A sermon preached at Calvary Presbyterian Church in San Francisco, California March 20, 2022 Luke 13:1-9 Isaiah 55:1-11 Jesus’ followers want him to answer the questions we always want God to answer for us too—why do bad things happen to good people? Let us recognize that Jesus, the ultimate “good people” is on his way…
Luke 13:31-35 Psalm 27 A sermon preached at Calvary Presbyterian Church in San Francisco, California March 13, 2022 In the section immediately preceding our story from Luke this morning, Jesus has been causing a ruckus. He has healed on the Sabbath, and then shamed his critics with his response to healing on the Sabbath. Shamed critics…
A sermon preached at Calvary Presbyterian Church in San Francisco, CA March 6 2022 Luke 4:1-13 Deuteronomy 26:1-11 Both texts for the first day of Lent are about wandering. Whether it is 40 years, in the case of Israel, or 40 days in the case of Jesus, both of them beg the question—what does wandering…
Mark 10:17-31 A sermon preached at Southminster Presbyterian Church in Boise on March 1, the first Sunday of Lent. We talked about questions the other night on Ash Wednesday. Jesus’ disciples had questions for him. But they were too afraid to ask them. Here, it is a whole different story. We have questions all over…
A sermon preached at Southminster Presbyterian Church in Boise, Idaho March 4, 2018 John 18:12-27 We began the season of Lent on Ash Wednesday with the story of Jesus as the good shepherd, as the gate for the sheep. Jesus said: “I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved and will come…
A sermon preached at Southminster Presbyterian Church in Boise, Idaho April 2, 2017 Luke 18:31-19:10 Blindness is a popular image in scripture. The psalmist tells us: The LORD opens the eyes of the blind. The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down; the LORD loves the righteous. And Isaiah is fond of using blindness…
An Ash Wednesday Meditation March 1, 2017 Luke 9:51-62 I’ve never preached this text before. I’m not sure if that’s because it hasn’t shown up in the other lectionary readings, or if I’ve just avoided it. In any case, I’m intrigued by it. Especially the disciples. “Lord, do you want us to command fire to…
A sermon preached at Southminster Presbyterian Church in Boise, Idaho February 21, 2016 Mark 10:32-52 I only made it one verse into this reading before I got stuck this week. We’re told Jesus and the disciples were heading to Jerusalem, which isn’t a surprise. Jesus has been quite clear that it is his final destination and…
Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7 Matt 4:1-11 I’ve not been a huge fan of this story from Genesis. I’ll confess that right now. Eve makes bad decisions that have caused women misery for yearrrsss. Adam doesn’t seem to make any of his own decisions, but is happy to let Eve take the fall. And the snake—I hate…
Glass Overflowing 