for his own thirsty conscience than their parched need.…
Third Sunday after Pentecost – Genesis 22:1-19; Matthew 10:24-396; Sent by Jesus: Sharing the Cost – I love it when I get a good deal. Clothes at an outlet on clearance, or my recent favorite TJ Maxx(!), at a fraction of the “normal price”—often leftovers, unpopular styles, rejects. My favorite muesli cereal on a big…
Second Sunday after Pentecost – Genesis 18:1-15; Matthew 9:35-10:16; Sent by Jesus: Finding Our Way – I imagine he pretty much had his way as a young man. Sparkling intelligent eyes and a broad grin. Friendly, confident, charismatic. A leader from his youth, with dreams of grandeur. We know Francesco Bernadone lived extravagantly, generously, bordering…
Day of Pentecost – Acts 2:5-21; I Corinthians 12:4-13; The Gift in Being Ourselves – On Pentecost, we celebrate the birth of the church, made real in each individual moved by the Spirit. “I am the church, you are the church …” as our children just sang. The gift of the Spirit lives not in…
Seventh Sunday of Easter – John 17:1-8; Acts 1:1-1, To Tell the Story – Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Laureate, and Holocaust survivor said “God is God because God remembers.” Beyond fleeting thoughts, through living memory the Divine is real in our faithfulness. Wiesel explains: When the great Rabbi Israel Bal Shem Tov saw misfortune threatening the…
Sixth Sunday of Easter – John 14:15-21;25-27, Acts 17:22-34; Religious…and Spiritual – Groups of five and six Presbyterian ministers sat at round tables under a high beamed ceiling. Laughter and excited conversation sparkled throughout the room. At a CREDO conference last week, we tried to nurture in participants healthy life physically, emotionally, financially, vocationally, spiritually. There were…
Fourth Sunday after Easter – Acts 2:42-47, John 10:1-10; A Confirmation Conversation – [Sermon copy may be available at a later date]
Third Sunday of Easter – Acts 2: 14, 36-42; Luke 24:13-35; The Way Becomes Clear by Walking – St. Catherine of Sienna said, “All the way to heaven is heaven.” Wherever we are on life’s journey today, as we share again this familiar story, may we hear God’s Spirit speak and guide us a little closer to…