We tried all sorts of things in our relationship with God: ignoring God, betraying God, rejecting God, even domesticating God. Finally, one day, one quite ordinary and special woman said seventeen words, and everything changed.

Have you ever stopped to think about the prophets as a class of people? What do they do? What is their ministry or work within the plan of salvation? This sermon considers the prophets from Samuel to Isaiah to John the Baptist. The prophets above all tell

A sermon for Advent, which is a season of waiting for the birth of Jesus Christ, and waiting for his second coming. How did we get to this place? Science has a story, scripture another: both beautiful and true narratives about how everything came to be.

The core of this week's gospel is the need for preparedness. This isn't a checklist of things to do or to say in order to "get right with God", but is an attitude of the heart. We are to have our lives oriented towards God's future, in hope, and not in fe

The Feast of All Saints allows us to celebrate the ones who have lived the gospel in their lives and become a witness to the church and the world. In the saints, we become aware of the many varied forms that salvation takes. We become aware of the porousn

Vineyards are the metaphor today. Isaiah compares Israel to a vineyard that God has planted that produced bad fruit. Jesus criticizes those who were entrusted with pastoral and spiritual guidance that produced bad leadership. Now we, the church, tending t

In the letter to the Philippians, St. Paul quotes a Christological hymn which talks about Christ emptying himself to become human, following God's will to the point of death, and then being raised and lifted to glory and exaltation. It is the opposite of

Jonah whined and complained even though his prophetic work was successful. The workers in the vineyard complained because they expected "fair" inequality, and they got "unfair" generosity. Isn't it great that God doesn't treat us the way we want to be tre

The prophet Jeremiah was given a calling by God. He was blessed with a mission and a word, but he was pretty miserable. And yet, and yet, and yet, the Lord was with him.

St. Peter isn't perfect, and he clearly doesn't understand that fullness of what he says when he confesses that Jesus is messiah and son of the living God. But it's enough. It's the turning point of the Gospels. Who do *you* say that Jesus is?