“This is not just a 2000 year old tale. It is breaking news, Good News. It is a living story. It is our story and it is happening right now in our midst.”
Click “Read More” to read or listen to the Rev. Bingham Powell’s entire sermon for Easter Day.
Embodying the Passion: Finding our Story in Jesus’ Story
We are meant to follow Jesus, not join Pilate. God's love, God's grace, and God's mercy are abundant and Jesus wants to draw us closer to those. The Passion is meant to draw us in and to reflect the ways that we have embodied different characters at different times in our lives.
Click “Read More” to read or listen to Bingham’s entire sermon for Palm Sunday.
Gratitude and Presence: Seeing God's Grace in the Midst of our Lives
“And now that it appears we’re approaching the edge of the desert, we’re beginning to see signs of green, what do we see on the horizon but Jerusalem, and the emotional rollercoaster of Holy Week. Do we even have the energy to enter the city? And what if the green we think we see is only a mirage, and this desert we’re in is simply going to go on forever? We are so tired, and even those of us comfortable with solitude are by now simply feeling lonely. Like the Greeks in today’s Gospel, we would so love to be able to turn to Philip and say, Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”
Click “Read More” to read or listen to Sharon’s entire sermon for the 5th Sunday in Lent.
The Sacrament of the Cross
“Today we again hear Jesus talk about the cross, although the reference may be a little bit opaque. Jesus says just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up. This is a reference to the cross. Lifting up here is referring to him being lifted up high on the cross so that all can see him and be saved. As we talked a little last week, the cross was not just about the death of an individual, but it was a message to the wider community. Crucifixion was done very publicly, and part of that was lifting you up rather high in order to make it easier for everyone to see you.”
Click “Read More” to read or listen to the Rev. Bingham Powell’s entire sermon for the 4th Sunday in Lent.
The Foolish Wisdom of God
"The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart. Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age?"
This is a rhetorical question Paul is asking today. If it had been a serious question, the answer could have been something like, look in the mirror, Paul. You are an excellent debater yourself. Many of Paul's arguments have withstood the test of time, afterall. Another serious answer to the question could have been
Click “Read More” to read or listen to Bingham’s entire sermon for the 3rd Sunday of Lent.
Via Dolorosa Via Caritas
Today is the second Sunday in Lent, 2021. Last year on this Sunday, I preached a sermon that talked about pilgrimage as a traditional Lenten practice. That was March first, and it was almost the last Sunday before we were all constrained to a level of solitude for which we were little prepared. I remember thinking, in the weeks after that sermon, that it would’ve been better to have preached on the way of the hermit as a Lenten practice. But we do our best, don’t we, given nobody can know the future. Anyway, I don’t know about you, but I feel as if the entire last year has been Lent. Maybe that’s not such a bad thing.
Click “Read More” to read or listen to Dr. Loren Crow’s entire sermon for the 2nd Sunday of Lent.
Blessing in the Desert Wilderness
This year we heard Mark’s version of the story. Mark’s version is much shorter and much sparser than Matthew or Luke’s versions. Sparse, like the desert that Jesus entered. It only takes Mark two verses to tell the story. Matthew and Luke take six times as long to tell the story. In Mark’s sparseness, some of the wonderful details that we know and love, like the content of those temptations, and the clever dialogue between Jesus and the devil are missing. And yet there are gifts in the sparseness, as well. Sometimes in all the detail we can miss the forest for the trees, as the old saying goes. One of the things that Mark’s telling obviously brings out is where this story takes place in the larger narrative. It allows us to see the forest more easily.
Click “Read More” to read or listen to Bingham’s entire sermon for the First Sunday of Lent.
