Sermons

Christopher Thomas Sermon for 14th Sunday after Pentecost, Year B, Proper 17 – 8/29/21 Song of Solomon 2:8-13 Psalm 45:1-2, 7-10 James 1:17-27 Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 “Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ saith:” “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like unto it:  Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” The words of Jesus, referred to as his “Great Commandment,” are so important that it makes all four Gospel texts. These words are a part of the opening sentences of the Rite I service of Holy Eucharist in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer.  Although I have vague memories of the 1928 prayer book that preceded it, as a cradle Episcopalian, most of…

Christopher Thomas Sermon for the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 15, Year B – 8/15/21 1 Kings 2:10 – 12; 3:3-14 Psalm 111 Ephesians 5:15-20 John 6:51-58 “I AM the bread of life.  “I AM the bread of life.”  “I AM the bread of life.” (If something’s repeated, it’s most likely important and may be worth some attention!) As we enter the third week (with another to come) of this ongoing metaphor, I ask, Jesus, again and again, is there, Jesus, another metaphor that you might use, to make your point, with me?  For if you know me, you know that I am not a “foodie,” and so images of food, implementations of great banquet feasts do not particularly motivate me.  I am nonplussed.  I have never been one who eats for sheer pleasure, or joy, or fun; no, eating, for me, has been simply the fulfillment of the need,…

Christopher Thomas Sermon for the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 14, Year B – 8/8/21 2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33 Psalm 130 Ephesians 4:25 – 5:2 John 6:35, 41-51 When people show you who they are, believe them! Maya Angelou Do you remember where you were, when you were, who you were, the moment you realized you were an adult? Were you one of those people that just woke up in the morning knowing what you wanted to do with your life, be a doctor, or a lawyer, or a fire-fighter, that burning desire, that purpose, that goal was already there, and you set your course early on, and got about it? I always wished I could be that person!  I prayed to be that person! No, my ongoing journey (and it is just that, an ongoing journey, even at 55 years old), seems to have been and continues to…

Stephen V. Sprinkle Sermon for the Tenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 11, Year B-8/01/2021 Exodus 16: 2-4, 9 -15 Psalm 78: 23 – 29 Ephesians 4: 1 – 16 John 6: 24 – 35 “Here’s the Question No One Seems to Ask Any More”  Then [the crowds who tracked Jesus down after he fed the 5,000] said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” – John 6:28  So, what did you want to be when you grew up—back in the day? I used to be asked that question when I was a kid. Didn’t you? So, how did you answer? And I have a further question for you then, the same one I put to myself: “Was your public answer the same as the secret answer you held in your heart for who you wanted to be?”  John Claypool, the longtime Baptist pulpiteer who later…

Stephen Waller Sermon for the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 11, Year B – 7/25/21 2 Samuel 11: 1-15 Psalm 14 Ephesians 3:14-21 John 6:1-21 David!  All of us know many stories of David… We encounter him for the first time when he is busy with the sheep while Samuel is checking out his several brothers to figure out which one God wants him to anoint.  When everyone else failed to meet God’s standard, Jesse, their father said, “the youngest is out taking care of the sheep.”  So, young David was summoned…and there in the presence of his siblings (think of the trouble this would cause among siblings), Samuel pours holy oil on the lad, anointing him.  We are told that he was ruddy and beautiful…young, ruddy and beautiful…is that what God looks for when selecting a leader? Not long afterwards, David learns that the armies of Israel are being…