Sunday, July 21 2024 – Gospel, Mark 6:30-34, 53-56, also Jeremiah 23:1-6, Psalm 23, Ephesians 2:11-22 What draws people to Jesus? That’s the key question I want us to think about today. Now when I was last with you, two weeks ago, remember that Jesus had just gone back to his hometown where he experienced […]
Sunday, June 30, 2024 – Gospel, Mark 5:21-43. Also Lamentations 3:22-33, Psalm 30, 2 Corinthians 8:7-15 One of the most amazing stories of healing I ever heard came from a medical doctor named Norm Shealy. It was in a workshop in Hot Springs, Arkansas, a place known for its healing waters, that Dr. Shealy shared
Sunday, June 23, 2024 – Gospel, Mark 4:35-41. Also Job 38:1-11, Psalm 107:1-3, 23-32, 2 Corinthians 6:1-13 In 1991, a fishing boat called the Andrea Gail set out for the Great Banks of Newfoundland from Gloucester, Massachusetts, for a late-season sword fishing trip. Having just returned with an empty vessel, Captain Billy Tyne convinced his crew
Sunday, May 19, Pentecost – Acts 2:1-21. Also Psalm 104:24-34, 35b, Romans 8:22-27, John 15:26-27, 16:4b-15. A core theme of our readings today is the movement of the Spirit of God through the world and the transforming work it does. And a major symbol of that Spirit is fire. Fire is one of those aspects
Sunday, April 14 – Luke 24:36b-48 Also Acts 3:12-19, Psalm 4, 1 John 3:1-7 I’ve had a few unusual experiences of God, but one of the most unusual was the time the Holy Spirit rode with me in my car down interstate 85 on my way to Pensacola, Florida. Let me explain. This would have
Sunday, April 7, 2024 – the Sunday after Easter For this day, I decided to repeat something I did in 2023 that I plan to keep as an annual tradition. After all the intensity of Lent, Holy Week, and Easter, rather than writing a sermon based on the readings, I shared an incredible short story
Easter Sunday, March 31, 2024 – Mark 16:1-8, Acts 10:34-43, Psalm 118: 1-2, 14-24, 1 Cor 15:1-11 Many years ago, when I was living in Marietta, Georgia, I held season tickets to the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta. I used to love going downtown for those Sunday matinees. There are two productions I saw there that
Maundy Thursday, March 28, 2024 – Mark 14: 17-31 Mark 14: 32-50 Also Psalm 116: 1-2, 12-19, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 When Jesus and his followers gathered the night before he was crucified, they weren’t just meeting up for a friendly meal. They were marking the feast of the Passover, the Jewish commemoration of their ancestors’
Sunday, March 24, 2024 – Mark 15:1-39 [40-47] Also Isaiah 50:4-9a, Psalm 31:9-16, Phillippians 2:5-11, Processional Gospel, John 12:12-16 In the great archetypal stories of myth, fairy tale, and sacred texts, we see represented the deepest truths about the human condition that can only be told symbolically because of the limits of human language and
Sunday, March 10, 2024 – John 3:14-21, Also Numbers 21:4-9, Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22, Ephesians 2:1-10 There are a lot of wonderful themes in today’s reading. I could talk about light, and I’m sure there will be sermons about light, but today I want to talk about snakes. I have to admit, I am interested in
