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

Her faith saved her A sermon for the Third Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 6C) Luke 7:36-8:3 I notice bumper-stickers.  I even have one or two on my own car.  Once upon a time in my life, however, my car was festooned with them.  My sister, on one of her visits, looked at my car and said, “Wow!  You’ve got a lot to say!”  We came to refer to them as “preachy” bumpers.  The members of Canterbury will tell you that I have engaged in what is called “Bumper-sticker theology” in the past, and will probably do so in the future.  … Continue reading Her faith saved her

A sermon for Maundy Thursday, Year CJohn 13:1-17, 31b-35 Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.The hours are drawing to a close.The time for Jesus to be with his disciples is at an end. They had been through a lot together, this carpenter turned rabbi, all these ex-fishermen, and even a former tax-collector. They had just experienced some of the most tumultuous and exciting days of Jesus’ ministry – the raising of Lazarus from the dead, attempts to kill and arrest Jesus, and then the triumphal entry. With the echoes of “hosanna” … Continue reading He loved them to the end

A sermon for the Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year CLuke 15:1-32 This morning we have heard a very familiar story – the story of a father and his two sons. Yet as usually happens with storytelling, you may have heard something in a new way or even heard something you never noticed before. Stories are like that. Audiences are like that too. The audience to whom Jesus was speaking was no doubt like his typical audience – crowds of curious people, waiting to hear what this radical rabbi would say next. His disciples were in the crowd, along with members … Continue reading The Two Lost Sons