Sermons on Life of Christ (Page 8)

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Come Thou Unexpected Jesus

Photo by Visit Greenland @ pexels.com Titus 2:11-14 Luke 2:1-14(15-20) I’ve been particularly enjoying the Christmas music this year.  On Sunday, Ann Lucas our musician played an arrangement of the hymn “Come thou long-expected Jesus” and my friend Jill was interested to realize that this was the same melody that we use for another hymn. As she was chatting about it she kept saying, “Come thou Unexpected Jesus” and I kept correcting her – “No, no,” I said, “It’s come…

A New Earth

Note: the audio starts in the middle of the sermon, about para 5 Isaiah 65:17-25  Luke 21:5-19 In today’s gospel reading, Jesus talks about the troubles that are to come. Scholars have often thought that this, and its parallel passages in the other gospels, were probably added later, after the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple in the year 70 CE, with words kind of put in Jesus’ mouth. That may be the case, but in the…

Grateful

Photo by Timothy Eberle @unsplash.com 2 Timothy 2:8-15 Luke 17:11-19 The grateful Samaritan – the one person who comes back and thanks Jesus is a foreigner. This is great gospel reading to have in our Season of Gratitude, with the Gratitude Dinner coming up this Friday and the celebration of St. Benedict, our patron saint, next Sunday. So let’s start this morning by thinking about things we’re grateful for. I’m grateful for the Saturday night eucharist, for coffee, for my…

Humility

When we think about St Benedict and his Rule or Way of Life, most of us think about balance or moderation or hospitality. Yet his longest chapter was about humility. In fact, he lists 12 steps of humility. Some of them are not immediately useful for us today, such as the one that says we should speak only when necessary and without laughter – after all we often associate gentle laughter with holiness; or the one that says that humility…

The Way of Love – Turn

Photo by Dewang Gupta@unsplash.com Acts 9:1-6, (7-20) John 21:1-19 I wonder who was the most astonished; Saul – soon to be known as Paul – when the light flashed from heaven and the voice said “Saul, “Saul, why do you persecute me?”;  Ananias when he had a vision telling him to go minister to Saul; or the disciples when they saw Jesus and pulled in an overflowing netfull of fish. God broke through into all their lives in unexpected and…

We are the Light of the World – Easter Vigil

Photo by Noah Silliman on unsplash.com I love this service. I love the excitement of bringing light into the dark church and the telling of stories and singing of songs gathered around the ritual flame. Tonight we remind ourselves that we are the people of God, as we recount our salvation history, renew our vows and then celebrate the first Eucharist of Easter, the foretaste of the heavenly banquet when we will all be gathered together and all will be…

Blessed are we…

Photo by Xavier Coiffic @unsplash.com Blessed are we who come in the name of the Lord! Blessed are we who have a King whose idea of a triumphant entry into His Kingdom is on the foal of a donkey. Blessed are we who have a King who allows Himself to be condemned for our sins. Blessed are we who have the Good News of the Light and Life of the Resurrection which the darkness of the cross could not subdue.…

Intimacy with Jesus

Photo by Isaac Taylor on Pexels.com John 12:1-8 This mornings’ gospel reading poses a false dichotomy – should we give money to the poor or give it to God? That’s like saying should I love my neighbor or God and the answer is Yes – both! There is actually no distinction between the two but my relationship with God as God and neighbor as human neighbor are quite different. But this reading raises many other questions which are more perplexing…