Sermons on Teaching of Jesus (Page 9)

Be Like Carson

Photo from Wikimedia Commons Isaiah 1:1, 10-20 Psalm 50:1-8, 23-24 Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16 Luke 12:32-40 I confess that I’m a Downtown Abbey fan. I got quite caught up in the Crawley’s comings and goings, and enjoyed it even more the second time I watched it. I’m really looking forward to the film coming out next month. Today’s gospel reading makes me think of Carson. The lord goes off to a wedding feast (and in those days, weddings took several days…

Ask and it shall be given…

Photo by Michael Heuss unsplash.com Hosea 1:2-10 Psalm 85 Colossians 2:6-15, (16-19) Luke 11:1-13 I imagine that quite a few of you had a hard time with that first reading from the prophet Hosea! Our First Testament readings during the season of Pentecost this year give us a quick tour of the prophets. We started in the 9th century Before the Common Era  – that’s 2900 years ago – with stories of Elijah and Elisha. Now we’ve moved up a…

Peace be with you

Photo by Patrick Fore @unsplash.com Luke 10:1-11, 16-20 You have probably heard that St. Francis said, “Preach the gospel at all times and when necessary use words.” This is very convenient for those of us who are shy or those of us who find it difficult to articulate our faith, or who don’t want to appear pushy. We want the way we live to be enough, so that we can get away without actually admitting that we are Christians, without…

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…

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…

The Prodigal Son

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 This morning we come to that wonderful story which many of us learned in Sunday School and which has been so beautifully portrayed by numerous artists including Rembrandt – the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Prodigal is not a word I use very often so I looked it up and found that it means “spending money or resources freely and recklessly; wastefully extravagant.” In the story, the younger son takes his inheritance in cash, goes away and…

How Does God Respond to our Sinfulness?

Photo by Lukas from Pexels Luke 13:1-9 Our Gospel story for this 3rd Sunday of Lent is a real cliff hanger. How does the story really end? Did the vinedresser have to cut the tree down For not bearing fruit? Did the tree get a year’s reprieve? More time? Another chance? What do you think? For me,  today’s gospel story revolves around the question: How does God respond to our sinfulness? We can assume from our reading That somebody and maybe more than…

God always welcomes us

Luke 13:31-35 Today’s Gospel is a rather odd passage. Some commentators have suggested that it’s two separate sayings of Jesus put together to make one. I don’t know if that’s true, but it certainly comes at a time when the pressure is on Jesus. He is making his way toward Jerusalem when he’s told that Herod is out to get him. You will remember that after Herod the Great died, the country was divided between his sons. Herod Antipas ruled…