Sermons with Reverend Killjoy

Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year A 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 What can we say about these times? More importantly, how can we spend this time in faithfulness to Jesus?

23rd Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year A Amos 5:18-24 What a week for us to hear Amos' cry that justice should roll down like rivers and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Also, I failed to stop this recording in time, but am too 2020 to edit the recording for you, so you can just stop it when the sermon ends.

All Saints Sunday, Lectionary Year A Matthew 5:1-12 In his famous and powerful teaching known as the Beatitudes, Jesus teaches us the values by which we can live in harmony with one another and with God. The news during this election season throws those values into stark relief, and we see that they are so much more than niceness or pleasant platitudes.

Reformation Sunday The freedom we receive in Christ is freedom to love and serve our neighbors.

Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year A Matthew 22:15-22 Give to God what is God's. Easier said than done, because our relationship to government is complicated as followers of Jesus.

Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year A Matthew 22:1-14 Isaiah 25:1-9 One of Jesus' most frightening parables, paired with one of Isaiah's most beautiful visions for the Reign of God: somehow this helps me understand why people in power may need not be afraid of those they oppress.

Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year A Matthew 21:33-46 We have reached the time of the church year when our Gospel lessons tell of Jesus in the temple. Tensions are high as Jesus makes his final public arguments about the kingdom of God.

Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year A Ezekiel 18:1-4, 24-32 Ezekiel's message to God's people during the time of exile speaks to how we can respond today to our history and current circumstances. This week those circumstances included the charges against the killer of Breonna Taylor, the ongoing pandemic, Rev. Lenny Duncan's call for reparations in the ELCA.

Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year A Matthew 21:1-16 Are you envious because God is generous? Jesus and Jonah show us who God is.

Fifteenth Sunday of Pentecost, Lectionary Year A Romans 14:1-12 There is more than one way to follow Jesus, more than one practice that is faithful.

Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year A Romans 13:8-14 Matthew 18:15-20 Today we hear from Jesus and Paul how to live together.

Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year A Jeremiah 15:15-21 Romans 12:9-21 Matthew 16:21-28 Our guest preacher for this week, Shelby Condray, is a renaissance man in San Diego with a theological degree from Boston University and a passion for justice as an expression of the Gospel. His reflections on the shooting of Jacob Blake and the deaths of other Black and brown people at the hands...

Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year A The transformation we experience in Jesus includes a renewed relationship with God, with our neighbors, and with our own bodies.

Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year A Matthew 15:1-28 The compassion of Jesus and the Caananite woman's persistence offer us models for how to engage in God's work in our lives.

Tenth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year A Matthew 14:13-21 Psalm 85: 8-13 God promises good for us, and Jesus offers us a model for caring for ourselves in preparation for caring for others.

Ninth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year A Matthew 14:13-21, Isaiah 55:1-5 Compassion leads Jesus to feed 5000 men (plus women and children!). We trace that compassion from our reading in Isaiah to today.

Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year A Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52 Romans 8:26-39 The kingdom of heaven is like... a lot of things, many of which make sense to us while some do not.

Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year A Romans 8:12-25 Paul writes the good stuff in Romans, and here it is. God's promise of redemption is for our whole selves and the whole creation.

Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year A Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 Jesus' famous parable of the sower reminds us that we are dirt, in a good way.

Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year A Matthew 10:40-42 Welcome, welcome, welcome. Who does the welcoming? How do we follow Jesus?

Third Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year A Matthew 10:24-39 Today's Gospel lesson includes Jesus bringing not peace, but a sword, as Jesus tells us how to follow him and engage in his work.

Second Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year A Matthew 9:35--10:23 Today we enter what the church has called "ordinary time," and it if we are to faithfully follow Jesus in this time it will not be ordinary at all.

Seventh Sunday of Easter, Lectionary Year A 1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11 On the eve of Memorial Day, American deaths due to COVID-19 approached 100,000. Our reading from the First Letter of Peter today gives us a good opportunity to reflect on what this milestone means for our nation. It also gives us a good starting place to reflect on how upcoming changes to pandemic gathering rules will affect our c...

Ascension Day Inspired by Festival of Homiletics preachers Rev. Lenny Duncan and Rev. Dr. William Barber II, I approached this favorite passage from the beginning of Acts with an eye toward the racialized economic and health effects of the current pandemic, and the Holy Spirit's response.

Sixth Sunday of Easter, Lectionary Year A John 14:15-21 Today's lectionary gives me a chance to talk about some of my favorite choral music, as an example of the comfort Jesus' promises can bring in this time of pandemic and uncertainty.