Sermons

September 1, 2024

Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Albert Camus ends his essay, “The Myth of Sisyphus”, thus:

I leave Sisyphus at the foot of the mountain. One always finds one’s burden again. But Sisyphus teaches the higher fidelity that negates the gods and raises rocks. He too concludes that all is well. This universe henceforth without a master seems to him neither sterile nor futile. Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that night-filled mountain, in itself, forms a world. The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy. 

August 25, 2024

Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Let’s pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts make us closer to whom you mean us to be. Amen

I will start with a confession that’s hopefully not going to make you too worried about the next 15 minutes: for months, I’ve been struggling because scripture has felt stale to me. I’d been growing impatient every time I cracked open the Bible, only to find the same old words and same old stories. Even worse, I had the same old reactions, as if I, too, was growing stale. In the midst of this struggle, I made the counter-intuitive decision to say yes when Deborah reached out to see if I would preach, in the hopes that forcing myself to engage would bring some life back into my relationship with scripture. I chose today because three years ago this gospel reading really touched a nerve. A crowd of Jesus’ followers, once hopeful, become befuddled, distressed, and ultimately disenchanted with him. As they drift away one by one, Jesus turns to his disciples: “Do you also wish to go away?” He asks.

August 18, 2024

Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Text: John 6:51-58

What a rich season of sermons we’ve had in this series on becoming bread. First there was the feeding of 5,000 people with 5 loaves and 2 fish: a literal miracle of generosity apparently created by a child’s good example of sharing what he had. Then there was Elizabeth’s sermon on the crowd’s demand for more miracles and Jesus’ response: “the bread of God comes down from heaven and gives life to the world,” and when the people wanted that bread, Jesus told them “I am the bread of life.” If we were reading the Gospel of John in one sitting, chapter 6 would move us from literally sharing bread with hungry strangers to Jesus as the symbolic bread of life, to be chewed on and ingested in our daily lives.

August 11, 2024

Twelth Sunday after Pentecost

I have to admit that this sermon has been a real struggle. I’ve found myself resisting putting my thoughts down on paper, or claiming them as my own and, in fact, acting on them in deliberate and intentional ways. In other words, do I really believe what I’m actually thinking and saying?

August 4, 2024

Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost

The theme of our Summer season, “Grounded in Love,” is taken from the Epistle we
read last Sunday, the letter of Paul to the Ephesians, Chapter 3. I’ll read verses 16 and
17, from the New Revised Standard Version.

I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be
strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ
may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in
love. – Ephesians 3:16-17, NRSV

Rooted and grounded in love: The first question that comes to my mind is, what is
meant by that word love? For some of you this is probably an easy question, but I didn’t
have unconditional love modeled for me as I was growing up, and all life my I have
searched for a definition, an understanding, of love.