Sermons
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Lessons from a Four-Legged Disciple
As we begin Holy Week and walk with Jesus to Calvary and beyond, how can the way we live and serve help others to see Jesus, to see the love of God, through us?
Previous Sermons
Seeing God in 2020: End-of-Year Examen
Since we are reaching the end of such an extraordinary, challenging year this seems like a good opportunity to reflect together, to engage in what is called an examen, a spiritual practice that helps us see God in our ordinary lives. Inspired by today’s gospel...
Possible
She was an impoverished girl who knew what was expected of her - by her parents, her husband-to-be, her culture and her religion. Everything of consequence about her life - who she would marry, where she would live, what she would do from morning to night - was...
A Love that Does Justice
Like millions of people around the globe over the last few weeks, David and I have been watching “The Crown.” How many of you have been watching? Two scenes we recently viewed bring to mind the lessons from today’s readings. In one scene, Michael Fagan, an unemployed,...
The Path to a New Beginning
Many years ago, in the midst of an excruciating break-up with a man I had been involved with for a long time, he turned to me with a steely gaze and said, “Unless you admit how you wronged me, you are going to repeat the same mistakes again.” It just so happens his...
Keep Awake
In preparing to light the Advent wreath at the beginning of worship, Wendy said, “We hardly know how to describe the year we are living through.”
Mark, the Gospel writer who will be our companion over the next liturgical year, which begins today, would know exactly how to describe this year. Apocalyptic.
The section Ben read from Mark’s Gospel is referred to as “The Little Apocalypse” because of its resonance with the Great Apocalypse in the Book of Revelation. Often written in difficult times, this type of literature is meant to offer hope to people who are suffering.
Generous Jud
Weeks ago, when I was selecting scripture for our worship today, the Sunday before Thanksgiving, I could not have known that the message would be so fitting days after the death of our beloved, Jud Gale: “Your great generosity will produce thanksgiving to God through us.”
We gather this morning both broken-hearted and thankful:
Broken-hearted by Jud’s death and thankful for his life;
Come, Share in God’s Joy!
Last week, in the parable of the wise and foolish bridesmaids, we were given an image of the Christian life as a life of joy. Perhaps because Jesus knew how difficult it is for us to truly embrace the idea that we are called to share in the joy of God, he tries in the Parable of the Talents, to make the same point in another way.
Prepare to Celebrate
Since I was ordained, I’ve officiated over 300 weddings. Each has been special in it’s own way. One in particular, four years ago, felt like it was a foretaste of God’s kingdom, Under one tent there were the groovy, progressive White Quakers, Unitarians, and Atheists. There were conservative, proper, Black Catholics and Baptists. Present were straight, gay, and transgendered people; the very young and the very old; friends who danced the night away on two feet and some who danced the night away from their wheelchairs. Republicans and Democrats. I have never been to a more diverse or joyful celebration.
Light in Liminal Days
Friday morning as I sat down to begin writing this sermon, I looked out my window to see the snow racing towards the ground, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. At one point, I looked over at my cat, Chloe, and she had her paw covering her face. I could relate. Halloween festivities in many places were cancelled or truncated last night. The city of Gloucester decided to temporarily remove its Ballot drop boxes from outside of City Hall because of threats of vandalism.
The Test
By guest preacher, Lindsay Crouse. Matthew is writing after the fall of Jerusalem, which left the Pharisees, who are actively persecuting Christians, firmly in charge. Most scribes and lawyers at this time are Pharisees. They are teachers of the Hebrew scriptures, and...
A Gift to God
“Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” How we understand what this one verse says, may reveal more about the way we think, than it does about what it actually means. As residents of a country that has...
Peace in the Midst
A day does not go by that I do not hear someone say, “I am just so worried about….” It might be the election, or climate change, or the results of a COVID test, or the health of a loved one… these days, the list goes on and on. We are living in an anxious, a deeply anxious, age.