Psalm 46 [Watch the sermon here.] God’s voice thunders,and the earth melts. Oooooo. How does the earth melt? Does the earth melt like a swooning lover?Oh! That melts my heart! Does it melt like metal in fire?Like that which is hard becoming liquid? Is it the ice of the earth that is melting?The glaciers? The […]
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Isaiah 65: 17-25 [Watch sermon here.] God proclaims,I am about to create a new heaven and a new earth! This is a vision of salvation! People often think of salvation as being personal,as related just to them. Here, what is a salve,what is salvific relates to the community. What does wholeness look like for the […]
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Psalm 32:1-7 [Watch sermon.] Dear God, we need a hiding place! As we walk through the wild world, the storms of life unleash upon us. Where will we seek shelter? Dear God, help us look for the hideaways. Sometimes, when I spend long hours hiking outdoors,I find myself looking for discreet dens. I love looking […]
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Luke 16:19-31 [Watch the sermon here.] Distant and indifferent. These are the adjectivesthat describe the rich man’s stance toward Lazarus. Even in death, the rich man remains distant and indifferent.Even in death, the rich man uses Lazarus for his own self-interest.A crevasse separates them; still the rich mancries out, Send Lazarus over to cool my […]
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Luke 16:1-13 Today’s story is a story of mystery. A story that defies easy explanation. The stories of Jesus are like the foggy veils that I recently saw in La Malbaie, Quebec. I would squint my eyes and try to see what lay within the veils. Likewise, we are trying to peer in and see […]
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Luke 14:1, 7-14 [Watch sermon here.] Jesus enters a dinner party and immediately offers a critique, saying “When you host a dinner, don’t invite your friends, your siblings, your relatives, or rich neighbors. If you do, they will invite you in return. Instead, when you throw a party, invite the poor, the disabled, those who […]
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Isaiah 58:9b-14 [Watch sermon here.] Dream.Isaiah invites us to dream of the world God desires for us.Dreamily, Isaiah writes,God will guide you continually,and satisfy your needs in parched places,and make your bones strong. What do you think it meansthat God wants to make our bones strong? Here is a story that sheds light on that […]
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Luke 12:49-56 [Watch sermon here.] Dead. The towering pitch pines were dead.It surprised me as I ran through the pine barrensin the Myles Standish Forest in Massachusetts. I jogged slowly. Sand cushioned my feet as I moved;sand anchored the shrubby oaks and blueberries around me,which looked black. In this oasis, pitch pines rose high like […]
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Luke 12:32-40 [Watch sermon here.] Jesus preaches,“Make for yourselves wallets that don’t wear out—a treasure in heaven that never runs out.No thief comes near there, and no moth destroys.” There is not an occasional break-in into our soul,but a serial robbery: a constant infiltration of voicesthat burglarizes our focus and besieges us with distractions. Jesus […]
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Luke 10:25-37 [Watch sermon here.] The story today seems so simple.Be empathetic.Pay attention to the human being in front of you. Why is this so hard? We run late, and we walk by everyone who is suffering.We do not know someone, and then we do not care. Why is it so hard for us to […]
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The First Baptist Church in Essex 