St George's Sermon Blog

Luke 13:31-34; Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 We have made it to week two of Lent, and so now we are getting to the meaty part of the season.   We are well on our way, but we still have a long way to go.   This is where the rubber begins to hit the road so to speak.   10 days in, our Lenten practices are either starting to become habits or falling by the wayside.   It’s that time when we really want to start seeing results for our activities but they may not be here yet.   Our journey to the cross has really only just begun, but very often we wish the destination would come sooner, that change would come faster.   If only Easter would arrive as quickly as this the sudden change of seasons that came upon us this week, and yet we are still here waiting another month to enjoy our resurrection joy. And Jesus knows this.   This is not news.   We are not unique in trying to rush the process.   Our Gospel lesson this week reminds us of this simple fact....

  Luke 4:1-13;  Romans 10:8b-13 This is the first week in Lent as we begin our 40 day journey together with Jesus toward the cross.   Lent is an ancient and Holy time in the church.   Back in the earliest days of the church when Christianity was still a new religion, new Christians who were preparing to be baptized would undergo a special period of intensive preparation during the final 40 days before their baptism on Easter.   This period was designed to mirror other 40 day periods of preparation for an encounter with God found in the bible.   Like when Moses went up onto Mount Sinai for 40 days, and when Elijah journeyed for 40 days in the wilderness while escaping persecution and most importantly when Jesus fasted for 40 days in the wilderness and was tempted by the devil before the start of his public ministry in the Gospel story we hear today. As the church grew and became the dominant religion and as more and more people were baptized as infants o...

  Isaiah 58:1-12, Matthew 6:1-6,16-21 Today we join together to begin our Lenten journey to the cross.   These 40 days are a special time of dedication and focus in the church.   It is a season of repentance where we remember both our sinful nature and our need for God’s forgiveness.   But much more importantly it is a time for journeying with Jesus.   A time to focus more deeply on how Jesus is calling us and where Jesus is leading us to be.   And so it is also a time where we often heighten our observance and engage in Lenten disciplines like prayer, mediation, bible study, fasting, almsgiving and service to others. The lessons appointed for today are perfectly designed to help us enter into Lent.   The reading from Isaiah reminds us of the true nature of worship before God.   He warns us of the dangers of shallow worship, of saying the right things and doing right things while letting injustice fester at out feet.   Instead Isaiah call...

  Luke 9:28-43a We have made it to the end of our long Epiphany Season.   The last Sunday before the start of the season of Lent here at church. It is the day we say farewell to Alleluia and begin to transition to the more somber time of Lent.   And it is the day where we read the story of Jesus’s Transfiguration every year.   And let’s just take a moment to acknowledge right from the outset that this story is straight up weird.   Jesus goes up on a mountain gets super shiny, has a meeting with two dead guys, the disciples have this crazy holy theophany (which is really just a fancy word for when God talks directly to you) and then everyone leaves.   It’s weird, so weird.   Especially to modern ears.   And that’s okay.   God is weird.   Being a disciple is weird.   And sometimes, the weird stuff, because it is so outside of our normal experience is where we can learn the most about God and what he is calling us to do.   So to...