Sermons
Well, no more bread today! Instead, what we have are some pretty biting words from Jesus about traditions. When the Pharisees and some scribes notice Jesus’ disciple aren’t observing all the rules for cleansing, and purifying, especially around eating and food prep, they ask: “What gives Jesus? Your followers aren’t keeping the rules, they aren’t following the tradition of the elders, why not?”
Listen to or read Ryan's entire sermon by clicking "Read More."
In St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians that we heard today, Paul offers a prayer for the people. He prays that they may be rooted and grounded in love. And he also prays that they may know the height and length and breadth and depth of the love of God. A love that surpasses knowledge, Paul says. When people are filled with this love, he says that God, through us, can do infinitely more than we can ask for or imagine.
Listen to or read Bingham’s entire sermon by clicking “Read More.”
Listen to or read Bingham’s entire sermon by clicking “Read More.”
The Book of Genesis has two stories about the creation of the world. These stories are not meant to be science or history, but that doesn’t mean they don’t contain truth. They contain a lot of truth, really important truth that we need to remember: theological truths, moral truths, ontological truths, truth about who we are.
Our first reading today comes from the second creation story. But before we talk about that, we need to talk about the first creation story because these two stories are in dialogue with each other. They are in conversation, and we can’t understand one if we don’t understand the other.
In Jesus’ time, wedding guests would gather at the home of the bride to be entertained while everyone waited for the groom to arrive. When the bridegroom was close, the bridesmaids and the guests would go out to greet him. And with their lamps lit, they would form a procession to the groom’s house for the ceremony and the multiple day feast!
Listen to or read Ryan’s entire sermon by clicking “Read More.”
It is also a story of a clash of two different world views or mindsets, imaginations of how this world should operate. One mindset is the one of the brothers, who are afraid. It is a mindset of punishment, revenge, vengeance, an eye for an eye justice. They know they did wrong, they know they should be punished for it, and are afraid of what that punishment is going to look like. That is their view of how things are probably going to go.
The other mindset is the one that Joseph has, which is the imagination of forgiveness, of mercy, of grace, of reconciliation. I think the brothers’ mindset is probably where most of the world is. A lot of the time, most of us feel that same way, too.
Listen to or read Bingham’s entire sermon by clicking “Read More.”
Jesus is teaching us the Gospel message to love. I know it is not always easy. In fact, it is rather difficult sometimes. We think of love as being that feel good feeling, but love is so much more than that. Love is the very intentional practice of caring about another person, even when there doesn’t seem to be very much to care about. Love is that act of blessing and not cursing that Paul talked about last week. Love is not an easy thing. It is one of the most challenging things to do sometimes.
Listen to or read Bingham’s entire sermon by clicking “Read More.”
