St George's Sermon Blog

John 6:51-58 You are what you eat.   I think most of us have heard this line at some point before.   Usually it used to try to spur people into making more ethical or responsible food choices.   If we are what we eat, then it matters what food we choose.   Perhaps it encourages us to choose healthier options, to eat less or no meat, to buy local or organic, to avoid chemicals, additives or GMO’s.    It helps us to think more deeply about what we put in our bodies and how we are feeding ourselves. For the first time perhaps in human history the majority of Americans struggle with food not because of its scarcity but because of its abundance and the sheer mass quantity of food options available to us at all times, much of which does not really nourish our bodies.   If we are what we eat, then are we letting ourselves get too filled up with junk? Today in our gospel lesson however, Jesus offers us new food.   “I am the living bread that came do...

  John 6:35, 41-51 Today is the third week in our five weeks series of readings on Jesus the Bread of Life.   On the first week we heard the story of Jesus feeding the great crowd of 5000 with only 5 loaves and 2 fish.   Then last week we got to overhear Jesus’ conversation with a small crowd of people who followed him after the miracle where he tells them that he is the true bread who has come down from heaven to feed a hungry world.   Last week’s story was filled with misunderstandings and the crowd’s earnest attempts to understand who Jesus is and what he is talking about.     Today we hear the crowd’s reaction to Jesus’ teaching.   And it is not good.   They have heard what Jesus has to say and they just don’t buy it.   After all, it doesn’t make any sense.   Here is Jesus, a man that they know, whose parents they know, who they have watched grow up, suddenly claiming that he is the bread of life come down from heaven.   W...

  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...

Mark 5:21-43      The women are back today.  Today we get the next installment of our year-long series about women in the Bible and early church.  And we get to see yet another powerful story about a biblical woman who is brave, pushes boundaries and leads and who Jesus praises unconditionally for these qualities.  She is a woman who can serve as a model for us all  And also, quite typically, the Bible doesn’t even give her the courtesy of recording her name.      But our story for today doesn’t actually begin with our heroic woman, because in our gospel reading we actually hear a pair of stories about how Jesus brings healing, restoration and hope to the people he encounters. So instead our story begins with a man, who incidentally does get his name recorded, named Jairus, the leader of the local synagogue.  As soon as Jesus arrives onshore, in a display most out of character for a man of his rank and station, Jairus throws him...