My task this week is to tackle some of those most mysterious teachings of Jesus that we usually call parables. In particular, parables about what the author of Matthew's gospel calls the Kingdom of God Heaven. Why 'Heaven' instead of 'God'? Most likely the author was Jewish or was writing for a Jewish audience or …
Tag: sermon prep
Giving Up Fear for Lent
That’s what we exploring at our next evening worship experiment this Sunday, March 4 at 5:00pm. Hope you'll join us! First, a short video to get us thinking: What do you think of that? Do you sometimes (always?!?) hide your true self? What masks do you wear? How does being in church affect those masks? …
Sermonating for Sunday: Gleeful Outsiders?
The texts for this week (we almost always follow the lectionary) create an odd juxtaposition of themes. Matthew 22:1-14 seems, at least at first glance, to be yet another affirmation that God is capricious tyrant, a violent bastard with a terrible temper. Meanwhile, over in Philippians 4:1-9, Paul gently and beautifully reminds us to "rejoice …
Pondering Pentecost
As I continue to prepare my sermon for tomorrow’s worship - it’s Pentecost Sunday! - I seem to have a lot of different ideas swirling through my head. So I thought I would share them with you. Welcome to the chaos that is my brain function! 1. First of all there’s the scripture for the …
Sunday’s coming
It's Saturday night. That means you've made it through Maundy (Holy) Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. For us pastor types it also means it will soon be time to share cogent, coherent thoughts in the form of an Easter Sunday sermon! That's the mounting pressure, anxiety-inducing meaning of "Sunday's coming." If you're still figuring …
“Frankenstein, a Mummy & Life After Life-After-Death”
No, I haven't gone crazy (ok, crazier), I haven't lost my calendar, and I don’t mistakenly think it’s Halloween…but I do find the stories in this week’s Lectionary texts from Ezekiel 37 and John 11 compellingly weird, if a tad macabre. So the title of this post …
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All That I Can't Leave Unsaid 