Sermons at St. George's

A series of four homilies tracing God's work with the human soul, deepening us to the point where union between God and humanity becomes possible.

Jesus affirmation of the lowliest of servants at the Last Supper envisions a world of limitless human potential where people engage each other at the point of vitality rather than respectability. (John 13:1-17)

Christians are defined by their ability to identify with the steadfast goodness of Jesus through suffering and death, not by the human sinfulness of those who persecuted him. (The Passion Narrative)

A look at the difference between for whom love is "written on the heart" and those whose primary instinct is me-first. (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

Of the many problems assaulting the Israelites during 40 years in the wilderness, only their own fatalistic response to hardship was deadly. God's corrective act was to make them look at themselves instead of their travails. (Numbers 21:4-9)

Destruction of community--excommunication--is the poisoned Kool Aid of the Christian faith. (1 Corinthians 1:18-25)

When Jesus asks us to take up our cross he asks us to embrace our own death, setting the world free from the iron boundaries of our desires, needs and imagination. (Mark 8:31-38)

Satan's original temptation that we would know good from evil ought to warn us that it's not that easy. Ideas that good is what feels good and bad is what doesn't obscure what God is really all about. (Genesis 9:8-17 and Mark 1:9-15)

While flamboyant piety isn't quite the sin it was in Jesus' time, our addiction to the opinions others have of us still damages our ability to be who we are in the eyes of God, a sin against the two great commandments. (Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21)

Elisha's claim on Elijah's mantle demonstrates how God has no grandchildren, and challenges us all to take nothing for granted in the development of our own spiritual life. (2 Kings 2:1-12 and Mark 9:2-9)

When Aram's mightiest general comes down with leprosy, everybody is nervous except for his healer, Elisha. The way Elisha's peace of mind pricks anxiety's pride has a message for all of us. (2 Kings 5:1-14)

After a half-century of questioning and criticizing the institutional church, I find myself looking for a balance between creativity and structure, freedom and institution. How are we called to work for health and life in the institution of the church?

People resist evangelism for good reason, but the way Jesus did evangelism bears little resemblance to our modern methods. The evangelism of souls helping souls in distress is far more natural for us.

Times of historic cultural transition destabilize once reliable values and place our souls at risk. The Sermon on the Mount is a survival guide for the times that try our souls. (1 Samuel 3:1-20)

In its centuries-long obsession with sin, the church has failed to appreciate both the baptism of John, which is intended to wash sin away, and the baptism of Jesus in which we live immersed in the knowledge God is well pleased with us. (Mark 1:4-11)

Christians are often too quick to rush past the dark side of their lives to bask in the light of God. We too easily forget that the light of God is justice, compassion, integrity, hospitality, generosity...things demanding hard mental and moral work. (Isaiah 60:1-6

None of us is Herod, yet like "all of Jerusalem," we are troubled when the Herod's of our world are troubled. To what extent do we accommodate ourselves to these violent Herod's, and how can we flee to a far country too keep Christ alive in us? (Matthew)

What could possibly be more important to us than the birth of God into our world to save us from ourselves? Two stories from the civil rights era demonstrate the capacity of God's living presence and love to change us and change our world. (The Nativity Narrative from Luke)

It's hard to rejoice and give thanks in all circumstances, particularly in an economy headed south. Yet there are good reasons why joy is not a pick-and-choose thing, but always a vital necessity. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-24)

In an American culture that shuns negativity, how do we understand the way God starts so much of his work with negative people--the distressed people trekking from Jerusalem to the Jordan, and John the Baptist, the most negative guy around? (Mark 1:1-8)

Our modern take on apocalypse and horror movies leave us unprepared to see how people in the chaos of 70 AD in Jerusalem would have found Jesus' apocalyptic message to be good news. Yet there's surprising guidance for us here in facing our own chaos. (Mark 13)

Insight from Judges into America's transition of presidential power and the role of our people in the years ahead. (Judges 4:1-7)

Our curiosity about the lives of people long forgotten ought to make us more conscious of the substance of our own lives. Even if we fail to appreciate our trues spiritual wealth, God always sees it and recognizes us as the saints we are. (Ecclesiasticus 44:1-10)

God has given us everything we have in the hope that, in return, we will give ourselves to building the Kingdom of God wherever we live. Good stewardship is giving ourselves wholeheartedly to this mission. (Deuteronomy 34:1-12)

Mel Gibson says there are two types of people: those who see everything as a matter of odds and believe they're on their own, and those who see events as signs that point to a God who makes sense of our existence. Which are you? (Exodus 33:12-23)

The Decalogue takes on a new meaning when a catastrophic event steals all that we have, murders our friends, drives our families into dysfunction, and undermines our faith in the one God. It is the Decalogue that shows us how to live in the "new normal. (Exodus 20:1-17, 32:1-29)