In this sermon we continue to look at John the Baptist, why he calls them a brood of vipers, what fire and pruning mean in terms of reordering our lives, what it all has to do with joy (and the opposite of joy), and why this is good news.

In this sermon we look at the person of the John the Baptist, the quintessential voice of Advent calling us to prepare for the Lord’s arrival. We consider, with a little help from Beetlejuice and Van Gogh, what it means that John calls us into the wilderness away from the centers of power in the Roman world and what that has to do with pruning and fruit-bearing.

In this sermon we look at the gospel reading for the first Sunday of Advent, focusing on how God in Christ moves to disrupt the broken creation. We talk about how some of the symbols of Christmas (like trees and lights and gifts) should remind us of this, that Christmas is not about sentimentality, and that we are called to follow the one who carries the light and to carry it ourselves (thanks Cormac McCarthy).

In this sermon we focus on the confession that Jesus is Lord. We talk about when the church first started to celebrate the last Sunday of the church year as the Reign of Christ Sunday, about what Christ’s lordship means in relation to everything else that competes for our devotion, how peacefulness overcomes violence (with a little help from Yoda), and how Christ holds us, refusing to let us fall apart, as he beckons us into his good future (with a little help from the Lord of the Flies).

In this sermon we conclude our series on the saints by looking at the life of Saint Paul the Apostle. We consider the devotion (yes, that’s right) behind his efforts to destroy (ravage, roundup, jail, kill) the church and how Christ was able to break through and change the direction of his life. From there we consider a couple passage from his letters and with the help of something called sympathetic resonance (it’s a piano thing) what it means to abandon our lives to way of Jesus.

In this sermon we continue our series on the saints by looking the witness of Maria Goretti as we consider what it means to forgive.

For the rest of Ordinary Time we will consider how the gospel speaks to our many varied days. We are using a book of prayers by Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie called The Lives We Actually Have as our structure and a source of inspiration. In this sermon we end our series, as well as begin a new on all on the same Sunday. On this Sunday we will celebrate All Saints Day by starting a three-weeks series devoted to the lives of the saints and how we encounter the gospel in them.

For the rest of Ordinary Time we will consider how the gospel speaks to our many varied days. We are using a book of prayers by Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie called The Lives We Actually Have as our structure and a source of inspiration. In this sermon we talk about a scene from the Secret Life of Walter Mitty, a poem by Mary Oliver, some Scripture on the fleeting nature of life, and what it has to do with reverence.