Sermons on Pentecost

Reconciliation The Last Sunday after Pentecost November 24, 2019 Preaching Text – Luke 23:33-43 When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots to divide his…

Questions Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost November 10, 2019 Text: Luke 20:27-38 Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and asked him a question, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven…

Quirky All Saints’ Day November 3, 2019 The alternate reading for this Sunday is the story of Zaccheus.  How many of you know about this charming story from Luke’s gospel?    I am going to read it to you – it is only a few verses. Luke 19:1-7 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector…

The Widow and The Unjust Judge The Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost October 20, 2019 Luke 18:1-8 Jesus told his disciples a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, `Grant me justice…

The Dignity Culture The Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost October 13, 2019 This last Thursday I went to a talk at Wellesley College called “Dignity in an Era of Victimhood and Incivility”.  It was sponsored by the Freedom Project. The aim of the Freedom Project at Wellesley College is “the promotion of freedom of expression, pluralism and tolerance on campus and in…

Inclusivism, Exclusive, and Pluralism The Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost September 22, 2019 1 Timothy 2:1-7 First of all, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. This is right and is acceptable in…

Choose Life The Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost Sunday, September 9, 2019 When I sent my son off to school, I think I shared with you in a sermon three years ago my sage advice: Don’t do anything stupid.  I refined that advice a bit for when we dropped my daughter off at college a couple of weeks ago.  I did say “Don’t do anything stupid.”  But then I…

Healing on the Sabbath Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost August 25, 2019 Bible Text for Sermon: Luke 13:10-17 Now Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said,…

Conflict Tenth Sunday after Pentecost August 18, 2019 Preaching text: Luke 12:49-56 Jesus said, “I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From…

Seek the things that are above Ninth Sunday after Pentecost Preaching Text – Colossians 3:1-11 August 11, 2019 If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.…