Occasional Sermons

Please Pass Me the Fruit Galatians 5:1, 13-25 Christian Community Presbyterian Church, Bowie, Maryland June 26, 2022 H ave you heard the tongue-in-cheek definition of a Puritan? It’s a person who harbors the fear that somewhere someone is enjoying him- or her- or theirself. All of us happy-go-lucky Christians lack immunity to that kind of thinking. No vaccination and no N95 mask is to going to prevent our suspicions that someone is having more fun than we are, with the underlying, sometimes not-so-well suppressed coveting of that fun. No one has ever done a scientific poll about this, but my gut feeling is that of the two lists which Paul offers in this passage from Galatians, it’s the list of “no-no’s” that get more attention. After all, isn’t one of the first words we learn, “No”? Paul wasn’t attempting to be exhaustive in drawing up either list; you can imagine the “et cetera” at the end of either one. He was trying to illustrate the kinds of behaviors against which or for which ...

I Am a Sheep of the Lord John 10:22-30 Christian Community Presbyterian Church, Bowie, Maryland May 8, 2022   W e have arrived at the fourth Sunday of the Season of Easter. We go beyond the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus and turn to some of his teachings that help us think about being his people in the world today. Today is traditionally “Good Shepherd Sunday,” when we reflect on his words about his role as the shepherd of God’s people, a role of comfort, support, guidance, protection.     In today’s reading Jesus is at Solomon’s porch during the Festival of Dedication which celebrated the liberation of Jerusalem from the Seleucid Empire, a political entity that evolved following the death of Alexander the Great and the breakup of his empire. The Seleucid king, Antiochus Epiphanes, had defiled the Temple nearly two centuries before Jesus came on the scene by building an altar to his own gods within the Temple’s main sanctuary. Two years later Judas Maccabeu...

The Shadow of Easter Acts 5:12-32 Colesville Presbyterian Church, Silver Spring, Maryland April 24, 2022 The second Sunday of Easter is celebrated by many as “Holy Humor Sunday.” It has its roots in 15th-century Bavaria where Christians celebrated Risus Paschalis (“Easter Laugh”). Priests would include jokes in their sermons to make their congregations laugh. This was a way of celebrating the resurrection of Christ, which is understood as God’s ultimate prank on the forces of death and evil. The resurrection is God getting the last laugh, so this is a day to laugh and celebrate the sovereignty of God. So to celebrate God’s guffaw, I offer the following:      Handling admissions to heaven is boring for Peter. Sometimes, to break up the monotony, he varies the question. On one occasion, he was asking hopeful entrants, “What is Easter?” One person said, “Oh, that’s the day that some fellow discovered America, isn’t it?” “No, you’re wrong,” said Peter, “you’ll have to go...

Christ’s Peace Is Disruptive Mark 10:2-16 Christian Community Presbyterian Church, Bowie, Maryland 3 October 2021 Our Presbyterian theological tradition lifts up the link between pulpit and table. Our formative documents talk about Word and Sacrament. One of our three ordained offices is minister of Word and Sacrament (often called pastor). Ministers of Word and Sacrament, serving as preachers and teachers of the Word, “shall preach and teach the faith of the church, so that the people are shaped by the pattern of the gospel and strengthened for witness and service [and] when they serve at font and table shall interpret and ‘show forth’ the mysteries of grace in word and action.” (G-2.0501)     John Calvin, our Presbyterian spiritual grandfather, considered the font and table as equally important as the pulpit in worship. Much to the horror of many Presbyterians since, Calvin thought that the table should be used weekly, not monthly, or quarterly or, as some of our dour S...

Water Mark 1:4-11 Christian Community Presbyterian Church, Bowie, Maryland 10 January 2021 Water...     What’s your first memory of water? When were you cognizant that water was something more than what went in a sippy cup or a bath tub?     Water can be described in many ways beside wet. Water is dangerous, fun, cleansing, comforting, scary, powerful, useful, purifying, vast, simple, complex. Water is used in so many ways that we don’t really notice it. Water...     Water is dangerous. In 2017 Hurricane Harvey deposited more than four feet of water on some eastern Texas communities. A 50 foot tsunami wall of water caused a meltdown at the Fukushima, Japan, nuclear power plant in 2011. In 2005 Hurricane Katrina breached levees and flooded much of New Orleans.     Water...dangerous...destructive...deadly. The waters of baptism are also dangerous, destructive and deadly.     Two boys, walking through the woods alon...

The Other Matthew 15:10-28 Christian Community Presbyterian Church, Bowie, Maryland 16 August 2020 Let’s be blunt from the outset. Today’s gospel reading offends hearers. The first part offended the Pharisees. While the Pharisees seethe, we cheer because Jesus puts them – the bad guys – in their place by his actions or words. Then we get shocked at Jesus’ attitude and language toward the Canaanite woman and the Pharisees say, “Aha!” as nice Jesus gets dressed down by the Canaanite woman and is taught a lesson about inclusiveness and love.     In a passage in Romans 11, which I will use later as the call to congregational confession, Paul goes after his own people for their obstinacy and disobedience. He says that God has benched them while the second team – the Gentiles – get their chance to play God’s game of gracious life.     In the same vein, Isaiah, years before either Jesus or Paul, in the words we used as this morning’s call to worship, says that mai...

Wheat Privilege Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 Christian Community Presbyterian Church Bowie, Maryland July 12, 2020 How many of you have not heard this two-part gospel reading before? Raise your hands. Hmm. That’s what I expected, I don’t see any. The first part is usually called the “Parable of the Sower.” It’s one of the more familiar of Jesus’ parables. Matthew, Mark, and Luke have versions of it. It is immediately followed by the disciples asking why Jesus spoke in parables. Jesus responds and then offers an explanation of the parable, the second part of this morning’s reading. The curious thing is that this is the only parable that Jesus ever explained. In Mark’s and Luke’s telling Jesus then offered a purpose for parables:     “No one after lighting a lamp hides it under a jar, or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light. For nothing is hidden that will not be disclosed, nor is anything secret that will not become kn...