A Sermon on John 11:1-45 [for an audio recording of this sermon, click here] [photo credit: Aliyah Jamous on Unsplash] When I was in college, I had the chance to take a study trip to the Holy Land. It was amazing to get to see with my own eyes so many of the places that had witnessed the great events of scripture, and to walk on the same ground that Moses, King David, and Jesus and his disciples had walked. But one biblical location was left off the itinerary: the town of Bethany, where Mary, Martha, and Lazarus had lived. This bothered me. I wanted to see the place the Jesus had raised his friend from the dead! So, with all the confidence of a sheltered, 19-year-old college student, I made
A first-person narrative sermon on John 9:1-41 (for an audio version of this sermon, click here) Have you ever had everything – literally EVERYTHING in your life – change all at once? I mean changes that impact you profoundly on physical, social, spiritual, and economic levels all hitting you at the same time? Apparently, the experience of this kind of profound disorientation is going around at the moment, but my experience goes back a bit further, so I’ve had a chance to reflect a bit on the lessons of a life turned upside down. You heard the story of my life-changing moment in the gospel reading just now. Of course, it might not have occurred to you as you were listening to the reading tha
A sermon on John 4:5-42 [for an audio recording of this sermon, please click here.] Please (mentally) raise your hand if you have heard the story of the Woman at the Well before today. OK. Please keep your hand up if you have ever heard her story told as a story of shame – the story of a woman “with a past,” or of a “fallen woman,” or if you have been taught that this story teaches us about God’s grace, because Jesus could forgive even her. (You can put your hands down now) Whether or not you have ever heard this woman’s character maligned, it is unfortunately true that reading shame into this woman’s story is a dangerously common preaching move. Traditionally, preachers have looked at one b
A sermon on John 3:1-17 [for an audio recording of this sermon, click here]. Our congregation is experiencing the blessing of birth this year. Between recent births and baptisms and anticipated births, this is an exciting season for Abiding Peace. We are – very rightly, I think – taking much joy in the celebration of these precious new lives that we get to love, cuddle, pray for, and support as they grow. And I hope that what I am going to say next does not diminish any of that joy. Because what I need to say is this: our culture’s sentimental idealism around birth and babies does us a real disservice in understanding what in the world Jesus is talking about in today’s gospel. There has been
A sermon on Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7 [for an audio recording of this sermon, click here] The last line of our Genesis reading today makes me wonder if the biblical author has ever had that dream. You know the one I mean. The one where you are out in public somewhere, or at work or school, standing in front of a group, maybe giving a presentation, and you look down….and you realize that you are missing some rather essential elements of clothing. At least in our culture, this is apparently a really common nightmare. So, I’m curious. What do you all think it is that makes this idea of suddenly realizing you are naked so terrifying? ... Exposure… vulnerability… these are all things that make us un
