Tag: Jesus

A woman’s gift

A woman’s gift (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
John 12:1-8
March 13, 2016

She made a gift to Jesus.  Mary made a gift to Jesus, an extravagant gift.  She took a whole pint of perfume, pure nard, and poured it out over Jesus’ feet.  According to Judas, the perfume was worth about three hundred silver coins.  Since one silver coin represented a day’s pay for a farm laborer, the value of the perfume was more than a year’s wages for a laborer working six days a week, or, in our money, about $18,000.… Continue reading ...

Our common lot

Our common lot (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Luke 23:13-26
March 20, 2016

Who killed Jesus?

Pilate did.  He was the one, the only one, with the authority to have Jesus put to death, and that was the sentence he pronounced.  Reluctant or not, he made the decision.  Pilate, the agent of the Roman Empire in Judea, killed Jesus.… Continue reading ...

No matter who

No matter who (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Acts 10:34-43
March 27, 2016

Korean JesusThis is Jesus …

… a young Korean bearing the heavy burden of the cross and the heavy burden of his divided people.

 

Masai Jesus

 

This is Jesus …

… a resolute Masai warrior watching over his brothers, protecting his sisters.

 

 

Balinese JesusThis is Jesus …

… a Balinese dancer, coming to us dancing, spreading light and joy, pushing back the shadows and all the beasts that lurk in the shadows.… Continue reading ...

How Christianity has changed

How Christianity has changed (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Acts 5:27-32, Revelation 1:4-8
April 3, 2016

“How Christianity has changed”

First, I must tell you, the sermon title is not mine.  None of the sermon titles for the four Sundays in April come from me.  Two weeks ago, I asked the members of our confirmation class and their high school mentors — Katy and Japhy and Maria and Zoe and Leah and Laura and Lauren and Katherine — I asked them to suggest topics they would like addressed in a sermon. … Continue reading ...

Eye for an eye

Eye for an eye (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
John 13:31-35, Exodus 21:12-27
April 24, 2016

Jesus said: “Now God’s glory is revealed.”

How? Where? What does it look like? You see it, don’t you? God’s glory is all around us. We just have to open our eyes. It is all around us, from the delicate lines and colors of a tiny woodland wildflower to the mind-boggling dimensions of a black hole in deep space, from the gentle plip plop of raindrops onto the surface of a lake on a windless day to the bone-jarring boom of an active thunderhead.… Continue reading ...

One

One (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Luke 15:1-10
September 11, 2016

(Play video: images from September 11-12, 2001, set to Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings; link = https://sermons.believersjournal.org/wp-content/uploads/adagio.mp4)

That brings back a host of feelings, doesn’t it?

Fifteen years ago today, our world changed.  Fifteen years ago today, we changed.  For the better?  Did we change for the better? … Continue reading ...

First things first

First things first (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Luke 16:1-13
September 18, 2016

They say that there are three subjects you should never talk about in polite company: religion, politics, and money.  So, having noted that, today we are going to talk about all three!

We are going to talk about religion because that’s what we do here. … Continue reading ...

Open the gate!

Open the gate! (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Luke 16:19-31
September 25, 2016

Audio excerpt from Clarence Jordan, “The Rich Man and Lazarus”

(http://www.believersjournal.org/sermons/wp-content/uploads/ClarenceJordan.mov)

πλουσιος (plousios) and πτωχος (ptochos) … rich man and beggar … one they party with and one they spit on … one clothed in the finest fabrics and latest styles and one clothed in sores … one feasting sumptuously — sumptuously!… Continue reading ...

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 ...

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 ...