Category Archives: sermons

what to say about the Charleston martyrs

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three sermons that are worth chewing on this week:

“That your Gospel is more powerful than our hate, more powerful than our despair, more powerful than our pride, and more powerful than our delusions, we give you thanks O God.”  Confession (1)

In the face of Emmanuel AME Church, Naming Goliath (2)

“Last week in Charleston, however, was different. To be sure, it’s important not to romanticize or idealize the black church, or any church. All Christian groups are riven by Sin just like all other groups. But the black churches have suffered so extremely, and so unjustly, for so long, that they have achieved a maturity that seems almost superhuman.” “What’s in those lamps?” (3)

God’s Kingdom

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Trinity Cathedral ColumbiaPreached in Keenan Chapel at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, 21 June, 2015, Columbia, South Carolina.

I’ve never before preached from a pulpit here in Keenan Chapel. As many of you know, I’ve almost never used a manuscript. But the words God has for us this morning are too important to be trusted to my fickle, fragile mind; I had to commit them to paper, and I pray that we will receive them with humility, softness of heart, lament, and resolution.

May God take the coal of his holiness and cleanse my lips, that the living Word may take root in all our hearts this morning; through the name of the Living God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen. Continue reading →

what makes a true worshiper

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2012-06-05 11.17.05Is there anything worse than sticking out in a group of people? Is there anything more humiliating than showing up for a party with an outfit that is far too formal or far too casual? Is there anything more uncomfortable than realizing that you don’t understand the jokes being told in a group, or that you can’t relate at all to the complaints and observations of daily life being made in conversation?

It is painful to be an outsider, to have that feeling in the pit of your stomach, knowing that you don’t belong. Like that Sesame Street feature: “One of these things is not like the others.” And yet, this is how Evelyn Underhill, the sister in faith whose example we remember today, spent most of her life. Continue reading →