It feels like the lectionary is one week off. Since this is Gathering Sunday, the week that Church School, Choir and committee work begins again for a new year, it would be perfect to preach the preceding passage in Luke-The Great Banquet. There Jesus compares the Kingdom of God to a banquet where the usual guests refuse to … Continue reading Luke 14:25-33 “Counting the Cost: In Honor of Viola Liuzzo”
Category: sermons
September 1 – “Great Banquets are Never Easy”
Being way too early for a New Year's resolutions (or am I too late?), I am making a Yom Kippur resolution. Time to come back to weekly lectionary blogging. Bloomingcactus blog, true to its name, survives without my help, and periodically calls from the wilderness encouraging me to write. So look for something by Tuesday … Continue reading September 1 – “Great Banquets are Never Easy”
Luke 7:1-10 Amazing Faith!
Jesus had as many conflicts in Capernaum as the Northampton City Council does. This was his home base for much of his ministry. This fishing village of about 1500 is where Jesus called Peter, James, John and Andrew to leave their nets and follow him. I would say there is some faith in Capernaum. It was also … Continue reading Luke 7:1-10 Amazing Faith!
Love in the Abyss Romans 5:1-5
Tuesday morning, I sat down with our lectionary study group, eight local pastors I gather with each week to reflect on the next Sunday’s readings. None of us were excited about Trinity Sunday, or the theological Rubic’s Cube of explaining the three-in-one God. News was pouring in from Oklahoma City about the terrible tornadoes, and … Continue reading Love in the Abyss Romans 5:1-5
“How Can I Keep From Singing? Acts 16:16-34
My inner response to this scripture is best described by the word “disruptive.” It’s troublesome, unruly, unsettling, disturbing. We move from fortune telling slave girls, to demons being caste out, dark prisons of Philippi, Paul and Silas incongruently singing in chains, earthquakes, it all makes me feel like I’m watching an episode of Xena Warrior … Continue reading “How Can I Keep From Singing? Acts 16:16-34
Exodus 34:29-35, Luke 9:28-36 Transfiguration Sunday “Face Time with God”
Its a snowy day here in Northampton and I am posting my sermon for tomorrow. All the pictures in this article are from the blog Marina Abramovic Made Me Cry. Leave me a comment if you found a way to work this into your sermon. I will be posting quite a bit during Lent. You … Continue reading Exodus 34:29-35, Luke 9:28-36 Transfiguration Sunday “Face Time with God”
Luke 3:15-22 “Called and Loved”
What was Jesus doing in the first 30 years of life, until the day that he stood before Cousin John to be baptized? We know more about Jesus from conception, through birth canal to being delivered in a manger than we know about his entire adult formation the following 30 years. The art of the memoir did not … Continue reading Luke 3:15-22 “Called and Loved”
Luke 1:39-56 “Luke’s Pageant”
I think Luke’s Gospel should be considered the first Christmas pageant. Luke’s first two chapters are governed by four great canticles, known by their Latin names: Starting with Mary’s Magnificat, followed by Zechariah’s Benedictus, where he celebrates the birth of his son John the Baptist. Angels then sing Gloria in Excelsis to announce the birth of Jesus, and finally Simeon, … Continue reading Luke 1:39-56 “Luke’s Pageant”
Luke 3:7-28 “John, the Thundering Pragmatist?”
How many times have you gone to church thinking, “I would really like to hear a sermon that begins with the words ‘You brood of vipers...?” When you first read John the Baptist and his preaching about vipers, the axe is ready at the root of the tree, and all who do not bear fruit will be chopped down … Continue reading Luke 3:7-28 “John, the Thundering Pragmatist?”
Luke 3:1-6 “I Wasn’t Prepared for This!”
Advent is a spiritual force we never see coming. We watch the news where history is apparently being made by politicians, generals, and CEOs, by sex scandals, drug dealers and mass shootings. But off camera, a young woman is pregnant. She will give birth to a baby and feed itwith her dreams and her breast … Continue reading Luke 3:1-6 “I Wasn’t Prepared for This!”
With all my soul 