Vulnerable to Death, Good Friday 2022

I love preaching today. It’s also possibly the hardest sermon to preach. Today the vulnerability of Jesus, of God, of the creator of the universe, is on display. The lessons for Good Friday are here. At our ecumenical service, the reading was Luke 22.54-23-56. I was blessed with local ecumenical colleagues to collaborate with on […]

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Good Friday 2020

Good Friday is hard to preach this year.  I generally agree with Nadia Bolz-Weber that we shouldn’t preach from our rawest places, but this is where I–and I suspect most of us–am.  The world seems pretty terrible and scary right now.  But I also found preaching incredibly important for today because this is where we […]

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Out of the Dust, October 2018

Morsels & Stories: I introduced our next prayer station and talked about the history behind labyrinths. Sermon:  The consolation and hope of Psalm 22. The lessons can be found by clicking here (link).  I worked most closely with Psalm 22. Listen: 

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Death that leads to life, Sept 2018

Morsels & Stories: This morning we read from Proverbs 31, which is traditionally sung by Jewish husbands to their wives as praise.  As the Church is often talked about as the Bride of Christ, what similar song would Jesus sing to us? Sermon: Jesus talks about his death.  So we do too because that is […]

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Fear and Love, Good Friday 2017

Today Jesus dies a horrible death. Because of us. Our fear, our need for power.     The lessons for today can be found by clicking here. I worked most closely with Jn 18:1-19:42.     Listen:

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A Day for Pain, Good Friday 2016

Today we commemorate Jesus’s death on the cross, an agonizing death on a day full of pain.       The lessons can be found by clicking here.         Listen:

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Waiting, Good Friday 2015

(The device I use to record sermons failed on Friday. I have several minutes recorded of absolutely nothing. I’m mildly stepping up the research for it’s replacement. Fortunately, I have a manuscript of almost exactly what I said.) The lessons can be found by clicking here. Today Jesus dies. Today we watch and wait. We […]

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At Deathbeds: On Closing Churches

In the last 18 month I’ve been present at the closing of three Churches. I was their priest; they had been a cluster when I was called. In each case it was excruciating and sad. In each case it was the right choice. Churches, the actual communities, the buildings located in towns and cities, are […]

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How Incarnation Ends, a sermon for Good Friday 3-29-13

The lessons can be found by clicking here. I preached on Incarnation and Crucifixion. How did we think the Incarnation was going to end? (The quote is from Tragic Vision and Divine Compassion: A Contemporary Theodicy by Wendy Farley, pg 34) Listen: Good Friday, 2013

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