You

You (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Luke 17:11-19
October 9, 2016

Your name is Rahm and you are a leper.

You were not always a leper.  There was a time — it seems now like another lifetime or the lifetime of another person, not your own life — a time when you were happy, at least as happy as you could be, considering.… Continue reading ...

Never give up!

Never give up! (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Luke 18:1-8
October 16, 2016

The top ten signs that you have given up …

Number 10:  You turned off the TV after the eighth inning of last Tuesday night’s Cubs game.

Number 9:  You watched Monday Night Football instead of the first presidential debate.

Number 8.  Since the second debate, you have been searching online for houses … in Canada.… Continue reading ...

Despicable me

Despicable me (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Luke 18:9-14
October 23, 2016

Ghirlandaio, Adoration of the ShepherdsThis painting was done by Domenico Ghirlandaio in the late fifteenth century.  It is one of three paintings I have used in confirmation classes as visual aids for a discussion about the meaning of Jesus’ incarnation.  The other two are shown below:

Henry Tanner, Annunciation Emil Nolde, Holy Night

These are three very different paintings, all of which I like, for different reasons. … Continue reading ...

Lost

Lost (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Luke 19:1-10
October 30, 2016

It is an eerie and unsettling feeling — being lost.

This summer my son, Matt, and I went kayaking on Englishman Bay in Downeast Maine.  We set out from the beach at Roque Bluffs State Park to do a twelve mile circumnavigation of Roque Island, a beautiful, crescent-shaped island marked by rocky cliffs and a long sand beach. … Continue reading ...

Parties, politics, and impertinent puzzles

Parties, politics, and impertinent puzzles (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Luke 20:27-40
November 6, 2016

In three days, it will be over.  Except that it won’t be over, will it?

If the Democratic candidate prevails, the Republican candidate and many of his supporters have suggested they will not acknowledge the legitimacy of the result and, therefore, the legitimacy of the newly elected administration.… Continue reading ...

This is our chance!

This is our chance! (Click on the sermon title for .pdf copy)
Luke 21:5-19
November 13, 2016

This is our chance.

There are many angry people out there right now, some angry about the outcome of this election, and others whose anger helped propel the outcome of this election.

This is our chance.

There are many frightened people out there right now, some frightened by what might be done to us, by extremists foreign-born or homegrown, and others frightened by what we might do, by the ways our own brand of extremism may make the world a more dangerous and inhospitable place.… Continue reading ...

This is the king

This is the king (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Luke 23:33-43
November 20, 2016

Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

What did he want?  He wanted to be remembered.  He didn’t want to be forgotten.  He had made a mess of his life and he knew it, but he didn’t want to be forgotten, disappear from this earth as if he never existed, remembered by nobody, mattering to nobody.… Continue reading ...