Take 2, Palm Sunday 2021 It was perhaps four or five years ago when we were taking our Good Friday Stations of the Cross around the block and out onto Maine Street that a pickup truck pulled alongside us; the driver called out, “What are you protesting?” At first, I was taken aback, but […]
Sermon on Mark 1:21-28, January 31, 2021 When I was 17 and first got my driver’s license, I did not love the license itself, but the freedom it gave me. When I was ordained, I did not love my ordination certificate, but I loved, and still do, the ministries I’ve been called to these past […]
Mind and Hope The Rev. Mary Lee Wile Oct. 25, 2020 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These words I am commanding you today are to be […]
The waves that beat against our boat I don’t often name my sermons, but in my mind the title for this one has always been “The waves that beat against our boat,” even though the sermon itself begins in a landlocked pasture near Schechem, with Jacob’s sons. The older sons resented Joseph because […]
Sin is Lurking…. July 5, 2020 “So,” Paul writes in his letter to the Romans, “So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand.” Every time I read those lines from Paul about the sneaky nature of evil, I hear echoes of […]
Jesus said to his disciples: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” But just how did Jesus show his love to the […]
Palm Sunday 2020 Palm Sunday, and here we are at home. If we have any palm branches, they’re probably left over from last year, dried up like flowers from an old high school prom date. I think of the cry of the psalmist, “How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land” because […]
Lent 1, Temptations Looking at me, you probably don’t think you’re looking at Satan. But re-encountering the story of Jesus’ temptations in preparation for today – and this is a gospel I thought I knew practically by heart – I was taken aback to realize how often I actually take on the role of the […]
Joseph: fear and courage How many times in Scripture do we hear some variation of “Fear not”? Whenever I come across the story of someone being approached by God or an angel and being told not to be afraid, inside I find myself thinking: “Be afraid; be very afraid.” For example, when God says […]
Nov. 24, 2019 Perception The Rev. Mary Lee Wile “Grandma,” my seven-year old unchurched grandson asked, “where’s your mean picture?” “Mean” picture? Our house is full of photos, paintings, prints, icons – but I couldn’t conjure up a single “mean” picture. “I don’t know which one you’re talking about,” I finally told him. So […]