Sermons

Homily: Lent 4 – St. Paul’s Monroe lectionary Numbers: Magic of the complaining, poisonous serpents & the healing bronze serpents Images: Moses and the Brazen Serpent Manna Nicodemus Crucifixion, the way of the cross What wonderful images are conjured up today Moses & the Serpent First we have Moses, responding to the complaining people he is leading in the wilderness. It’s always interesting to me when talking with group about those murmuring complaining Israelites, wandering in the desert, that some people naturally identify with the people. Others naturally assume that it is talking about some other group of folks. So God told Moses to put a bronze serpent on a pole and set it up among the people. I’m sure Moses must have said to himself, “Why didn’t I think of that?” So the bronze serpent on a pole kept the people alive, so they could go on complaining another day. Moses lifts up the brass snake, curing the Isr...

pHomily: March 4, 2018 – St. Peter’s, Great Falls lectionary There are various themes that guide the lectionary during the season of Lent. There is the wilderness that is evoked from the beginning of Lent as Jesus went directly from baptism into the wilderness. There is the theme of fasting, prayer, and alms-giving. There is the theme that by very long tradition Lent has been a time of preparation for baptism – so it is a time of teaching and learning, time to focus on the basics. We can also look to Epiphany as a time of announcing who Jesus was and is. Lent, which follows, can be understood to be a time when we turn to ourselves and ask who we are. We tend to get bold and prominent lessons during Lent. Today that is certainly true. We hear one of two accounts of the 10 commandments (Exodus & Deuteronomy). Well, that’s a well-known passage if ever there was one. And this morning it is the 2nd time we have heard the 10 commandments. I think that one o...