Sermons

Yesterday our country woke up to the news that US troops had been deployed during the early morning hours to attack Venezuela and capture it’s president and first lady. This unprovoked military action against another sovereign nation was taken by the current US administration without authorization from Congress, the only branch of the federal government given…

Now here we are – the 4th Sunday of Advent; the last Sunday of this short, beautiful season during which we have been waiting for Jesus to come. Over these last few weeks, we have turned our attention to the words of prophecy found in scripture. We have kept awake; kept ourselves ready for that unknown…

Sometimes life does not always go as we expect it should (or perhaps hope it will). Take the life of John the Baptist, as an example. In last week’s gospel reading we heard he was down by the river Jordan, baptizing people with water, calling them to repent because the kingdom of heaven has come near.…

I was driving east on the Mass Pike earlier this week, on my way home from a late afternoon meeting in Worcester. It was the time of day that I most love in winter. I looked in my side mirror – and then in my rearview mirror – and I saw the beautiful orange and red…

Most people probably consider January 1st to be the start of the new year. When else could it be? That’s the day we break out  the new calendar we bought in December and we flip to the new year (this year we go from 2025 to 2026; can you believe it?). It’s a time of new…

Today is the final Sunday of the church’s year.  Today we mark Christ the King Sunday.              Sometimes I wonder if this whole image is problematic, a little anachronistic, for us as 21st century Americans.  “We the people” do not have a king.  We are proud of our revolutionary heritage, and those traditions of democracy that…

As I was pondering the scripture readings assigned for this day, my attention kept coming back to these words in the psalm: You remember your steadfast love…. (Psalm. 98:3). The words your steadfast love brought me back in time…to the first weeks of March, 2020. Remember that time? We were just beginning to hear of a…

Even in this time of chaos and cruelty in our country and in the world, we need not fear—God is with us and we are alive in God.

Today we observe All Saints Sunday. We remember and name the communion of saints we have known in our lives; the saints who trusted in the love of God made real through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ; the saints who shared that love with family and friends and neighbors in simple and profound…

One of my favorite movies is Mary Poppins, the Walt Disney classic starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke. I remember watching it as a child and loving everything about it – the music – the dancing – the colorful animation – the playfulness – the joy and love and goodness that, from a child’s perspective,…

Good morning, Saints of God! This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Ps 118:24 As you listened to the words of scripture today, perhaps you heard a theme repeated in each reading. Each one speaks to the persistent relationship God has with God’s people over an extended…

I know there are people sitting in the pews in many churches on Sunday mornings who prefer that their ministers not preach about current issues of the day. These people don’t want to hear about “politics” in the place where they have come to find comfort, hope, and healing. Yet this morning we hear two biblical…

I have this quirky habit – I love to read the obituaries of people I don’t know. I find people to be endlessly fascinating; so I find it intriguing to read about how another person has lived their lives; it can be quite illuminating. Years ago I read an obituary that made an impression on me…

If you are like me, after hearing this morning’s gospel reading, you might be scratching your head and wondering – what the heck is Jesus trying to teach his disciples – and us – through this story? Is Jesus really telling us that we should use our wealth to make friends for ourselves through dishonest means?…

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, located in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, is considered to be one of the holiest sites for most Christians. To understand the significance of this Church, it is helpful to know that a  ‘sepulchre’ is a small room or monument cut in rock or built in…