A sermon for the 24th Sunday after Pentecost, Year CLuke 20:27-38 I’m not surprised anymore.  The shock has worn off.  I dropped by one of the home center stores in Christiansburg this past week for a quick purchase.  I walked around a corner and found myself in a Christmas wonderland. Long gone are the days of my childhood when no self-respecting retailer would have put up Christmas decorations until after Thanksgiving.  In 1937 in an effort to help the struggling economy by lengthening the Christmas shopping season, then president, Franklin Roosevelt, moved the observance of Thanksgiving up one week.  The … Continue reading The God of the Living

A sermon for the 23rd Sunday after PentecostLuke 19:1-10 Our days with Luke are drawing to a close.  Just a few more weeks and we will be in Advent and find ourselves once again with Matthew as our traveling guide through the Gospels.   But before we leave Luke, there are a few more stories and even a difficult saying of Jesus to be heard. This morning we hear this familiar story of Zacchaeus, the wee little man.  This is one of the stories from the life and ministry of Jesus that seems to resonate with adults and children alike.  I … Continue reading Zacchaeus — the Unlikely Role-Model

Seat of Honor.edit A Sermon for the 14th Sunday after PentecostHebrews 13:1-8, 15-16; Luke 14:1, 7-14 When I sat down and looked at the Gospel lesson this morning, I must admit I felt like I had been here already – Jesus is at dinner with the Pharisees and has to correct them about how they treat those in their society without status. If we take a step back and look at the Gospel of Luke in its entirety, this should come as no surprise, really.  The writer of Luke seems intent on pointing out the imbalance of power that existed … Continue reading The Seat of Honor for the Least of These

A sermon for the 12th Sunday after Pentecost (Isaiah 5:1-7, Hebrews 11:29 – 12:2, Luke 12:49-56)   In one of those moments I can’t quite forget, I flash back to some of the media coverage surrounding the Oklahoma City bombing.  A woman who had lost both of her elderly parents in the blast was being interviewed just a day or two after that city was changed forever.  She told the reporter, “Well, if God saw fit to take my parents home this way…”  I’m not quite sure I heard the rest of the interview. I remember thinking out loud, as … Continue reading Clouds of witnesses in storms of doubt

A sermon for the 13th Sunday after Pentecost (Psalm 49; Colossians 3:1-11; Luke 12:13-21) I’m sure you’ve seen them, either in person or in an ad – a new innovation in personal storage, PODS.  The company will deliver to your door a container that is 8 x 8 x 12 that you can load up from the comfort and ease of your own home on your own schedule and then arrange to have it picked up.  Then they will whisk it away to their storage facility where it will be well cared for.  One of their slogans is: “Store your … Continue reading Changing our minds, emptying our closets

07 22 07 Martha and Mary A sermon for the 8th Sunday after Pentecost  (Amos 8:1-12; Luke 10: 38-42) I cannot resist kitsch, good kitsch.  Last month when I was at a provincial conference in Rehoboth, Delaware, I came across a store that is devoted to, you guessed it, kitsch.  It is packed, floor to ceiling with tacky little souvenir items, but also with nostalgia.  There were a few things I couldn’t resist – a toast stamper that will emboss an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary on every slice, and, from the makers of Nunzilla (the little wind up … Continue reading Martha serves while Mary waits

07 15 07 Good Samaritan a sermon for the 7th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 10 C: Amos 7:1-17; Luke 10:25-37) I am a fan of Robert Frost.  “Whose woods these are I think I know.”  “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood.”  “I have been one acquainted with the night” – all “touchstone” poems in my formative years.  One of my favorites is simply called, “Mending Wall.” The narrator meditates on fences and neighbors, the desire in us to build fences, “Good fences make good neighbors,” but also the mischief in us to break them down, “Something there is that … Continue reading The Kindness of Not-my-Neighbor