Commentary posted on June 26, 2017

Proper 8A Sermon Commentary

 

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Matthew 10:40-42 Sermon Commentary

Proper 8A

“I have always relied on the kindness of strangers.” That is the famous closing line spoken by the character Blanche DuBois in the play A Streetcar Named Desire. In Matthew 10 Jesus basically tells the disciples that they, too, must rely on the kindness of strangers when they go out to proclaim the good news…

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Psalm 89:1-4, 15-18 Sermon Commentary

Proper 8A

Psalm 89 is one of the darkest of all the Psalms, the better looking twin of the exceedingly dark Psalm 88, which ends with “the darkness is my closest friend.”  Psalm 89 rallies from that kind of despair with bright opening words.  In our reading for this Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time, it’s a new…

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Romans 6:12-23 Sermon Commentary

Proper 8A

“The wages of sin is death.”  So proclaims any number of homespun billboards I have driven past over the years.  Not a few church signs have sported this just-less-than good news, too.  It’s the kind of thing non-Christians expect to hear from finger-wagging preachers or other pious purveyors of the Gospel.  It’s what vaguely crazed…

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Genesis 22:1-14 Sermon Commentary

Proper 8A

I have colleagues whom I respect who tell me they’ll never preach this Old Testament text the Lectionary appoints for this Sunday.  When I asked a very wise friend for advice on how to preach this text, he told me to “Skip it.” After all, while our text’s Abraham asks no questions, we have plenty…

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