Turning of the Year

Pentecost 22A, Sunday before Christ the King Each year on the Sunday before Christ the King I preach on the church year. As a child, I never realized the ever returning story that the church year tells us. Perhaps it is because Presbyterians (which I was as a child) do not put emphasis on such…

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Ray Bradbury Writing Sermons

One of the very best things about my call (job, position, vocation, whatever you wish to label it–though call is most appropriate) is that I get to read and write a lot. That’s a pretty good thing since I love both of those things. While on internship in seminary I remember calling a classmate of mine…

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Reformation Sunday

Reform: Verb: to change to a better state, improve by alteration, substitution or abolition, to cause to abandon wrong or evil way of life, to put an end to an action, to correct, to better, to amend, to repair, to restore. To form again. The year was 1415. A priest stood in a cathedral before…

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Speak To Me Of The Resurrection

A few times lately I have made reference to the fact that my mother passed away in September. Actually, I despise that phrase: passed away. Makes it sound so benign and innocent. She was peacefully at rest when she “passed away” but I do not believe for a moment that death itself is sweet, innocent or benign.…

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Love, Actually

Pentecost 19A Leviticus 19:1-2, 15-18  Matthew 22:34-46 At the beginning of the movie, Love Actually, the voice of the character who plays the British Prime Minister has a little speech about love: “Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at the Heathrow Airport. General opinion’s starting…

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