Sermon: "'Being' Chosen", James 2:14-19, 26/Mark 7:31-37 (September 5, 2021)

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You may be surprised to see “James” listed as one of our readings for today. In last week’s sermon, I noted that we have a tendency to avoid this part of scripture, and I offered two reasons for this: one, because we subconsciously prioritize Paul and the Gospels over other scripture, and two, because James encourages his readers to embrace Torah, which can be uncomfortable for us if we incorrectly understand Torah as a series of outdated laws. But in reading this week’s lectionary, I realized that I’d missed a THIRD reason that pastors often resist preaching on James. Now, this reason probably bothers the average congregant less than it does the clergy, but it strikes terror into our hearts. Well, maybe not terror, exactly, but certainly enough discomfort to trigger avoidance when it shows up in the lectionary.

Sermon: "The Doctor Is In", Exodus 32:7-14/1 Timothy 1:12-17 (September 15, 2019)

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Today’s lectionary readings are kind of a downer. They focus on how awful human beings are, especially the first passage from Exodus. The “golden calf” incident certainly wasn’t humanity’s finest hour. It gets worse when we realize that the Israelites didn’t just melt their jewelry into the shape of a baby cow out of boredom or ignorance: they were appealing to the god Apis, who was worshiped by the Egyptians (you know, the people who’d enslaved them for hundreds of years). They were choosing to trust the god of their oppressors over and above the God who had literally JUST performed the most epic demonstration of faithfulness of all time. It’s kind of a miracle that God chose to stick with humanity after that. I mean, even Moses got so mad that he threw down the freshly-chiseled Commandment tablets in rage!