Sermons
Can I get a witness?
“The parable told by Jesus in today's Gospel (Luke 18:1-8) has two characters: a judge and a widow. Jesus used this parable to teach the value of persistent witness.”
God’s Amazing Grace
“There is a cease fire between Israel and Hamas. What a relief! I know huge hurdles lay ahead: prisoner and hostage exchanges; securing peacekeeping troops from other countries; developing interim and long term governance; and rebuilding hospitals, homes, and sewer, water, power, and communication systems. No matter what happens next, this cease fire is a relief.”
What do you treasure?
What do you treasure? As you ponder this question, listen to these wise words from Jesus, “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:21
What are you doing to get God’s mercy and pity?
The Collect for this day bids us to focus our attention on God’s mercy and pity as we listen to the assigned readings. God’s mercy and pity are so potent, they make possible salvation in this life and in the life to come. Paul’s first letter to Timothy proclaims God’s mercy and pity. Paul tells readers they can fight the good fight and win if they understand money is the root of all evil and if they understand God’s mercy and pity, as modeled by Jesus, which empower “righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness.” 1 Timothy 6:6-19
Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
Jesus seems to be giving money management advice in today's Gospel reading, Luke 16:1-13.
Good works.
“The Collect for the Day is recited at the start of every Communion service. Collects are prayers. Prayers composed to focus our attention on themes in the Bible readings. In today’s collect, we are asking God to foster our faith so we can do good works.”
Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord to thee.
God invited Jeremiah to become a prophet. God said to him,
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
Keep your eyes on the prize.
The book of Hosea is a collection of sermons and poems by the prophet for whom this book is named. Hosea preached and wrote over the course of 25 years around 722 BCE. This book preserves God’s communications with Hosea. These communications show us God partnering with Hosea to keep Israel’s eye on the prize.
Take It To the Lord In Prayer
“Jesus regularly took time to pray. Jesus prayed to connect with God. Jesus prayed to direct, strengthen and correct his work. Prayer was essential to his life, faith and ministry. After one of his prayer times, the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. They asked because they saw what prayer did for Jesus and wanted the same benefits for themselves. The disciples needed direction, longed for strength, and preferred God’s corrections to those in Torah laws, priests’ criticisms and rabbis’ instructions.”
"Who is my neighbor?" Luke 10:29
In the Gospel lesson, a man a lot like us asked Jesus two questions: who is my neighbor and what must I do to get into heaven? His questions test Jesus, but they also reveal his unconscious anxiety about whether he was bound for heaven or hell. The first question from this accomplished professional and scholar of religious law: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”
The Lord appointed others and sent them out. Luke 10:1
The reading from Luke provides instructions on how to be an evangelist. These instructions show us how we to share the Good News and how to install God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.
Citizens of God’s Kingdom
“We are citizens of God’s kingdom. God’s citizenship comes with rights and responsibilities. Chief among the rights is freedom. Paul identified this right in his letter to the Christians living in Galatia.”
He walks with me & He talks with me
“There is no where you can go, Jesus won’t be. There is no god forsaken place you or I can end up where Jesus is not already establish permanent residence. And we can never be lost because Jesus, the Good Shepherd, is vigilant and will not rest until every lost sheep is found. Jesus walks with us.”
A hope does not fail.
“Paul shared an important truth with the Christians in Rome. The assumption that suffering is for naught; that nothing good can come from bad things is wrong. Faith in God, makes the opposite assertion true. Great good, transformative experiences, critical insights, and rapid change are, more often than not, byproducts of suffering, hardship, struggle and loss. When we endure suffering with God, good things can come from bad circumstances.”
Jesus prayed for us to be unified.
Jesus prayed for his disciples and for successive generations of believers to be unified. In today’s Gospel reading (John 17:20-26) we hear his pray "I ask not only on behalf of the disciples, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one.
As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. John 17:20-21
Expanding the scope of love
Last week we considered the command to love one another. Those considerations led us to admit our tendency to narrow the scope of our love. Like the first generation of Christians who considered Gentiles unclean and resisted inviting them into the faith community, there are people we struggle to love and find it difficult to welcome. The small size of most faith communities and the decline of denominations in developed nations are consequences of the limits we place on love. The sad truth is we focus on our circle of family and friends because it is comfortable. The reality is we limit our love to people we like and people like us. We avoid people we disagree with and put distance between ourselves and our enemies. God’s commend to love one another has always apply to all people and all nations.
Jesus: shepherd and mother
This day in Easter season is known as Good Shepherd Day. The collect and Bible readings assigned recall Jesus’ role as the Great Shepherd of the sheep. Jesus came to search for and recover lost sheep. Jesus laid down his life to protect the sheep. Jesus, by his death and resurrection, opened the gate of God’s pasture for the sheep. Before he ascended into heaven, Jesus made told Peter that loving God required him, requires us, to tend and care for the sheep. Pope Francis called clergy shepherds and said faithful clergy smelled like sheep.
Open the eyes of our faith.
”Keeping my eyes on the prize requires constant vigilance. In some circumstances keeping the eyes of my faith open and focused is so difficult I cannot do it without God’s help. Life presents so many demands and challenges. It is hard to find the right path and, at times, harder to stay on course. It is so easy to take a wrong turn. “