Texts:   1 Kings 3:5-12 and Psalm 119:129-136  •   Romans 8:26-39  •    Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52 We’ve been hearing from Paul’s letter to the Romans and from the gospel of Matthew for weeks now, since the last Sunday of June, and we’ll continue to read from Romans and Matthew through September 11th, which is the Sunday after … Continue reading Sermon: Sunday, July 24, 2011–Time after Pentecost, Lectionary 17 →

Texts:  Isaiah 55:10-13 and Psalm 65: 9-13  •   Romans 8:1-11  •   Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 Raise your hand if you’ve heard of Rob Bell. My hunch is that the relatively few hands that went up are a symbol of the age-old divide between mainline Protestants and Evangelical Christians, because – in the Evangelical world – Rob … Continue reading Sermon: Sunday, July 10, 2011: Time After Pentecost–Lectionary 15 →

Texts:   Zechariah 9:9-12 and Psalm 145:8-14  •    Romans 7:15-25a  •   Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30   In the beginning, I don’t think America, or the United States, was a nation. I think it was an idea, and then a movement. I mean, it was many things. For some it was an untapped reservoir of resources to be … Continue reading Sermon: Sunday, July 3, 2011: Time After Pentecost–Lectionary 14 →