Sermons

[A special note to the reader or preacher: this sermon is built around a poem or kind of “rap” lyric that is designed for antiphonal call and response. The reader reads a line and the congregation repeats that line. Of course, the lyric can simply be read as a poem. But if it is done…

On this, the next-to-the-last Sunday of the church year, we hear one resounding theme in all our readings: “Stay awake. Be alert. Be found working with what you have been given.” For Christians in the early church, this was a message of absolute urgency, especially because much of the ancient church, as we hear implied…

The story in today’s Gospel that Jesus told his earliest followers about wise and foolish virgins — is a story about vigilance and values, a story of surprise and response and the judgment of consequences. The story comes from another place, another culture, and another time. How could this story of wise virgins and foolish…

Can you imagine a scene in which there are ten contestants, pitted against each other at an international piano competition? Image further that five of them have constantly practiced their entries to perfection, and remained ever ready to be called to play. Meanwhile, imagine the other five contestants spending their time watching television and eating…

One of the best-selling verses in the Bible these days is the following: And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that you would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that your hand would be with me, and that you would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain.” So…

Truth-tellers are uncomfortable folk to be around. We proudly show Uncle John and Aunt Pat our church building. We do so with a certain amount of trepidation and particularly because they claim some sort of superior knowledge about church architecture. To make matters worse the rector bumps into us as we are going into the…

Who first said, “Show me the money?” No, not Cuba Gooding, Jr, but in today’s Gospel, it is Jesus who says, “Show me the money … used for the tax!” (RSV) The Gospel is not about the separation of church and state. Such a thing never would have occurred to anyone in first century Israel….

A man flips lazily through the television channels and stops for a few minutes to look at a religious program. He then turns the set off, gets up, and walks into the hall where he encounters his wife. “Will you,” he asks her, “be ready when the Bridegroom comes?” “Yes,” she responds quickly, “I have…

Among the most powerful forces we experience in life are expectations. Some expectations come from other people. Parents, spouses, peers, bosses, friends, children, neighbors, customers, and plenty of others all have their expectations of us. They expect certain things regarding our speech, our behavior, our character. Often, the most influential expectations are the ones that…

Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed against me, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! [Ezekiel 18:31 – NRSV] In the campaigns waged around the Bible, and its role, or lack of it, in the public schools, one of the laments is often that we have forgotten…