Tag: salvation

2011 Sermons

Palm Sunday April 17, 2011

Post author By vicar
Post date April 17, 2011

Matthew 26:14-27:66Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â

John 4:5-42Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â

Think of today as a drama in three acts, in each of which we play a different role. Act I is the palm procession outside. In all my years of doing Palm Sundays Iâ€™ve never managed to have a donkey for Jesus to ride on, but itâ€™s still always a glorious celebration. Weâ€™re there singing hosanna! and waving our palm branches of victory. Jesus has come to save us. Everything is up and up.

And we all know what that Act is like in our own lives. Itâ€™s when we land the job we wanted or get a raise. Itâ€™s when we fall in love or the person we want to marry says yes. Itâ€™s the new house, the new car, the child graduating with honors, getting into college, building a new church, our candidate for President getting elected. All of those and more. Salvation: itâ€™s what we long for, and in Act I it seemed to be there, finally in our grasp.

Tags cross, Messiah, Palm Sunday, salvation

2010 Sermons

Pentecost 23 October 31, 2010

Post author By vicar
Post date October 31, 2010

Isaiah 1:10-20Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â

2 Thessalonians 1:1-12Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â

Luke 19:1-10

Â This is Godâ€™s Message: â€œIf youâ€™ll willingly obey, youâ€™ll feast like kings. But if youâ€™re willful and stubborn, youâ€™ll die like dogs.â€ Thatâ€™s right. God says so.

Isaiah 1:20 (The Message paraphrase)

I was tempted, thinking about this sermon, to start out by asking for you to define salvation. This congregation has become pretty good at talking together in response to the readings â€“ as you demonstrated last week. I thought as a follow-up question, Iâ€™d ask how many of you believe youâ€™re â€œsavedâ€ â€“ and how many of you have doubts. But then I thought, no, thatâ€™s being a little too â€œfrontalâ€ with you. Salvation isnâ€™t something most of us think much about.

Tags Jesus, salvation, Zacchaeus

2010 Sermons

Ash Wednesday February 17, 2010

Post author By vicar
Post date February 17, 2010

2 Corinthians 5:20b-21, 6:1-10Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â

Â Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

Â We celebrate today two things that are difficult for us: sin and mortality. I remember being on the search committee for a new priest, back before I was ordained myself. We were going through resumes the bishop had sent us and we got to Fr. So-and-Soâ€™s. â€œDiscard!â€ announced a woman on the committee immediately. â€œI went to a service at his church and he preached on sin.â€ Moral: donâ€™t talk about sin if you want to get ahead, even in the Church, certainly not in the rest of life.

Mortality, too: who wants to talk about death, particularly their own? Obituaries always note how someone died after a â€œlong struggleâ€ or a â€œlong battleâ€ with whatever disease carried them off. Death is the enemy. Hospitals and hospices are partly places where we hide away the dying so they wonâ€™t spoil things for the living. Weâ€™ve come a long ways from our ancestors, who prayed in the Great Litany to be delivered from â€œdying suddenly and unpreparedâ€ and saw this life in terms of preparation for death.

Tags atonement, death, mortality, salvation, sin

Uncategorized

Easter Vigil April 11, 2009

Post author By vicar
Post date April 11, 2009

O.T. History of Salvation

Romans 6:3-11

Luke 24:1-12

Around the church tonight is this wonderful series of quilt-style banners depicting the story of Godâ€™s saving work through history. We have six of them now; Nancy Stehno just completed the one over the organ, illustrating a passage from the Book of Proverbs about Wisdom being more precious than gold. Nancy, I hesitate to tell you this, but there are six more we could do, if we draw on both the Episcopal and Revised Common Lectionaries! But, one at a time. Thatâ€™s the way God works, so you can work that way too.

Actually, there could be more than 12 banners. There could be an infinite string of banners, stretching into the future, because God is working out Godâ€™s plan of salvation in every one of our lives, in the world around us, in every event in the newsâ€”even the terrible ones.

Tags baptism, death, Easter Vigil, Exodus, Passover, resurrection, salvation, sin