A few words from Father Kemper

Romans 7:15-25 and Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30 There’s a lot for us to think about in today’s readings from Scripture. I really feel for the Apostle Paul… He wrote, “I do not understand my own actions… for I do what I do not want, I do the very thing I hate.” My sinful, physical self is at war with my spiritual self… my soul! Paul seems to […]

Matthew 10:24-39 and Romans 6:1-11 So, I’m not going to preach at y’all today. I’m going to let you grapple with today’s passage from Matthew on your own time. There’s lot’s there to think about: Jesus said, “If my detractors hate me… how much more will they hate you… and others who follow me? But don’t worry about them… […]

Matthew 9:35—10:23 Do any of y’all like sea stories? I love them. And I’m not talking about the sort of “sea stories” that begin with, “I once caught a fish this big…”. No, I mean real sea stories like C.S. Forester’s books about Horatio Hornblower, Dana’s Two Years Before the Mast, and Jules Verne’s Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea… stories of sailors who undertake […]

Acts 2:1-21 It’s been one thousand, nine-hundred and ninety-nine years since the disciples, all gathered together in a house in Jerusalem, heard a sound coming from heaven like the rush of a violent wind… and were visited by—and imbued with—the fire of the Holy Spirit. (Or… it could be one thousand, nine-hundred and eighty-nine years, if you ascribe […]

1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11 Well, National Police Week has come and gone. Perhaps you noticed. In 1962, President John F. Kennedy proclaimed May 15th as National Peace Officers’ Memorial Day and the calendar week in which May 15th falls, as National Police Week. I made my annual pilgrimage to visit the Memorial Wall at the Georgia Public Safety Training Center […]

Acts 17:22-31 So… I’ve been to the Areopagus, which stands at the base of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece… a few times. So many times, in fact, that I’ve been heard to whine petulantly on a couple of occasions: “What? The Parthenon… again? Some of y’all may know that Philippa’s family is from Greece, and for many years, her […]

1 Peter 2:2-10 When I think of stone, I think of my seminary alma mater, Sewanee, (a.k.a. “the Mothership”) on top of Monteagle in Tennessee. Honey and I try to visit The Mountain each Fall for the Seminary Homecoming and Alumni Lectures, just to soak in the ambiance. Sewanee is a pretty amazing place. Jointly […]

John 10:1-10 Every time I hear this passage from John’s Gospel, it takes me back to my first semester in seminary and my New Testament class with Professor Paul Holloway. In my mind’s eye, I can see the whiteboard, crammed with timelines and bullet points and then, all by itself on one side of the […]

Luke 24:13-35 Predictions about “tribulation and the end times” bubble to the surface occasionally on late night radio and in social media, and they all go something like this: the day of judgement is nigh… the faithful shall be saved… the wicked will receive their comeuppance… repent and reject worldly evils NOW, before it’s too late! Sometimes […]