Sermons

February 23: The Last Sunday After the Epiphany – Monroe Opening We come to the last Sunday in Epiphany. It’s a season in the church year that begins with, of course the feast of epiphany, which is the 12th day after Christmas. So a season in the church year that lasts for a variable number of weeks is devoted to the manifestation of Christ. For that’s what the word epiphany means, manifestation. To reveal. To unveil. To see what couldn’t be seen before. We are so confident that we’ve seen it all. It’s tough to surprise us. We’ve been to church over and over again, perhaps all our lives. Is it possible for this season of epiphany to surprise us? To catch us looking in one direction while the prince approaches us from our blindspot? The trip up the mountain for what we call the transfiguration was such a place for John and James and Peter. Glory was manifest to them and they had not expected it. This then is the text that the church gives us to hear as we turn our attention from...

February 16:The Sixth Sunday After the Epiphany – Monroe Setting The lessons this week are not easy and comfortable words. The preacher might well be justified in looking at one of the other lessons. Afterall we’re given the choice of preaching on: 1) murder, 2) forgiving your enemy, 3) adultery, 4) cutting off one of your hands to prevent sin, 5) divorce, 6) swearing in court – known as perjury in our legal system. Let me read from another version – loose translation by Eugene Peterson. I use it sometimes because several bishops through the years have confessed to me that they use it when they celebrate Eucharist. Matthew 5:21-37 The Message (MSG) Reconcile Carelessly call a brother ‘idiot!’ and you just might find yourself hauled into court. Thoughtlessly yell ‘stupid!’ at a sister and you are on the brink of hellfire. The simple moral fact is that words kill. 23-24 “This is how I want you to conduct yourself in these matters. If you enter your place of worship and, about...

February 2: The Fourth Sunday After the Epiphany – Monroe (Presentation) This day Superbowl Superbowl Sunday in past years represented a competition with church attendance. It doesn’t any longer – except for those few places where a Sunday evening service is important. I had a dear friend in the first congregation I served in after ordination who was frequently not in church on Sunday because he was an avid golfer. He ended up convincing me that there was an arguable case to be made that golf could be a deeply spiritual activity. I have not yet been persuaded that either playing football or watching football was an equally spiritual activity. Did the NFL win by moving the game to evening? Or did the church? I think probably NFL did, but … This day is also the feast of the presentation. Wikipedia “and to perform the redemption of the firstborn son, in obedience to the Torah ( Leviticus 12, Exodus 13:12–15, etc.)” With this day we leave behind the Christmas cycle and turn...