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 […]
Gerasene demoniac June 23, 2019 So imagine Jesus has been going through the towns of coastal Maine with his disciples, gathering Christians from all denominations to listen to him speak from the gazebo on the green here in Brunswick. In the earlier part of today’s chapter in Luke’s gospel, he’s also been going from town […]
Good Shepherd Sunday 2019 Nothing and no one can snatch us out of the hands of our loving Lord. That’s really all the sermon you need to hear – although it won’t stop me from going on a bit. But whatever else I say, don’t lose track of that core message: no matter how […]
Lent 3, 2019 I AM (a God of infinite compassion, and high expectations) Beware of desiring to encounter the living God. Moses turned aside to see the bush that burned without being consumed. “Take off your shoes,” he was told. “The place you are standing is holy ground.” So he did. We all […]