Sermons (Page 86)
Sixth Sunday After Epiphany
“Today’s Gospel reading is Jesus’s most famous sermon. If you’ve heard this sermon before, you might question your memory or today’s translation because it sounded a bit different. But, this is not the Matthean version of the “Sermon on the Mount” that says “Blessed are the poor… in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” No, Luke doesn’t sugar coat reality. Luke’s retelling of the beatitudes is geographically among the people and symbolically given from the place of suffering, misery, and despair. Luke’s version of this sermon is not metaphorical, symbolic, or spiritualized in content. With down-to-earth realism, he states “Blessed are you who are poor.” And, frankly, this isn’t anything new from Luke…”
Fifth Sunday After Epiphany
I was sitting in the passenger’s seat as Ginny, the woman with whom I’d been working as her teaching assistant, the woman who had come to be a dear friend and mentor was driving. I was nearing the end of my year of living in Malaysia, and I was in the season that many of us in this room might know well. The season of sending out countless resumes and cover letters, countless applications hoping to hear something, anything, really. Any acknowledgement of my application would be great. I had just heard back from a potential employer, finally a response, informing me that they’d like to set up a time to interview me. I was sharing this exciting news with Teacher Ginny as we drove to go shopping, I was sharing with her the jobs I was interested in, the applications I had been sending out, all that I had been doing, and I shared my excitement that something had finally happened…
Fourth Sunday After Epiphany
Many of us might remember where we were on September 11. We might remember where we were, maybe we remember the fear we felt, the confusion, the anger. Maybe we had a loved one in New York or Washington and we waited to hear whether they were okay…