Sunday Sermons

Year B, Proper 10, Track 2, Revised Common Lectionary
Amos 7:7-15
Psalm 85:8-13
Ephesians 1:3-14
Mark 6:14-29

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What a sad and sordid tale that was.

The word Gospel means good news, but it can feel strange to hear “The Gospel of the Lord” after a tale like that one. Where’s the good news here? The story we just heard is full of manipulation and violence. There’s a hint of prurient interest in the description of this group of men watching and pleased by this young girl’s dance. There’s exploitation of a child as her own mother uses her daughter’s innocent request as an opportunity to get back at her enemy. There’s the pathetic weakness of King Herod, trapped by his pride into going along with a beheading he didn’t really want but wasn’t willing to say no to.

It seems like a good Sunday for a sermon about sin. (more…)

Year B, Proper 8, Track 2, Revised Common Lectionary
Wisdom of Solomon 1:13-15; 2:23-24
Psalm 30
2 Corinthians 8:7-15
Mark 5:21-43

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If you go to Terminal E in the Atlanta, Georgia, airport, you can see a display of pictures and items from the life of Martin Luther King, Jr.[1] There’s the original permit for the March on Washington and the suit Dr. King wore to meet with President Lyndon B. Johnson. When I first saw the exhibit as a college student flying home from Atlanta, the thing that struck me most was a photograph of Dr. King playing baseball in the yard with his children, displayed alongside the actual little toy bat and ball themselves. I remember the odd but compelling feeling of seeing these homely artifacts that had been touched by this great person, just one degree of separation away from me through these physical relics of his life. (more…)

Year B, Proper 7, Track 2, Revised Common Lectionary
Job 38:1-11
Psalm 107:1-3, 23-32
2 Corinthians 6:1-13
Mark 4:35-41

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Oh, I’m so happy to be here with you.

I have been looking forward to this moment for months. To finally stand here in this parish, with these people. In this beautiful building, full of light and color and 145 years of prayers. Here in the center of Santa Rosa and the heart of Sonoma County. We are the church of the Incarnation, which means the Word of God made flesh. Today we’re here to encounter the very physical and sacramental presence of Jesus Christ together in our hearts and hands and faces, and soon in our holy meal. Thanks be to God. (more…)

Gardener, Healer, Guide

Jesus teaches in parables. Mark says he only talked in parables. These parables typically used metaphors to open the meaning of something deeper – the kingdom of heaven or the meaning of neighbor, for example – and, as parables do, they often had a surprise twist at the end. Many of the metaphors used by Jesus involved agrarian images, shepherds and sheep, vines and vine branches, and, today, growing grain and mustard seeds. The Bible, as a whole, is dense with agricultural images: the psalms sing with references to plants, forests, cattle, sheep, birds of the air and fish of the sea. Our lesson today from Ezekiel talks of a great, thriving tree, a huge cedar with great boughs that produces fruit and offers shelter to birds of all kinds. (more…)

We Are Family

This morning I want to talk a bit about God’s family. Desmond Tutu once said, “You don’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them.” In the best of all possible worlds we are born into families where there is lots of love, kindness, support and care. If you have ever witnessed the birth of a child, you have hopefully experienced what it is like to be part of such a joyous occasion. One in which there are hopes and dreams for a good life for this new person and a commitment on the part of the parents and caregivers to do their best to provide all that is needed for the child to thrive and be healthy. (more…)

Pentecost 

A Time for Evangelism

“Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that we may perfectly love thee and worthily magnify thy Holy Name”

Jesus told the disciples,²⁶ “The Helper will come—the Spirit, who reveals the truth about God and who comes from the Father. I will send him to you from the Father, and he will speak about me.²⁷ And you, too, will speak about me, because you have been with me from the very beginning. (Good News Translation).

There are, in that passage, two very important ideas. One is that Jesus will send to his followers a spirit that will help us understand the truth of who God is. The second idea is that we are expected to share our experience of Jesus with others. (more…)

Sixth Sunday of Easter

Last Sunday at Incarnation

In the gospel lesson this morning, we hear about how Jesus has been with his disciples through many ups and downs, many storms, and many joys. He is soon to leave them.

As Jesus prepares to depart, he has a new name for these disciples: he now calls them “friends.”

Well, I don’t have disciples, and that would be a very bad and ridiculous idea anyway.

But I am proud to call you friends.

My friends, this is my last Sunday with you. I am enormously grateful to you – each and every one of you – for the time we have spent together. (more…)

Fifth Sunday of Easter

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!

The first lesson we hear this morning, from the Acts of the Apostles, is among my favorite stories in the Bible. But it is a story that, I suspect, is probably much overlooked by many people.

The reason I love this story is it explodes all kinds of assumptions about religion and religious rules. So I’d like us to spend a little time with it.

The story begins, like many of these stories do, with an angel. When you see an angel show up, you know something important is about to happen. (more…)

Fourth Sunday of Easter

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!

Today we celebrate what is commonly known as “Good Shepherd Sunday.” Good Shepherd Sunday is one of these unofficial church holidays we get each year that isn’t listed on the calendar exactly, but which comes with the same regularity as Christmas and Easter each year.

Good Shepherd Sunday can sound a little cuddly and fluffy. You might think of this like the beautiful window behind me. (more…)

Easter Sunday 2018

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!

The Lord is Risen Indeed!

On that first Easter morning, long, long ago, there were no Alleluias! No Christ is Risen Indeed!

No Easter candle, no hymns, no lilies, no spring wardrobe.

No Easter bonnets. No yellow shoes. No hot buttered cross buns.

No, none of that. (more…)

Great Vigil of Easter

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!

The Lord is Risen Indeed!

We began this evening outside, lighting the Paschal fire, and evoking the remembrance of Easter, century upon century.

Then we followed the paschal candle into this sacred space. (more…)

Good Friday 2018

The posse comes for Jesus in the dead of night. He is dragged away like a common bandit in shackles to be mocked, tortured and killed.

His most courageous follower, Peter – the one who Jesus calls “the Rock” because he is so steady – follows at a distance. Peter – the rock – makes his way in the cold darkness to a fire in the courtyard where Jesus is taken. He is near enough that he can see Jesus interrogated and hear his words.

Then suddenly fear grabs Peter by the throat. (more…)

Maundy Thursday

“You will never wash my feet.”

So Peter tells Jesus:

“You will never, ever wash my feet.”

Never. (more…)

Palm Sunday

Yesterday, many of us picked up signs and marched in towns and cities all over the world to remember those who have died from gun violence.

Today we pick up palms all over the world to begin Holy Week and to march once again to Easter.

As each day of this most holy of weeks unfolds, we will remember the final events in the life of Christ.

Today we stop at the arrest of Jesus. (more…)

Fifth Sunday of Lent

Warning: This sermon contains adult content and violence.

Let’s see if that holds your interest.

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It is hard and risky work being a prophet. It is not a job you volunteer for. The people you thought you knew and trusted may not want to hear you words. When they do hear you, they might want to kill you.

Being a prophet can get you thrown into a dungeon or a deep well. (more…)

Fourth Sunday of Lent

Gospel:  John 3:14-21

What If?

“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

Have you ever wondered what the world would have been like if humans had never sinned? What would it be like now if the world said, “We are done with this sinning thing. What if, having recognized the destruction and devastation that comes from violence, resentments, jealousies, lies, wrongful use of power, domination, false superiority, errant justifications, and anger, the world said, “Enough. We have done this enough, and it is long since time to stop.” (more…)