Sermon: "So That All May Know", 1 Kings 8:28-30, 37-43 (October 27, 2024)

Before we dig into today’s scripture reading, I want to read just one verse from Genesis, which we’ll come back to later on. Remember that in chapter 12 of Genesis, the focus shifts from the world’s primeval history to the patriarchs (and matriarchs) of our faith. In particular, it zeroes in on God’s specific interest in the lineage that will result in the people, and eventually kingdom, of Israel. As soon as the third verse of this chapter, God communicates God’s intentions to Abram without any ambiguity: “All the families of the earth will be blessed because of you.”

When Ash Wednesday Meets Epiphany

 

You may or may not be aware of the Epiphany tradition of "Chalking the Door", but it's been something I've done for the past two years here at Boone Memorial Presbyterian Church. 

Sermon: "Markarioi", Matthew 5:1-12 (November 1, 2020--All Saints Day)

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Over the past several weeks, my sermons have been discussing some of the values that God holds and expects us to hold. Through the lens of the lectionary readings, we’ve explored integrity, obedience, and holiness—and found that holding these values doesn’t always look the way we might expect. We’ve been working hard to reframe our assumptions of what God considers important so that we can better conform our lives to God’s will. And this week’s lectionary reading continues to challenge us in this regard. The title of this sermon, “Markarioi” comes from the very first word in the Beatitudes; it literally means “You are blessed.” The word “Beatitude” itself comes from the Latin word for blessing. And of course, we use this word liberally in our everyday life: “What a blessing!” “I’m so blessed!” “God bless the USA!” (or, if you’re more concerned with your immediate surroundings, “God bless this mess!”). But how often do we take the time to really think about what blessing really is?

Sermon: “Unearned, Unasked-for, Undeserved”, 2 Kings 5:1-14/Luke 10:1-11, 16-20 (July 7, 2019)

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Let’s talk about privilege.

For some, it’s a dirty word. It immediately puts us on the defensive, and we feel like our struggles and challenges are being ignored. We feel like it minimizes the hard work that we put in to get where we are. We feel like we’re being told that we’re a bad person. But interestingly, there’s another word that means almost exactly the same thing which for some reason doesn’t have the same distressing connotation to us, one that we Christians are often comfortable with and even eager to apply to ourselves