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.

Transfigured in Love

How is God being revealed to us in this time? What is God saying? How are we being transfigured? As our Presiding Bishop so often says, if it is not about love, it is not about God. The transfiguration that this pandemic brings does not have to be divine, but it can be. The difference is love.

Click “Read More” to read or listen to Bingham’s entire sermon for the last Sunday after the Epiphany.

God made Manifest

“God's word was incarnate in that manger in Bethlehem. That is what we celebrate every year at Christmas. At Epiphany we celebrate the way that truth, that reality, of the incarnation of God into this world was manifest to various people. Or, as that beautiful hymn we sang this morning put it, "God in man made manifest." This hymn so beautifully tells the very stories of Epiphany that we hear every year, of the people who had their manifestations, their epiphanies of God found in Jesus Christ.”

Click “Read More” to read or listen to Bingham’s entire sermon.

Tempered by Love

What do you have to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? To follow him on the way of love. This love that Saint Paul says is the only way to get through the challenges and the conflicts the community in Corinth is facing. This way of love that Jesus calls us to at this time also. This way of love that we need to get through these challenges that we face as a community, the political divisions, this pandemic, racial injustice. All of it can only be gotten through if we follow the way of love, love for our neighbor, love for the other, the way of love that Jesus came to show us.