Sermons on Spiritual Life
Proper 25 – 10/25/26 – The Church: a Community of Lifelong Learning
Matthew 22:34-46 When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor…
Proper 24 – 10/18/26 – Giving to God What is God’s
Matthew 22:15-22 The Pharisees went and plotted to entrap Jesus in what he said. So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice,…
Proper 22 – 10/4/26 – Promises, Trust & Relationship
Matthew 21:33-46 Jesus said, “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other slaves, more than…
Proper 21 – 9/27/26 – Season of Creation 4 – The Importance of Good Choices
Matthew 21:23-32 When Jesus entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it…
Proper 20 – 9/20/26 – Season of Creation 3 – The Kingdom Revolution
Matthew 20:1-16 Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; and he said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. When he…
Proper 19 – 9/13/26 – Season of Creation 2 – Forgiveness
Matthew 18:21-35 Peter came and said to Jesus, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times. “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; and, as…
Proper 18 – 9/6/26 – Season of Creation – Rev. Dr. Caro Hall
A dear friend of mine had a T-shirt which said “I thought growing old would take longer”. Anyone relate? Lately I’ve been thinking “I thought Climate Change would take longer”. But it is here and now. Just this week the United Nations Environment Program announced that the planet has already warmed roughly 1.4 degrees Celsius, mostly from the burning of fossil fuels. The last three years have been the hottest on record and since we continue to pour greenhouse gases…
Proper 17 – 8/30/26 – Berkeley Johnson Guest Sermon
May I speak in the Name of the Holy, Living, and Undivided Trinity; one God, now and forever, Amen. Good morning. There is so much in these lessons today; so many directions we could go. I think when I was just starting out as a lay preacher in the late 90s, I preached on these texts, and the verse that spoke to me was Jesus’ “take up your cross” forewarning from Matthew, because that’s where I was, theologically, at that…
