Category: Sermons
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Proper 18A
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Whether or not we personally are very good at it, I imagine that most of us understand that one of the messages that Jesus shared with us was that of forgiveness,…
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Wednesday of Proper 12A
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: I can get pretty cranky about the uses of my name. A prime example of what makes me cranky is in Margaret Atwood’s novel, or the recent television series based on it: The Handmaids Tale. In this story, “The Marthas” is a collective title for…
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Proper 11A
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: Today’s readings, in conjunction with the current state of our nation and world, brought a quotation immediately to mind. Drawing on another well known phrase, this version comes to us from the great repository of theological wisdom that is the television show Buffy the Vampire…
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Christmas 2
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Last week, by proxy, I offered three invitations: To give yourselves the gift of exulting in beginnings for 12 Christmas days. To let Christmas end in your heart the divisions that separate…
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Christmas 1
This is about the time of year that people suffer from something we mightcall “post-Christmas letdown.” We may know in our minds that Christmas has in fact only begun a few days ago, but here in America, we start seeing Christmas trees put out for the trash by now. There are three ways I fight…
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Wednesday of Proper 23C
May I speak to you in the name of our Triune God. I have an Old Testament interpretation Midterm on Monday. Setting aside the fact that the last time I took a midterm the year began with the number 19, rather than ending` with it, I’ve been trying to squeeze in my reading wherever I…
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A Love that Reckons Us Righteous (Lent 2A)
O Lord God, how am I to know?1 Does Abram’s prayer sound familiar to you? Do you ever find yourself saying or thinking these words? Do you sometimes feel embarrassed or ashamed even to ask them? O Lord God, how am I to know? For myself, I find these words of Abram often rise in…
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A Temple Built for All (Candlemas)
“When the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.” Today, with St. Luke the Evangelist, the church recalls Jesus’ presentation in the temple at Jerusalem: the place where the presence of YHWH was understood to dwell, where heaven and…
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Providential Awkwardness
Friday after the AscensionPsalm 98:1–4John 19:20–23a This sermon was originally preached by Br. Sean Glenn [then, a novice of the ssje] on Friday, May 11, 2018 at the Conventual Church of St. Mary & St. John, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Sing to the Lord a new song.2 The Psalmist exhorts us to sing a song we’ve never…