Category: Sermons
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Christ the Light reveals us
A sermon for the Feast of the Presentation (Malachi 3:1-4; Psalm 84; Hebrews 2:14-18; Luke 2:22-40) Last Saturday, my wife and I were stuck in traffic. I’d been out of town all week and was feeling stressed and behind on my work. On top of that, we’d just moved, and there were a few more…
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Dancing with the Word (John 1 sermon)
A sermon for the First Sunday of Christmas (Isaiah 61:10-62:3; Psalm 147; Galatians 3:23-25 & 4:4-7; John 1 :1-18) Our Christian Feast of the Incarnation is twelve days long. So no matter how things fall in the December calendar, we always have at least one Sunday in this short liturgical season. And that means we…
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Holding tension with the Root of Jesse (Isaiah 11)
A sermon for the Second Sunday of Advent in Lectionary Year A (O Root of Jesse; Isaiah 11:1-10; Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19; Romans 15:4-13; Matthew 3:1-12) I have some deep, visceral, and thoroughly mixed emotions associated with this Root of Jesse text from the Prophet Isaiah. This year in our repeating lectionary cycle was also the…
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Renewal amid desolation (Joel 2)
A sermon for the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 25C): Joel 2 :23-32; Psalm 65; 2 Timothy 4:6-8,16-18; Luke 18:9-14. ** The Book of the Prophet Joel begins with bugs. Lots and lots of bugs. It can honestly feel a little amusing to read about swarms of locust in scripture. It turns out there are…
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Interpreting Luke 16 with The Muppet Christmas Carol
A sermon for the Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Year C (Proper 21: Jeremiah 32:1-3a; 6-15, Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16; 1 Timothy 6:6-19; Luke 16:19-31) ** Of all the genius bits of casting in The Muppet Christmas Carol, my favorite comes in the very first scene. “The Marleys were dead to begin with,” says Gonzo as Charles Dickens, though…
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A sermon for when the bells stop ringing (1619 Commemoration)
Today at 12 pm Pacific Time we will take part in a nationwide 1619 Commemoration sponsored by the National Park Service and endorsed by Presiding Bishop Curry. We’re remembering that, 400 years ago today, the first enslaved Africans who were brought to “English North America” landed at Point Comfort in Hampton, VA. We will participate…
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The rich man’s folly—and ours
A sermon for the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, Year C (Proper 13: Hosea 11:1-11; Psalm 107:1-9, 43; Colossians 3:1-11; Luke 12:13-21) ** As some of you know, my day job is as an educational media producer and researcher. My main interest has always been in how people make meaning of and with various kinds of…
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From savior complex to neighbor complex
A sermon for the fifth Sunday after Pentecost, Year C (Proper 10: Amos 7:7-17; Psalm 82; Colossians 1:1-14; Luke 10:25-37) “Go and do likewise” was the informal slogan of a wonderful organization with whom I served a January term field placement my first year of seminary. Samaritan Ministry of Greater Washington started in the basement of a DC…
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Speech, understanding, action: A Pentecost sermon
A sermon for Pentecost, Year C (Genesis 11:1-9; Psalm 104:25-35, 37; Acts 2:1-21; John 14:8-17, (25-27)) Isn’t it interesting that the tower doesn’t get destroyed? That’s the detail I kept coming back to as I studied the scriptures this week for our great feast of the Holy Spirit. The mythic and apparently unified human family…
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Seeing and experiencing the consolation of faith
There’s a now-defunct Biblical art initiative that I dearly wish had not gone offline a few years ago. Old and New was [quote] “a collaborative design project … providing a platform for contemporary graphic artists to exhibit works themed on Biblical stories and passages.” I especially appreciated this explicit value of the project: privilege honesty over…