Fishing for People: A Sermon on Luke 5:1-11 for Epiphany 5C
Do not demand agape, a deep, transforming love, if what is on offer is phileos, a binding, affectionate love. An Epiphany 5C sermon starter.
Sin
Sycamore Lessons
Have you ever climbed up, out on the proverbial limb, in the name of seeing Jesus more clearly? I’ve done it more times than I would like to admit. The trick is to climb down when Jesus calls you out of your foolishness. How else will we be able to dine with Jesus? Unfortunately, too … Read More
Sodom and Gomorrah Revisited
The time has come to look at Sodom and Gomorrah from a different perspective. Changes are pretty good that whatever you learned in Sunday School or picked up along the way is not useful. A literal or legalistic reading of this story gets us nowhere good and has done more than enough damage to queer … Read More
Defined by Love
Between the Samaritan woman’s five husbands and the unnamed man’s blindness, sin and shame bounce around, defining these people. The woman was pushed to the margins of her community either by her neighbors or by her own inclination to avoid explanations. The man also was marginalized because his blindness was thought to be a punishment … Read More
Time to Jump In
I am haunted by a recurring dream I had as a teen. The dream started out innocuous enough. I stood with a group of friends talking about nothing in particular, maybe planning what we do for the weekend. Then a thick black line would appear on the ground between me and them. Of course, as … Read More
The Allure of a Dragon’s Life
I’m sure Jesus didn’t mean for his words to be linked with dragons, but I can’t help myself. Every time I read scripture passages about treasure, I picture a dragon. You know, the big, scary, fire-breathing kind that hoards gold and trinkets and protects its treasure with all it’s might. Of course, this is exactly … Read More
Stumbling Toward a Worthy Life
How many of these names do you recognize? Sandra Bland Rexdale Henry Kindra Chapman Samuel Dubose Joyce Curnell Ralkina Jones Raynette Turner Sarah Lee Circle Bear If you live in the United States you should know these names as well as you know that the lion killed in Zimbabwe by a Minnesotan dentist was named … Read More
for the living of these days: a litany of confession
One: With churches burning and hate mail flying, All: we shy away thinking that has nothing to do with me. One: With bombs dropping on faraway cities, All: we turn off the news and put up our feet up in comfort. One: With ebola still claiming lives in Africa, All: … Read More
Holy Week Provokes Deep Thoughts
Fear and faith aren’t something we like to put in the same sentence these days. We don’t like to think of God’s presence or actions as something to be afraid of. We don’t like to focus on things like “The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom…”. Nor do we dwell on the fact … Read More
Litany of Confession
Have we not known? Have we not heard? Has it not been told to us from the beginning? Even though we know, we have heard, and we have been told, it is so hard to remember that God is the creator of all that is. We cling so desperately to our thoughts, our ways, our … Read More