[RCL] Proverbs 9:1-6; Psalm 34:9-14; Ephesians 5:15-20; John 6:51-58 Note: During the 2024 Season after Pentecost, Sermons That Work will use Track 2 readings for sermons and Bible studies. Please consult our archives for many additional Track 1 resources from prior years. What does it mean to have eternal life? Is this simply going to…

RCL: 1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14; Psalm 111; Ephesians 5:15-20; John 6:51-58 What does it mean to have eternal life? Is this simply going to Heaven and living forever? Intuitively, eternal life seems like an unlimited number of days — our lives extended over an infinite expanse of time — but that’s not actually what eternal…

Jesus says, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” Even as Jesus is saying these words you can imagine some would-be disciples slipping to the back of the…

Two old friends recently met at a school reunion. They had not seen each other for 35 years. During that time they had each married, raised children, worked to support their families and, they discovered, been active members of their churches. As they walked into dinner, one looked at the other and said, “We’ve aged…

Sometimes you have to wonder about after-church snacks, especially celebrations. Eating congratulatory cake doesn’t make for a good pre-lunch appetizer, does it? Some parents oppose having cookies available for their little ones and insist on fruit or other more nutritious snacks. What’s the hospitality committee to do? Such minor controversy plays on the wider discussion…

“Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars.” The King James language would have been familiar to Lawrence of Arabia when he titled his long and idiosyncratic memoirs of the Middle East “The Seven Pillars of Wisdom.” In Proverbs 9, the reference to the seven pillars is probably an allusion to…

It has been said that if advice giving worked, we wouldn’t need therapists or marriage counselors. Pastoral advice from one’s favorite member of the clergy would be almost irrelevant, too. Just think of the great insights you’ve given your family and/or friends when they’ve gotten in a jam, been misunderstood, or have just, plain, messed…

In Eucharist, as in Baptism, simple elements reveal to us important truths about things deeply important to life. Our life. Our life meaning a life that is lived together: in community. This is what the bread and wine, and water and oil, seek to express. That life is ours. Plural. Life by its very nature…