Sermon for Fifth Sunday of Easter – John 13:31-35

Do you know what a life verse is? That’s where you look for a verse in scripture that inspires you. Or you’re going through a hard time and you look for a verse that gives strength or peace. Something to help you trust God when everything’s falling apart. You can memorize it. You can mediate on it. You can write it on a sticky note and put it where you’ll see it through the day. Have any of you ever done that? I have. But I’ve never heard anyone make this their life verse. “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once.” That’s a mouthful! And you’d need a REALLY BIG sticky note to fit all that!

But it’s actually the perfect life verse, because Jesus is teaching us what glory really means, and what it has to do with our lives. But our problem is that we misunderstand glory. In the human world, what’s glory all about? Well, we could talk about fame and fortune and how we glorify our favorite celebrities and athletes. But we already know that kind of glory is short-lived and superficial. We know we buy into it. We know we shouldn’t. Easy lesson. So let’s get more complicated.

Sermon for Third Sunday in Lent – Luke 13:1-9

So, two words. Urgency and complacency. You’ve got some thing you’ve got to do. You know the deadline. Do you get it done now, or do you put it off until the last minute? If we’re honest, I think we all know the right answer, versus the real answer. Or am I the only one who’s ever had a crisis? Speaking of which, have you done your taxes yet? Good news, you still have time. I managed to get mine done yesterday. If you know me then you know I’m obsessed with being organized. I love lists. I love making them. I love looking them over. I love checking things off. I love being responsible. I have the list of stuff to take to my tax person every year. Easy. Now, he’s pretty booked up, so he gets to call the shots. 9am Saturday morning. Fine. So guess when I was scrounging up all the paperwork? 11pm Friday night.

Why do we put things off to the last minute even though we know better? Because we love drama? Doubt it. Because we need someone to light a fire under us to get us moving? Maybe. Urgency and complacency. It’s like these two poles we revolve around constantly. It sounds a lot like what Jesus is talking about today.

Sermon for Epiphany 6 – Luke 6:17-26

Have you ever been bullied? Was it when you were a kid? What did they do to you? Call you names? Push you around? Was it worse? I hear you. I got bullied a lot as a kid. We lived in a small town, I was a nerd, I had a fabulous case of acne, no athletic ability, no social skills, everyone else figured out I was gay before I did, so I had a lot going for me. Good times! Now, it was hell at the time, but I’ve been blessed with time and distance and about 20 years of therapy, so I can laugh about it a little bit. Like the time they hung me on the flagpole in front of the school. You know how it’s got that hook for tying the flag rope? I was waiting for the bus with my backpack on, so they picked me up and hung me on the hook by the loop on my backpack. Oh, if we only had cell phones and Instragram back then. I could have gone viral! Of course, there are other memories I still can’t laugh at, but let’s leave it at that for now.

So, being bullied can teach you a few things. You definitely learn that people can be pretty cruel and amazingly creative. Maybe you learn to be tough or even vindictive – get them before they get you. But how many bullies were once bullied themselves? It doesn’t just come out of nowhere. It’s a cycle of violence. Maybe you just stop trusting people, so no one can take advantage of you anymore. Maybe you learn some really bad coping skills, like substance abuse or self-harm. Or stand-up comedy. It all boils down to survival, right? It’s a hard world. There’s a pecking order and we all know what rolls downhill. So it’s not surprising that we don’t often step in when we see bullying, because God knows what we’re going to bring upon ourselves. We’re just thankful someone else is taking the abuse for us for a change so maybe we can get through today. I’ll confess to that, and I’m sure I’m not the only one. But you know, it’s hard to say what’s the worst part of being bullied – is it the violence, the shame, or the powerlessness?

Sermon for Epiphany 4 – Luke 4:14-21

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” How’s that for a sermon? The gospel in a nutshell! What else is there to say?

Sermon for Advent 3 – Malachi 3:1-4

So let me tell you, Advent just don’t get no respect. I don’t know about you, but I think it’s the most shortchanged season of the church year. It’s not just that Advent is only four weeks long. It’s like we’re not sure what to make of Advent. A lot of people think Advent is a season of preparation. A lot of my pastor friends are posting on Facebook these days – How are you preparing for Jesus? I guess that makes sense. In our readings that phrase “prepare the way of the Lord” keeps popping up, so it sticks. But what does it actually mean? Well, a lot of people think that means Advent is like a 4 week-long tailgate party to fire up for the big Christmas shindig. Congregations go into overdrive with special events. We get busy with holiday plans and Christmas sales and 24/7 Christmas music on the radio and Hallmark specials you don’t want to miss! Not that I hate all that (well, I do kind of hate the Hallmark Channel but this isn’t about me). Anyway, how overwhelming is that?

Other people think preparing the way of the Lord means some kind of spiritual housecleaning. They start thinking about mediation and quiet. Make some tea, light some candles, pick up an devotional, try to pray more. Now, there’s nothing wrong with any of that. I should do more of that myself. Except, we can do that any time. We don’t really need a special Advent season to play spiritual catch up.

So here’s the thing. what if Advent isn’t really a season of preparation?

Sermon for Time after Pentecost – Mark 10:17-31

Is it just me, or has Jesus been pretty harsh lately? Last week he condemned divorce as adultery. Before that he told us that if our hand or eye causes us to sin, chop it out, like some gory movie. I’d like to hear THAT children’s sermon! Did Pastor Kirk do one? Glad I didn’t have to! Today it sounds like Jesus is still putting the thumbscrews on everyone. Sell everything and give the money to the poor. Everyone’s favorite verse. Oh wait – isn’t Stewardship Sunday coming up? How appropriate! Or maybe not. Isn’t stewardship about wisely managing our resources for the benefit of others? Hard to do if you give everything away. What’s Jesus trying to accomplish here?

Sermon for Time after Pentecost – Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

The pharisees and the scribes asked Jesus, “why do your disciples eat with defiled hands?” What does “defiled mean”? Dirty. Unclean. So let’s do a little poll. Who washes their hands before they eat? How about every time? I guess we wouldn’t make good Pharisees, would we? But don’t we get a lot of reminders to wash hands? Seems like these days every restaurant bathroom has a sign above the sink – “EMPLOYEES MUST WASH HANDS BEFORE RETURNING TO WORK.” I sure hope they do! Let’s say we’re good and we wash our hands. How do you know they’re really clean? How long do you have to wash them? I know some people sing Happy Birthday. But what if you’re a fast singer? ok, now who thinks this is just overcomplicating things? It’s always something, right? If dirty hands don’t get us, won’t something else?