Dr. David Moessner was one of the seminary professors who taught me the New Testament. Though he had the kind heart of a pastor, Dr. Moessner was nonetheless an intimating figure – not only because his scholarship was so rich but also because he read Scripture in its original Greek with the same ease thatContinue reading “Faith and Works”
Category Archives: Sermons
A Costly Summons
If you accept the Lord’s invitation to follow him to the Cross of our upcoming season of Lent, then you must take the first steps of that long walk in precisely the same place that Jesus does. As I suggested a couple sermons ago, baptism begins the march of Christian faith, and you must startContinue reading “A Costly Summons”
Been There, Felt That
A seminary education conveys a certain practicality. A seminarian learns how to perform the rites and rituals of the Church like baptizing littles. And the initial guidance given to me was fundamental and rudimentary: Don’t forget to put water in the baptismal font. Don’t forget the child’s name. And don’t drop the baby. Now isContinue reading “Been There, Felt That”
Hiding in Plain Sight
You need not be a parent to sense the horror of a losing a child. Whenever something precious is lost – as with Mary and Joseph and their 12-year-old son in this morning’s Scripture lesson, the anguish of the moment is soul-crushing torture; the guilty questions that follow weigh heavy upon the human spirit likeContinue reading “Hiding in Plain Sight”
Suffering Well
The sinister scene embraces the clickbait ingredients of a viral TikTok video. When the Wise Men from the East innocently ask him about the newborn King of the Jews, Herod’s blood pressure undoubtedly spikes. His Grinch-ly face starts turning beet red, and thick veins commence to popping in his neck. Then, as last Sunday’s ScriptureContinue reading “Suffering Well”
God’s Ideas
So often have we heard the Christmastime story about the coming of the Wise Men – and sung the time-honored carols about their intrepid following of a yonder star – that probably some can recite by heart the details of the Magi’s bold voyage across field and fountain, moor and mountain. But what we thinkContinue reading “God’s Ideas”
Holy Dysfunctional
Someone once described churches as places where we often present selective, redacted, highly edited versions of ourselves. Our message to each other – and to the outside world via the trappings of the “good life” – is that, like Stacy’s mom, we’ve got it going on: Shiny, happy people living our best lives ever, evenContinue reading “Holy Dysfunctional”
In Other Words
You see one every now and then, typically at a public event: A “land acknowledgement,” some sort of short, formal statement that recognizes Indigenous nations as the first stewards of the land on which we now all live. Land acknowledgement recognizes the enduring relationship that exists between Native peoples and their traditional territories. In whatContinue reading “In Other Words”
What Did Mary Know, and When Did She Know It?
The song asks the honest question, “Mary, did you know?” What did you know, and when did you know it? For some, the lyrics rub the wrong way with the course feeling of mansplaining to Mary, “Hey, did you know your Son wasn’t just some random kid?” The very notion is a non-starter: That MaryContinue reading “What Did Mary Know, and When Did She Know It?”
Bitter-Sweet
Complaining, grumbling, and doubting are among the human emotions fueling the plot of our Advent Scripture lessons from the Old Testament book of Exodus, the epic story of the Lord God freeing his people from slavery in Egypt. Their journey to freedom through the Red Sea has been grueling, demanding, and exhausting, and folks areContinue reading “Bitter-Sweet”