Sticks and Snakes

Demons, Pigs, and Jesus--Oh My!

The following is last Sunday's sermon (Proper 7C), based on the story of the Healing of the Gerasene Demoniac, found in the gospel of Luke. Enjoy!

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Sermon Updates

The following are two recent sermons. The first was preached on the Seventh Sunday After Easter (May 16?), just after I had seen a stage production of John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men." 

 

I preached the second one last weekend (June 6), Proper 5. You can read both sermons after the jump, or listen to the audio of the first one (the second one should be up soon) here. 

Free Sermon!

This month I am thrilled to be counted among the contributing preachers for Sermons that Work, a ministry of the Episcopal Church that provides free, public domain sermons for churches that do not have a priest or licensed lay preacher on hand.

I have long enjoyed looking through their website and often consult their sermons for inspiration while preparing my own. My sermon is for June 13th, and you can find it here.

Thanks, Sermons that Work for a fun and challenging experience! I hope we can work together again soon.
 

Gone Fishin'

I am going to try to stay current with sermons again, after falling off the radar for a few months.

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Here is my sermon for Easter 3C, based primarily off of John 21:1-19, where the post-resurrection Jesus appears to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberius. I am happy that I finally found a reason to quote one of my favorite books, Salvation on Sand Mountain by Dennis Covington.

Enjoy!

Preaching the Triddum

Happy Easter Season! Last year I spent a lot of time blogging about Lent and also about the Triduum--the three holy days leading up to Easter. Now, Holy Week 2010 has passed and I have yet to reflect on it here. My first Holy Week and Easter as priest was fantastic--a meaningful, emotional time that I will never forget.

  
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A few months ago I had the passing thought that a single preacher should preach all the Triduum sermons (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil on Saturday night) in a given parish. My thought was that it would be easier for one person to tie all of the sermons together with common themes and language than for two or three preachers to try to stay on the same page. The strange and mysterious reality of the Triduum is that  it is made up of three discreet liturgies that meet to form a single event. Hearing the same voice from the pulpit each night would help drive this point home, I thought.

So, I mentioned the idea to my boss...and he agreed. So I volunteered. And then I had to do it. 

Writing three sermons for three days was a spiritual discipline unlike any other that I have had. I had to think and pray a lot about the meaning of Holy Week and how I wanted to tie all of the sermons together. I am not sure whether I accomplished it as powerfully as I wanted to, but it sure was fun to try. 

Below are PDF's of each sermon--enjoy!

Download Sermon.MaundyThusC

Download GoodFridayC

Download Sermon.EasterVigilC

Cana and Haiti

I have to confess, nothing makes my blood boil and throws me into a blind rage more than people blaming disaster on "sin" or tragedy on "God's plan." Nothing. So you can imagine that I had to take more than a few deep breath's after hearing televangelist Pat Robertson's absurd claims that Haiti was struck by an earthquake because the country made a "deal with the devil" in order to secure their freedom from French colonialism in the 18th century. My anger over Robertson's ignorance was only matched by my incredible sadness over the suffering that this earthquake has brought, and like many of you I had to pause and really reflect on what was happening in Haiti and how I might be able to help.

 

So, a sermon was born. The appointed gospel passage last week was John 2:1-11, when Jesus turned water into wine at a wedding in Cana. While this uplifting miracle would usually cause me to preach a happy sermon about God's abundance, I was brought up short when I thought about all those people in Haiti who didn't have water to drink or food to eat, let alone wine to party with. Anyway, the following is the sermon that I ended up with. You can read the full text after the jump (as sermons go, it's really short!).

 

Two Advent Sermons

I know, I know...Advent is over and we are in Christmastide already. But I wanted to share these sermons anyway. They were preached on the third and fourth Sundays of Advent, respectively. The first deals primarily with Luke 3:7-18, a text about John the Baptist, and the second touches on Luke 1:39-56, when Mary visits Elizabeth while they are both pregnant. You can read both sermons after the jump!

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Belated Thanksgiving

I've been a little lax on posting my sermons lately. Sermons tend to live short lives in a particular span of time, and once I'm done preaching them it is all too easy for me to file the pages away and only think about the next one.

 

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In any event, what follows is my Thanksgiving sermon, preached on the Tuesday before Turkey day. You can read it after the jump!

Baby's First Stewardship Sermon

Those Episcopalians among you know that the Fall is often set aside as Stewardship Season in our parishes. By "Stewardship Season," I mean that time of year where we are all challenged to give our money, time and talents to further the ministry of the Church and to develop our own spiritual practices of generosity and trusted dependance on God. 

 

I was preaching last Sunday--smack in the middle of our stewardship campaign--and decided to go for it and tackle my very first stewardship sermon. The text was Mark 10:35-45, about James and John--two of the disciples--asking to sit at Jesus' side in the coming kingdom. You can read the whole sermon after the jump!

Better Late Than Never...

I preached this sermon two weeks ago but didn't have the chance to post it until today! The gospel appointed was from Mark, when the Pharisees ask Jesus whether it is lawful for a man to divorce his wife. Jesus responds by recounting the story of Adam and Eve, who were made for each other for the purpose of being together forever. He goes on to say that divorcing and re-marrying is the same thing as committing adultery. Tough words from Jesus, and ones that I certainly didn't want to preach on! I tackled the subject, however, and it turned out to be on the hardest sermons I've ever had to prepare! Anyway, here's the finished product...

You can read the whole sermon after the jump!