Sermons (Page 5)

We are Anti-Fragile Second Sunday of Advent December 9, 2018 Right now every High School Senior in the United States is being asked the same questions: What are you doing next year? If the answer is further education, the next question is “What college/vocational school do you want to go to?” And then “what do you want to study?” How many of you are doing exactly what you…

We are…Community The First Sunday of Advent December 2, 2018 And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, justas we abound in love for you.  I Thessalonians 3.12a Colonel Dede Halfhill stood before her troops at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana at an air force awards ceremony.[1]  At the end of the presentation she asked if…

We are…? The Last Sunday after Pentecost November 25, 2018 If you happen to be wearing a Penn State fan gear out in public you need to be prepared for complete strangers coming up to you and saying in a loud voice “We are” and they will expect you to answer back “Penn State!” If you go to a Penn State football game you will hear the students cheer back and forth “We…

What is there to say? Veterans’ Day Twenty-Fifth Sunday after Pentecost November 11, 2018 To be honest, this had been a really hard week to figure out what to preach about.  We are just two weeks past the horrific synagogue massacre, and then this week, another shooting in a nightclub full of young people.  Our hearts are heavy with the sadness of seeing such senseless…

Blind Bartemaus  The Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost  October 28, 2018 When I lived in California in 1992-1993 (when I started Seminary at Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, California), I went to visit many beautiful interesting places: The Red Woods, Yosemite National Park, the Sequoias, the Giant Artichoke in Watsonville California, and Forestiere’s…

I Don’t Know The Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost October 21, 2018 One of my favorite stories is about a monastery in Russia.  I may have told you this story before.  But in case you have not heard it, it goes like this:  Every evening at the monastery the monks would sit around a bonfire, and discuss esoteric points of theology or verses in the bible.  And they would…

   The Rich Man Lacking One Thing Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost October 14, 2018 So I want to start off by setting the record straight: there is no gate in Jerusalem called the eye of the needle.  In the medieval ages that was the way some churchmen tried to explain away this hard saying in today’s Gospel – like a camel could get through the Jerusalem gate called…

Cardiosclerosis Twentieth Sunday After Pentecost October 7, 2018   I am going to keep this short because one thing I have learned about the Blessing of the Animals service is that animals wait for no man. So I am going to get right to the point.  One of the greatest dangers to our faith according to Jesus is a condition called σκληροκαρδία.  He puts it right out…

Praying to be blessed with Wisdom Thirteenth Sunday after Pentectost August 19, 2018   Readings: 1 Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-14, Psalm 111, Ephesians 5:15-20, & John 6:51-58 You have probably heard me speak of Austen Williams before.  He was a retired clergyman who was on the staff of the church when I was a curate – that is when I was a newly ordained clergywoman. …