Sermons

January 31, 2021

The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany

Our theme for this season here at Seekers is “Radiant Hope.”  In our Gospel reading this morning, Jesus went to a synagogue in Capernaum, did some teaching, and removed an unclean spirit from a man, restoring him to health.

What’s the hope in this passage?  At first glance, I’d say the hope is this: if you’re unhealthy & happen to go to the right synagogue at the right time, God will heal you.

But I want to dig deeper than that.  To do so, I need to look at these events in their context.  This gospel passage is from the first chapter of Mark. Mark was the first gospel to have been written, and it presents today’s story as the first public appearance in Jesus’s ministry.

January 24, 2021

The Third Sunday after the Epiphany

I’m going to be preaching a sermon that I’ll bet is similar to the ones being preached in thousands of pulpits across the United States this morning.  Not only do we Christians have a common lectionary, we all lived through the same week, we share a national story that pulls us all along in its wake, and what happened on January 20^th can’t be neglected, at least not by me.  How well I remember the heavy feeling of doom that seemed to descend on me on January 20^th, 2017.  It felt like the clouds would never break – and indeed, it has been a long long four years.  But to everything there is a season, and now the moment of jubilee, however temporary, has come.

And if anyone among us isn’t rejoicing at the inauguration of this particular president, surely we can all, Democrat or Republican, conservative or progressive, celebrate that the transfer of power was safe, secure, and part of an unbroken chain of such democratic moments stretching back to 1796.  So, can I get a HALLELUJAH!?  Hallelujah!

January 17, 2021

The Second Sunday after the Epiphany

Thanks again for the opportunity to preach.  A couple of things to note before I begin:

1. If you end up checking out or distracted during this sermon, Cynthia Burungi’s children’s message last week pretty much sums up what I’ll say here, so you’re good.
2. If I come across as a little overly animated or impassioned in my presentation today, that is both because that’s how I talk, and because I’m preaching to myself as much as anyone.  I know this sermon is going to land with at least *one* person, and that person is me.

One of the really great things about the Bible is all the little details about people in the stories that aren’t absolutely necessary to what the story is trying to convey. They lend the Bible stories an air of authenticity and make them more relatable.

January 10, 2021

The First Sunday after the Epiphany

As the terrible events of this week unfolded, I could not imagine how the baptism of Jesus was relevant, but I think the temptation to make the attack on the capitol the center of our attention is exactly what was intended – and we will be better served by focusing on the questions raised by our lectionary text – so here we go.

January 03, 2021

Epiphany (observed)

The wise ones were looking for a new king, a child.  From their home, many many miles away, maybe somewhere deep in the Persian empire, they had seen his star rising. Astrology was a specialty of these magi, and there was no mistaking what this star meant: regime change. A great king was coming.

So these magi set out to find him.  Why, exactly, is unclear: after all, who says a new king is a good king? Generations before, Plutarch described the magi who ascertained the birth of Alexander the Great – they were in great distress as they “ran about beating their faces and crying aloud that woe and great calamity for Asia had that day been born.” So what was it about this king that caused the magi to want to seek him out?