Rotten Apple Seeds

Here is today’s sermon, March 24, 2024, Palm Sunday, Year B. It is based on the Passion and our role in reading the part of the crowd.

Here is today’s sermon, March 17, 2024, V Lent, Year B. It is based on Jeremiah 31: 31-34. In it I discuss the difference between a contract, backed up by threat and power, and a covenant, which is founded on love.

Here is today’s sermon, March 10, 2024, IV Lent, Year A. It is based on the story from Numbers about the serpents in a pole and John about the Son of Man being lifted up.

Here is today’s sermon, March 3, 2024, III Lent, Year B. It is based on John 2, the Cleansing of the Temple. I give three interpretations of the Scripture and apply to our relationship to the Church and, ultimately, to God.

Here is today’s sermon, February 25, 2024, II Lent, Year A. It is based on Mark 8: 31-38, Take up your Cross.

Here is today’s sermon, February 18, 2024, I Lent, Year B. In it I make the point that there is something about finding identity through water in the Scriptures.

Here is today’s sermon, February 14, 2024, Ash Wednesday, Year B. It is a reflection on how our own sin is so close to us that we may often not even be able to name it.

Here is today’s sermon, February 11, 2024, Last Epiphany, Year B. It is based on Mark 9: 2-9, the Transfiguration. In it I explain how this Sunday is a transition from Epiphanytide and Lent.

Here is today’s sermon, February 4, 2024, V Epiphany, Year A. It is based on Mark 1: 29-39, the Healing of Peter’s Mother in Law. In the sermon I explain how there are many reversals in the Eucharist so diaconal table ministry is not based on power or authority.

Here is today’s sermon, January 28, 2024, IV Epiphany, Year A. It is based on Mark 1: 21-28, the Exorcism of the Man in the Synagogue. I make the point that life is more complicated than just good and evil and discuss how to discern among our various motives and backgrounds in order to live together.

Here is today’s sermon, January 14, 2024, II Epiphany. I preach on John 1: 43- 51, the call of Nathaniel. In it I discuss how Jesus seeing Nathaniel under the fig tree shows the initiative of a call is God’s and it fits in the vision of a redeemed Earth.

Here is today’s sermon, January 7, 2024, The Epiphany. It is based on Stanley Hauerwas’ theology on the patience of God and God’s people in the face of an empire based on violence. I have the congregation the chance to hear this sermon or for me to preach on the Star of Bethlehem.

Here is today’s sermon, December 24, 2023, Christmas Eve, Year B. It is based on the Christmas story, specifically the proclamation to the shepherds. I give a contemporary description of the events.

Here is today’s sermon, December 17, 2023, III Advent, Year B. It is based on John 1: 6-8, 9-28. In it I describe how the Divine is encountered in “not-ness” or how we can speak more accurately about God by saying what God is not. When we speak of what God is like, we always fall short. I explain that the sense of the absence of God is the beginning of prayer.

Here is todays sermon, December 10, 2023, II Advent, Year A. It is based on Isaiah 40, as well as Mark 1, “Make straight the way of the Lord.” I explain the context of Isaiah and then give a spiritual interpretation. There is a kataphatic spirituality wherein we add Godly activities to our lives. I explain rather the apophatic spirituality wherein the spiritual life if the process of subtraction....

Here is today’s sermon, December 3, 2023, 1 Advent, Year B. It is based on the gospel, Mark 13:24-37. I explain the origin of the term, Son of Man from Daniel 7 and apply it to today.

Here is today’s sermon, November 26, 2023, Christ the King, Year A. It is based on Matthew 25, the parable of the Sheep and the Goats. In it I explain how the encounter with people in need, in empathy and love, is holy ground and incarnates Christ.

Here is today’s sermon, November 19, 2023, Proper 28, Year A. It is based on Matthew 25, the Parable of the Talents. In it I provide an explanation of how this parable reflects the economy of the time and how most Jewish people were oppressed by debt. I also apply this parable to church resourcing.

This is today’s sermon, November 12, 2023, Proper 27, Year A. It is based on Matthew 25: 1- 13, the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Bridesmaids. I give an interpretation of the parable based on the sacrifice of the cross.

This is today’s sermon, November 5, 2023, All Saints, Year A. I asked the congregation whether they wanted me to preach on Saints or the Beatitudes. They wanted to hear about the Beatitudes, so I explained how to live them in today’s world.

Here is today's sermon, october 29, 2023, Proper 25, Year A. The congregation wanted to hear me preach on Matthew 22: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the proph...

Here is today's sermon, October 22, 2023, Proper 24, Year A. It is based on Matthew 22:15-22, "render unto Caesar..." In it I draw the distinction between our obligations to the State, founded on violence and domination, and our allegiance to the Kingdom of God, founded on communion.

Here is today's sermon, October 8, 2023, Proper 22, Year A. It is based on Matthew 21:33-46, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone;this was the Lord’s doing,and it is amazing in our eyes". Aware of the amount of conflict and war in this violent world, I explain that the opposite of war is not peace as in armistice. Rather, the opposite of war is creation. J...

Here is today's sermon, Proper 22, Year A, October 1, 2023. It is based on Matthew 21:23-32, the Parable of the Two Sons. In it, I explain that the parable is about the ministry and preaching of John the Baptizer. The Pharisees rejected John's message while those who are considered unrighteous embraced John's message. In our world, authority is based on power and violence. I explain th...

Here is today's sermon, Proper 20, Year A, September 24, 2023. It is based on both Exodus 16:2-15, Manna in the Desert, as well as the Gospel, Matthew 20:1-16, the Workers in the Vineyard. I make the contrast between two worlds. First, the world we have created, in which justice is what is due us, in a world of scarcity and need, and we need to compete for these scarce resources. I contrast th...