St. Andrew’s Church/Richmond Hill Richmond, Virginia October 18-19, 2015 Pentecost XXIV Mark 10:35-45 In this morning’s story of the Zebedee brothers, James and John, we have Jesus’ core teaching about the purpose of life. You are familiar with the story. James and John are hoping that there is some reward in following Jesus. If Jesus…
4 May 2015 | V Easter John 15:1-8 | The True Vine I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have…
27 April 2015 | 4 Easter John 10:11-18, The Good Shepherd I am the Good Shepherd. This is about as straightforward a metaphorical statement of role and identity as you could ever have from a speaker. The speaker is Jesus, as reported in John’s Gospel. I’d like to look at this passage with you tonight in terms…
1 December 2014 | I Advent Mark 13:3-4, 24-37 The Marcan Apocalypse There is a quality to the light in the Northern Hemisphere in December, even at mid-day, which is haunting, deep, and reflective. The light is low and long. The sunsets have a particular golden quality. The days are shorter and shorter. It is…
17 Pentecost | 6 October 2014 Matthew 21:33-46, The Parable of the Vineyard There’s a tremendous amount of nonsense talked about in the Western world about God’s economic system. In 1776, the year the first half of the American Revolution began, the Scottish political economist and moral philosopher Adam Smith published his monumental work, An…
Preached at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church 17 August 2014 | Proper 15 Matthew 15:10-28 | The Canaanite Woman This morning’s Gospel begins with a riddle. You know– The Greek word for riddle is parable. Jesus taught in riddles. It was a kind of teaching which required the listener to think. A puzzle. The riddle was this: “It is not…
5 May 2014 | 3 Easter Luke 24:13-35 | The Road to Emmaus One of the great fantasy writers of the 20th Century was a man named Ray Bradbury. Bradbury wrote science fiction. He just died two years ago. He was a prolific writer — Perhaps you have heard of some of his books: The…
6 April 2014 | 5 Lent | John 11:1-45 The Raising of Lazarus The other day I learned that an old friend of mine was living in an extreme situation of dementia that has been going on progressively for years. I love him. He is alive. But he is also not fully here. It makes…
31 March 2014 | Fourth Sunday in Lent John 9:1-41 | The Man Born Blind Seeing shifts things. This is the last day of March. Tomorrow is April 1. Sometime at the end of March or the beginning of April in 1841 – 173 years ago now – a man named Solomon Northup spent the…
6 January 2014 | Epiphany | Matthew 2:1-12 The Three Wise Men Tonight we celebrate Epiphany – the last of the Twelve Days of Christmas. As many of you may already know, Epiphany is one end of a compromise on the date of Christmas made between the Church in the Western part of the Roman…
