St George's Sermon Blog

Matt 5:1-13 Okay I am finally ready to talk about Minnesota, okay I am not actually ready but I am going to do it anyway.   And it fits, because we are now right smack dab in the middle of our series about what it means to be a means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.   And this week is when it starts to get hard.   Because the message in our lessons this week is pretty serious, and seriously misunderstood.   I mean they shouldn’t actually be that hard, really we all know what these texts say, the message is clear, we just don’t always like it. And so, we start today with our Gospel Lesson, where Jesus begins his great Sermon on the Mount with the Beatitudes.   And I am sure that this text is pretty familiar, probably very familiar.   I would say this passage is probably in the top 5 of most quoted scripture passages in the Bible.   Everyone knows the Beatitudes, but when we really look at them deeply and carefully, I am not sure they actually make ...

  Matt 4:12-23 This week we continue ongoing Epiphany series about what it means to be called be called by God and how we live and grow as Jesus’s disciples.   Which seems fitting as we gather together to reflect on our ministry together at our annual meeting, rejoice in all we have done in the past year and begin to look toward our future together.   To help us on our journey, in our lesson is week, we essentially heard another version of the story from last week about Jesus meeting and calling Peter to be among his first disciples.   Only this time we hear it from the Gospel of Matthew . So one day, Jesus is walking by the sea in Capernaum and he meets two pairs of brothers Peter and Andrew and James and John while they are out cleaning up after a night of fishing and he calls them to follow him.   He tells them he will make them “fishers of people” and they immediately leave their stuff and follow him.   Now often when we hear this story, it is eas...

  Matt 3:13-17 This is the start of the season after Epiphany here in the church.   It is the season of time between Christmas and Lent where we begin to discover who Jesus is and what it means to be his disciples.   It is a time we will begin to consider what it means to be called by God and how that affects us.   Over the next several weeks we will hear a whole series of readings where Jesus suddenly appears in the lives of those around him and we will see how his presence changes everything.   And how being near Jesus gets people to do all sorts of new, weird and scary things.   How Jesus pushes people out of their comfort zones and into new things.   And how amazing things happen when he does. This first week we hear the story of the Baptism of Our Lord from the book of Matthew.   In this story Jesus comes into the wilderness to be baptized by John.   And John flatly refuses.   Because the whole idea is absurd in the face of it...

Matt 2:13-23 Today is the second Sunday of Christmas the bookend to the Christmas season.   On Christmas Eve we all heard the old familiar story of Mary and Joseph huddled around the baby Jesus peaceful in the manger.   We heard of glad tidings of great joy announced by the host of heavenly angels and the joy of the shepherds come to worship the Messiah.   We welcomed the new light coming into the world and rejoiced at its appearing.   But today, we hear the dark side of the Christmas story.   Today we turn to the Gospel of Matthew and we hear a very different account.    One that many, probably most of us would rather ignore.   In fact, it never ceases to amaze me how many lifelong Christians remain totally unfamiliar with this story.   For although the first visitors to the newborn Jesus, the shepherds, the angles and even the magi were all joyful and filled with praise, beneath their glad tidings danger was lurking.   For in thi...

Isaiah 9:2-7; Luke 2:1-20 On this holy night “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness--on them light has shined.” On this holy night we come together in the gathering dark to celebrate the coming of a of a new light into the world, Jesus Christ our Lord. Tonight, we remember that Jesus Christ took on flesh and was born as one of us, that God has chosen to become incarnate and dwell among us.   Tonight, a new light dawns, and we hear again the ancient story of salvation coming into the world as we welcome the coming of the Lord. And tonight we hear again that enduring message of hope, this ancient story passed down year after year, generation after generation for millennia, this message that has survived wars and persecutions, misunderstandings and heresies, exclusion and cooption, this message that shows us that love wins, in the face of every barrier, even in face of indescribable evil, hope always finds a way to su...

Isaiah 7:10-16, Romans 1:1-7, Matt 1:18-25           So today is the fourth and final Sunday in Advent.   Christmas is in 3 days.   Are you ready do you feel prepared?   I’m sure that some of you feel you have the season well in hand.   Presents bought and wrapped, travel plans and schedules complete, cooking, baking and cleaning well under way and so on.   Others like me, may still feel a bit behind, overwhelmed and unsure what even still needs to get done, much less whether we will actually do it .   I have always admired those people who manage to get all their Christmas shopping done in October.   Because whether we are having a big extravagant family Christmas or a quiet time at home with some much needed relaxing it pays to be prepared.           And our bible readings for today seek to make sure we are prepared for Christmas too but in a way that has no...