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The Difference Identity Makes
A sermon on Matthew 16:13-20 [for an audio recording of this sermon, click here. Photo by Felicia Buitenwerf on Unsplash] Today’s gospel has me pondering a question: Who do you say that you are? I know that’s NOT the question Jesus asks in today’s reading. Jesus asks about whom the crowds and the disciples say that HE is. And, as a general rule, I try not to turn teachings about Jesus into opportunities for navel-gazing. After all, Martin Luther’s definition of “sin” is to be
Sometimes, Grace is a Challenge
A sermon on Matthew 15:10-28 [For an audio recording of this sermon, click here. Photo by Charlie Firth on Unsplash] For a long time, I really hated this gospel story. Or, to be more accurate, I hated part of this story. The first half is just fine, helpful even! Jesus’s teaching about what it is that defiles a person – that it has to do with what is in our hearts, and revealed through our speech, rather than our conformity to legalistic religious rules – that is the kind of
In The Storm
A sermon on Matthew 14:22-33 [for an audio recording of this sermon, click here] What a week to get a story about a storm! A violent storm is an image that holds particular power for me – and I imagine for many of you, as well – after our state was pummelled by tropical storm Isaias this past week. It is an experience that helps me to connect to the disciples’ fear. It has been a long time since I was genuinely frightened by a storm, but there was a half hour or so last Tuesd
Wrestling with Weakness
A sermon on Matthew 14:13-21 and Genesis 32:22-31 [for an audio recording of this sermon, click here; photo by DJ Johnson on Unsplash] Over a lifetime of interest in psychology, and a good number of leadership-development programs, I have taken my share of personality-assessment inventories. Some have been modestly illuminating. Some have been confusing, or hard to apply. But one has genuinely helped to shape my self-understanding and the way that I seek to live out my faith
