St George's Sermon Blog

  Take, Bless, Break, Give, Proper 12 (B) – 2018 July 29, 2018 Jason Cox You might be tempted to gloss over the miracle stories about Jesus that are recorded in the Gospels. Taken at face value, most of them stretch our credulity, perhaps further than we are willing to go, and for what? Is it necessary to believe that Jesus really walked on water, or magically multiplied the loaves and fishes? Why do we keep telling these improbable stories? The story we heard in the Gospel of John today — about Jesus feeding the 5,000 — stands out in the Gospels. The Gospel writers clearly thought this story was important. It shows up in Matthew, Mark, and Luke — since these three share a common source and repeat a lot of material, this is not surprising. But John also includes it, which is interesting, because there’s not much overlap between John and the other Gospels. And on top of that, Matthew and Mark like this story so much that they tell it twice! The second telling is almost identical, ex...

  2 Sam 7:1-14a I feel like I have been a bit remiss this summer.   Here we decided we should read the David narratives together in worship and then we have basically ignored them all summer.   Now the story is almost complete and we have barely talked about them at all.   But today we are going to take at least this one day to experience this story because I love David.   I actually wrote my master thesis on the David narratives in Samuel and Chronicles.   I studied under the great Ralph Klein and have probably spent more time studying this section of the bible than any other. David, alongside maybe Peter, is probably my favorite biblical character because he is so very human.   He makes mistakes, he does shady things, his love life is a mess, his family is a mess, he lives, he laughs, he sings, he dances, he is truly one of us.   And God loves him.   And God favors him and cares for him even when he makes catastrophic mistakes.   A...

 Selected by Rev Graham Pentecost 7 – Proper 9 (B) by  Amy Richter   Strength in Weakness [RCL] Ezekiel 2:1-5; Psalm 123; 2 Corinthians 12:2-10; Mark 6:1-13 Jesus said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”   Power made perfect, not in strength, but in weakness, says Jesus. “Whenever I am weak, then I am strong,” says St. Paul. We should have known this would be true when God chose to enter human life not as a king or a conqueror, but as a baby. Sure, the heavenly host of angels was present at the blessed event, but they were singing, “Peace to God’s people on earth,” not, “Look out people, you’re in big trouble now!”   God’s love took on flesh and dwelt among us as a baby—vulnerable, utterly dependent, weak. Our clue that God would use weakness to show strength. Of course, God was doing that long before Jesus was born. Take, for example, the great story of Gideon, who was told by God to fight against the Midi...

 Selected by Margaret Wallbridge Goliath Moments, Proper 9 (B) – 2012 July 08, 2012 Charles Hoffacker “David was 30 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for forty years. … David occupied the stronghold, and named it the City of David. David built the city all around from the Millo inward. And David became greater and greater, for the Lord of hosts was with him.” There is something strong and imperial and complete about these words from today’s Old Testament reading from Second Samuel. They constitute a summary about the reign of King David. They claim a divine sanction for David’s success. But they leave out much more than they contain. The story of David, which stretches through many chapters of scripture, is far more human and horrible and glorious than this scrap of royal chronicle. At the Palmer Art Museum in University Park, Pennsylvania, there is an oil painting from 17th century Italy that depicts David with the head of Goliath. The artist, Forabosco, shows us Da...