Sermons

UPDATE: December 2009

I’m beginning to post my sermons at a separate sermon blog, with its own feed, post archives, categories, etc..  I will no longer post new sermons here and, as time allows, I will migrate old sermons to the new sermon blog.  Thanks!

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Sermons are listed according to date, with the most recent appearing at the top of the list.  I generally do not give titles to my sermons – I’m not really a fan of such a practice – but I have given titles to these sermons so that this list isn’t simply an index of dates.

I’ve preached sporadically since the late 1990s, when I entered seminary.  Since December 2008 I’ve been preaching every other week as an Associate Pastor.  I’ve lost many of my earliest sermons – a mixed blessing, for sure – but any complete sermons that I have found and all future sermons will be posted here.

NOTE: I write my sermons with a loose sentence structure, with indentations and breaks, building upon phrases and thoughts rather than carefully crafted sentences appropriate for publishing.  I find that this method – rather than a paragraph format – helps keep my writing and my delivery more natural, since the task of a preacher is different than the task of an essayist or lecturer.  Copying and pasting this format from Microsoft Word (and since June 2009, Open Office Writer) to the blog’s HTML code isn’t always clean.  My apologies.

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• December 20, 2009 – Advent 4 – A Holy Ruckus
• December 6, 2009 – Advent 2 – A Straight Path in our Spiritual Garage
• November 22, 2009 – Christ the King – Love.  Freedom. Kingdom.
• November 8, 2009 – Lectionary 32/Pentecost 23 – Invitation and Abundance
• October 25, 2009 – Reformation Sunday – Looking Forward
• October 11, 2009 – Lectionary 28/Pentecost 19 – We Fail, God Succeeds
• September 27, 2009 – Lectionary 26/Pentecost 17 – God’s Widening Circle
• September 13, 2009 – Lectionary 24/Pentecost 15 – The Perspective of the Cross
• August 30, 2009 – Lectionary 22/Pentecost 13 – The Hill We Cannot Climb
• August 23, 2009 – Lectionary 21/Pentecost 12 – Our Offensive God (Churchwide Assembly Reflection)
  
• August 2, 2009 – Lectionary 18/Pentecost 9 – Recognizing God’s Gifts
• July 26, 2009 – Lectionary 17/Pentecost 8 – Welcoming the Outsider’s Gift
• July 12, 2009 – Lectionary 15/Pentecost 6 – Our Sorry Ambivalence
• June 28, 2009 – Lectionary 13/Pentecost 4 – Signs of the Kingdom
• June 14, 2009 – Lectionary 11/Pentecost 2 – Called to Wonder
• May 31, 2009 – Pentecost – New Flesh, New Breath
• May 3, 2009 – Easter 4 – I Am Not The Good Shepherd
• April 19, 2009 – Easter 2 – The Human Element 
• April 9, 2009 – Holy Thursday – An Unsettling Liturgy for an Unsettling Faith  
• March 29, 2009 – Lent 5 – Dying to Live: A Parable in Pixar  
• March 8, 2009 – Lent 2 – The Church is a Messy Emergency Ward
• February 22, 2009 – Transfiguration – Awed to Silence
• February 15, 2009 – Epiphany 6/Lectionary 6 – Little Things. Big Promises.
• February 1, 2009 – Epiphany 4/Lectionary 4 – We Can Eat the Meat – but Should We?
• January 18, 2009 – Epiphany 2/Lectionary 2 – The Word of the Lord Was Rare in Those Days
• January 4, 2009 – Christmas 2 – Blessed Purpling
• December 21, 2008 – Advent 4 – The Extraordinary in the Ordinary

Called to Resurrection Lutheran Church in Arlington, VA. Ordained December 20, 2008

• October 26, 2008 – Reformation – Bound and Free … It’s Alright
• August 31, 2008 – Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost/Lectionary 22 – The Perspective of the Cross
• May 18, 2008 (unpreached) – Holy Trinity – Odd Math
• May 11, 2008 – Pentecost – No We Can’t
• March 16, 2008 – Palm Sunday – In Between
• March 9, 2008 – Lent 5 – Lord, if you had been here . . .
• February 17, 2008 – Lent 2 – Knowing – and not knowing – God
• February 6, 2008 – Ash Wednesday – Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down
• January 27, 2008 – Epiphany 3 – Face to Face
• January 13, 2008 – Baptism of our Lord – Comfort and Courage
• December 23, 2007 – Advent 4 – Do You Smell What I Smell?
• December 2, 2007 – Advent 1 – Right Here, Right Now
• November 4, 2007 – All Saints Sunday – Esperemos
• October 21, 2007 – 21st Sunday after Pentecost (Lectionary 29) – Let Us Pray
• September 16, 2007 – 16th Sunday after Pentecost (Lectionary 24) – Grace for Grumblers

Began internship September 1, 2007 at King of Kings Lutheran Church, Fairfax, VA

• July 1, 2007 – The Battle Hymn of the Republic
• March 11, 2007 – Lent 3 – The Salvation Army, Vuke, and Gardeners
• August 8, 2005 – Undermining Oppression
• October 24, 2004 – The Christian Life
• April 18, 2004 – What a Difference a Week Makes
• November 11, 2003 – No Risk. Only Promise.
• July 20, 2003 – We Are Drawn
• February 23, 2003 – The ‘Yes’ of God
• February 16, 2003 – Shocked by the Enemy’s God
• September 30, 2001 – The Rich Man and Lazarus in the shadow of September 11
• June 17, 2001 – God’s Kind of Community
• May 13, 2001 – Looking at Each Other