Sermons

The Psalmist says, “I will sing of the Lord’s great love forevermore; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations. I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you established your faithfulness in heaven itself.” Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our… [Read More]

The last Sunday before the beginning of Lent, Transfiguration Sunday, is a strange Sunday indeed.  Strange because of the Transfiguration story which is usually read this day—a story that you did not hear, but I will remind you of… Jesus and a couple of the disciples (James, John, and Peter) decide to hike up a… [Read More]

Did you know that a sloth, despite its name, is not lazy?  These animals move around so slowly that algae and other plant-life actually grow on their fur.  Living high up in the tropical forests of Central and South America, sloths eat mostly leaves, a low-calorie diet. But they often take several days to fully… [Read More]

They came from far and wide.  From the coast, from Tyre and Sidon, from the cities of Jerusalem and villages in Judea.  They came to be healed; they were both hopeful and frantic, as resigned and desperate as any who have experienced the relentlessness of human disease, dysfunction, powerlessness, oppression and pain. This Doctor Jesus,… [Read More]

When I was living in Florida, I would often travel across the intercostal waterway on my daily work route.  There were often folks fishing along the bridges.  They would sometimes stand there for hours, patient and determined in the Florida sun.  Sometimes I’d see the same people in the same places at the same time… [Read More]

Love is both a gift and a choice.  It is also hard work and its own immense reward. What has life taught you about love and how loving relationships work (or do not work)?  Oh, I am not just talking about romantic relationships with their roller-coaster feelings and late nights of pillow talk, but of… [Read More]

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…(John 1) The written word and the spoken word have life.  In two recent books, Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr and The Book of Form and Emptiness, by Ruth Ozeki, books occupy a central place in the story. … [Read More]

At the beginning of his ministerial career, Jesus performs a miracle which is very public.  In addition, it is a reluctant miracle—his own mother has to persuade him (push him) to get involved.  Jesus, his mom, and a couple of the disciples are at a wedding when the hosts of the party run out of… [Read More]

I have to give John the Baptizer a lot of credit.  He could have let the praise of the people go to his head.  After seeing all those people gathered on the river’s edge to hear a word of hope to get them through their seemingly endless days in a brutal and uncaring empire, he… [Read More]

Let’s take one last look at the Christmas story—or stories—  before we leave it for another year. For today (at Rev. Dee’s suggestion) I chose a passage designated for Epiphany, which is traditionally celebrated on January 6. That passage comes from the Gospel of Matthew, which offers a version of the first Christmas that has… [Read More]