Category: Sermons
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The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
July 6, 2025 (Year C) Every Sunday following the recessional hymn, the Deacon or Assisting Minister stands next to the baptismal font to declare “Go in Peace. Serve the Lord.” This liturgical action is called the dismissal but it could just as easily be called the commissioning. A dismissal declares that we are free to…
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Saints Peter and Paul
June 29, 2025 When I teach confirmation, I ask those who are about to affirm their baptism to engage in a little project. I ask they choose a favorite saint. Together, we look at the calendar of lesser festivals and commemorations to explore the lives of the saints. The lesser festivals are for biblical people…
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Fourth Sunday of Easter
May 11, 2025 “”Therefore, we were buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised, so we also might walk in newness of life.” These words are inscribed on the floor along the perimeter of the square beneath the baptismal font. The baptistery is what we first encounter when we…
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The Third Sunday in Lent
We still get the paper edition of the Seattle Times every morning. The other day I was going through my morning ritual and when it came time to start reading the newspaper, I was taken aback. I’m not always taken aback. Like most of us, I’ve become accustomed and maybe even numb to bad news,…
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The Second Sunday of Lent
One spiritual practice I recommend during this season of Lent and pretty much anytime is the practice of lament. Prayers of lament go back to ancient times. Many of the psalms are psalms of lament. To lament is to complain. We lament as we grieve, lamenting the death of a loved one. We lament over…
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The Seventh Sunday after Epiphany
Do you like happy endings? Not every story has one, but when they do, I sure enjoy them in a story I read or a film I watch. I’m a sucker for a happy ending, and the best happy endings are those that happen in real life. We learned of a happy ending in today’s…
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The Baptism of our Lord
When Jesus stepped into the waters of the Jordan River he stood beside a large mass of people who went to the river to be baptized by John. Jesus was going to receive the same baptism as everyone else. John the baptizer warned the people that the coming messiah would essentially “clean house” so they…
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The Second Sunday of Christmas
Dear Friends in Christ, Christmas is winding down. Tomorrow is Epiphany and it is the culmination of the twelve days of Christmas. The Gospel for Epiphany is the story of the Magi travelling from the East who followed a star to find the place of Jesus’ birth. Once they arrived, they offered their gifts of…
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Christmas Day
Some years ago, a friend invited me to join him and a few other mutual friends, on a trip to the Holy Land. We were part of a tour group visiting notable sites – old Jerusalem, the Western Wall, Nazareth, the Dead Sea, Temple Mount, Church of the Sepulcher and much more. Our first stop…
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The Second Sunday of Advent
St. Luke is a masterful storyteller. One feature of the way Luke presents the story of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection is attention to detail. Luke locates the story of Jesus in real time. In the Gospel of Luke, “once upon a time” gets very specific. The appearance of John the Baptist preparing the way…