Let's Just Do It (Sermon preached 20 March 2022)

Last week, our wonderful guest preacher Kathy Wilder said that one of the distinguishing marks of Jesus’ leadership was his willingness to have tough conversations. And this morning’s Gospel reading certainly bears that out!

 

Jesus has been talking to his followers about how incredibly important it is that they be awake, and prepared, for the unexpected moment when God’s call becomes suddenly, abundantly clear. That moment, he warns, requires an immediate, faithful response.

 

He’s just called them hypocrites, for ignoring the signs that are right in front of them, when some of the people in his audience bring up the brutal killing, ordered by Pilate, of some pilgrims who had come from Galilee to worship in the Temple in Jerusalem. As if, maybe, to suggest that those people might have screwed up; those people must not have been paying attention...(read more)

Misplaced Resurrection Stories (Sermon preached 27 February 2022)

Today is the last Sunday of Epiphany –  Epiphany being that season that sits between the arrival of the Magi to worship the Christ child, twelve days after Christmas, and the beginning of Lent. The season where we focus on ways in which the reign of God was manifest in Jesus. The ways he showed us and told us what that reign looks like.

Today we get one last “hit” of disclosure before entering the wilderness three days from now on Ash Wednesday. And the hit is a really big one – it’s the Transfiguration – an event recorded in all three synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke).

 

Yes, there are small differences between the three accounts, but on the essentials of this extraordinary episode they agree: Jesus takes his three closest friends up onto a mountain; while they are there, Jesus’ face changes, his clothes become radiant, and he is joined in conversation by two long dead prophets; Peter blurts out something silly about a building project...(read more)