Rotten Apple Seeds

Here is today’s sermon, July 5, 2026, Proper 9, year A. It is based on Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30, “Come to me all you who are burdened…” In this sermon, I discuss that many of our burdens are not imposed on us from outside, but rather, a result of our attachments, expectations, control issues, or illusions. To find peace, let us cultivate, “Wholehearted cooperation with the inevitable.”

Here is today’s sermon, June 28, 2026, Proper 8, Year A. It is based on Matthew 10:40-42, who welcomes another, welcomes Me, and who welcomes Me, welcomes Him Who sent Me. In it I discuss the ways that we welcome people to our congregation and into our denomination. I explain that we welcome others not because of what they can give us, but because our congregation and communion is enhanced by thei...

Here is today’s sermon, June 21, 2021. It is based on Matthew 10: 24-39, the Hard Sayings of Jesus. In it I discuss our tendency to scapegoat others and how our congregations rises above this tendency.

Here is today’s sermon, June 14, 2026, Proper 6, Year A. It is based on Matthew 9:35-10:23, the Sending of the 12 Apostles. In it I note that our mission field is much different from theirs; we are called to a re-evangelization of hose who have been disillusioned or harmed by the Church. This called for considerable pastoral sensitivity and loving presence.

Here is today’s sermon, June 7, 2026, 5 Pentecost, Year A. It is based on Genesis 12: 1-9, the Call of Abraham. In it I discuss how the blood of Abel crying out to God from the ground has meted out on our history of conquest and colonialism. I explain that the grant of land to the Hebrews is an opportunity for reconciliation and peacemaking in our world.

Sermon for May 31, 2026, Trinity Sunday, Year A. Here is today’s sermon, which is on the Trinity. In it I compare the persons of the Trinity to the many versions of the person we marry.

Here is today’s sermon, May 24, 2026, Pentecost, Year A. It is based on the Pentecost readings, Acts 2:1-21. In it I explain that the foundation of the Church, established on Pentecost, is the experience of forgiven sinners sharing forgiveness with others.

Here is today’s sermon, May 17, 2026, VII Easter, year A. It is based on John 17:1-11. In it, I preach on the glory of God. Divine glory is not based on power or strength; it is beauty which is evocative, transformative, and draws us to each other.

Here is today’s sermon, May 10, 2026, VI Easter, Year A. It is based on Acts 17: 22- 31, “To an Unknown God”. In it, I draw the difference between living in a pagan and providential universe. I encourage the congregation to harken to the sense of the restlessness as the voice of the Spirit.

Here is today’s sermon, May 3, 206, V Easter, Year A. It is based on John 14: 1-14, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life”. In it I discuss how we read the gospel of John against itself. We find the term, “My Father’s House”, in the cleansing of the Temple in John 2. From this we learn how death purifies our love by making us unselfish lovers.

Here is today’s sermon, April 26, 2026, IV Easter, Year A. It is based on John 10: 1-10, the Good Shepherd. In it I challenge the idea of the pastoral innocent vision of shepherds and sheep and indicate that sheep are fundamentally animals of sacrifice. Who in our society is expendable and able to be sacrificed?

Here is today’s sermon, April 19, 2026, III Easter, Year A. It is based on Luke 24: 13-35, the Disciples at Emmaus. In it I invite the congregation to join me in a thought experiment imagining that Jesus had indeed risen from the dead. Imagine how challenging it would be to convey this ineffable experience to others.

Here is today’s sermon, April 5, 2026, Easter Sunday, Year A. It is based on John 20:1-18, the Resurrection. In it I make the point that resurrection can happen to us all. Death is the school of love which purifies and make our love from human and transactional to selfless and divine.

Here is today’s sermon, April 3, 2026, Good Friday, Year A. In it is discuss the various theories of atonement, including substitutionary atonement and penal substitution. I conclude that what is most affirming and uplifting is the solidarity the the Divine wishes to establish with humanity and, thus, elevate and ennoble our lives and relationships.

Here is today’s sermon, April 2, 2026, Maundy Thursday, Year A. It is based on John 13:1-17, 31b-35, the Footwashing. In it, I discuss the term, anamnesis, in which the act of recollecting or remembering makes present the person. I note how the footwashing and the Eucharist are not nostalgia, but active remembering to be aware of the presence of Christ in our action.

Here is today’s sermon, March 29, 2026, Palm Sunday, Year A. It is based on the Passion in St. Matthew. In it I explain that we are called not to be passive and submissive spectators in this drama, but rather witnesses who testify with our lives.

Here is today’s sermon, March 22, 2026, V Lent, Year A. It is based on John 11: 1-45, the Raising of Lazarus. In it I explain that Mary’s and Martha’s statement, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died,” was a statement not of fact,but regret. Raising Lazarus shows us that Jesus is the Lord of Second Chances.

Here is today’s sermon, March 15, 2026, IV Lent, Year A. It is based on John 9: 1-41, the Man Born Blind. In it I question whether his healing was worth the years of blindness and poverty that he and his family endured. I ask the larger question about the role of old in suffering.

Here is today’s sermon, March 8, 2026, III Lent, Year A. It is based on John 4: 5-41, Jesus and the Woman at the Well. In it is show the many scriptural connections and references that are woven in this beautiful tapestry of a story. Inasmuch as these threads form a unity, the gospel itself call us to be one body, which is Christ’s.

Here is today’s sermon, March 1, II Lent, Year A. It is based on John 3:16. In it i discuss how we understand Divine Beauty, rather than power. Thus, the Cross teaches us a new aesthetic.

Here is today’s sermon, February 22, 2026, I Lent, Year A. It is based on Matthew 4: 1-11, the Temptation in the Desert. In it, I explain that, when Jesus acts in history, He redeems the past, the present, and the future. I discuss Jesus redeeming the Hebrew in the Desert, fulfilling Satan’s temptations in his own time, and redeeming us today.

Here is today’s sermon, February 18, 2026, Ash Wednesday, Year A. It is based on the idea that ashes represent absence, or lack. We are anticipating the True Presence at the end of Lent into Easter.

Here is today’s sermon, February 15, 2026, Last Epiphany, Year A. It’s is based on Matthew 17:1-9, the Transfiguration. In it I show how the Transfiguration is one bookend of God’s glory and the other bookend is the crucifixion. We are beginning Lent, so we are looking toward Golgotha.

Here is today’s sermon, February 8, 2026, V Epiphany, Year A. It is based on Isaiah 58 1-12 and Matthew 5: 13-20, “You are salt…You are light”. In this sermon I explain how this is an internal critique of religious people, that we are called to BE who we ARE, to live the law rather than fulfill obligations.

Here is today’s sermon, February 1, 2026, IV Epiphany, Year A. It is based on Matthew 5: 1-12, the Beatitudes. In it I make the point that the Beatitudes are not properly understood as those qualities we need to possess in order to “earn heaven”. Rather, they are glimpses of the Divine presence in the present: God’s grace is so rich and abundant that God ‘s presence is encountered among the forgot...