Link: The Fig Tree and The Gardener

Summary of what I was saying and why:
This was a hard text to read this spring and a harder text to preach. To read the parable of the fig tree in the context of a church that is closing that’s hard. But the Gospel is the Gospel at all times. Which is kind of the point.

Theology:
Isaiah 55:10/11
So is my word that goes forth from my mouth; * it will not return to me empty;
But it will accomplish that which I have purposed, * and prosper in that for which I sent it.

Jesus Count: medium
Good News:

What did I change on my feet?
I rewrote the end a little. I like the one I found slightly better than the one I wrote. I’m still wondering where the better conclusion is.

What didn’t work/what did I miss?
I’d written some of what I said above–the Gospel is the Gospel in all the parts of our lives, especially the hard parts of our lives.

What did work?
I liked the shift to the gardener. I liked the line and the wondering about the community the gardener may have built around the fig tree. I wish I’d spent more time on that.

Other sermons I liked:

Priest Witt preaches on bare feet.

Priest Giroux preaches on the desperately hard times and how we (try) to understand them.

Priest Lightcap reminds us that the Worthiness Game is always a losing game.”

Bishop Sauls tells us that the test is easy and asks if we are going to live like that is true.

(Don’t see your sermon or a sermon you liked? Maybe I don’t know about it. Leave me a comment with a link and I’ll take a look.)