Sermons on Teaching of Jesus (Page 8)
Social distances
Photo by Stephen Hume @ unsplash.com John 4:5-42 I’m sorry I’m not worshiping with you in person this morning though I am participating through livestream. I am not there because I have a very minor chest cold which in normal circumstances I would completely disregard. But these are not normal circumstances. So I am practicing “social distancing” by staying home and I am very grateful to the Rev Susan for stepping in for me. Yesterday the first instance of the…
Born from Above
Photo by Hu Chen @ unsplash.com Genesis 12:1-4a Romans 4:1-5, 13-17 John 3:1-17 When I was a teenager, I was very certain about many things. I knew, for example, exactly how one was born again and I tried to help other people receive Jesus by saying the simple words, “I accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior.” I didn’t realize that some people might just say that in order to amuse themselves, or in order to get rid of me,…
Get Up!
Transfiguration Sunday (Last Sunday of Epiphany) Sermon February 23, 2020 St. Benedict’s Episcopal Church, Los Osos, California Message from the Mountain (Invocation of the Holy Spirit, suggested by words in Celtic Daily Prayer) Most powerful Holy Spirit, come down upon us and subdue us From heaven, where the ordinary is made glorious, and glory seems but ordinary. Open our spiritual ears, that we hear a word from God. Amen. Transfiguration is a translation of Greek that happens to…
Discipleship and Forgiveness – Lorienne Schwenk
Reconciliation by Vasconcellos, Coventry Cathedral Photo by Martinvl [CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)] 1 Corinthians 3:1-9 Matthew 5:21-37 This morning I am going to continue the theme of discipleship we have been hearing in Epiphany. We will look at discipleship through two lenses: one much needed, the other a trap. Forgiveness and Idolatry. Our Gospel is full of provocations and that’s good. Like the question we discussed at our tables just three weeks ago at the Annual Meeting. As a reminder: “…in…
Salt of the Earth
Matthew 5:13-20 When I hear Jesus’ words to his disciples: “You are the salt of the earth: but if salt has lost its taste, How can its saltiness be restored? My brain goes contrary and asks: Just how can salt lose its taste? And of course, I’m thinking of those little salt granules We put on our food. To relate to Jesus’ teaching, it helps me To picture a salt lick out in a field; They’re put out for livestock.…
Hope
Photo by Kelly Sikkema @ unsplash.com Isaiah 2:1-5 Romans 13:11-14 Matthew 24:36-44 I read in the news this morning the sad story of Ron, a man in Maine, who rigged a pistol in his front door so that anyone who tried to enter would be shot. Unfortunately, he made a mistake – I don’t know the details – but on Thanksgiving he walked into his own booby trap, was shot by the pistol and later died of his wounds. This…
Living from both pockets
Photo by Matthew Smith @ unsplash.com Text: Luke 18:9-14 Purpose: We recognize both the Pharisee and the toll collector, both the saint and the sinner within ourselves. Prayer: Guard my lips and guide our hearts, O God, our help and our rock. Some days everything goes right. Some days everything goes wrong! Some mornings we awake and say “Good morning, God.” Other days it’s more like, “Good God, it’s morning.” On those good days, it’s sunshine and blue skies, no…
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…
Boundary Crossing
Photo by Max Bohme on unsplash.com A few weeks ago, a friend of mine was talking about some of the choices he is making in his life and he told me, “Right now I’m self-absorbed in my spirituality.” “Right now I’m self-absorbed in my spirituality.” I’m going to leave you with that thought for a moment while I talk about the second reading this morning, the one from the Letter to the Hebrews. It’s a pretty confusing reading because we…
The peace of God is not peace
Photo by Faye Cornish @unsplash.com Isaiah 5:1-7 Luke 12:49-56 Sometimes I hear an Old Testament reading – like the one we heard today or the one we had a few weeks ago where Hosea was told to take a “wife of whoredom “ – and I wish we could skip all that and just listen to Jesus. But then we get to gospel passages like this one. Jesus is not having a good day. He is looking ahead to his…