Category Archives: Sermons

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Love God

Temple United Methodist Church, San Francisco, Calif. Reading for the 23rd Sunday after Pentecost: Mark 12:28-34 What is the most important commandment? I ask you that 2,000 year old question. It was asked by a teacher of the Law who should have known the answer.

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Repent, or You’re Going to H-E-Double-Toothpicks

University Temple United Methodist Church, Seattle, Wash. Readings for the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost: Amos 8:1-12, Luke 10:38-42 Repent, or You’re Going to H-E-double-toothpicks. So let’s see if that’s what I’m really getting at today, as we consider again the prophet Amos. As in last

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On Being Put to the Test

Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church, Minneapolis, Minn. Readings for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost: Genesis 22:1-14, Matthew 10:40-42 Anyone who has ever listened to radio has heard the test of the Emergency Broadcast System in which the announcer says, “This is a test. This is

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The Danger of Inhospitality

St. Paul-Reformation Lutheran Church, St. Paul, Minn. Reading for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost: Matthew 10:40-42 Holy God, holy and mighty, holy and immortal, have mercy on us. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ. It is oftentimes the task of a pastor to spend a

Man begging with cup

Loving Those Who Cannot Help Themselves

Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church, Minneapolis, Minn.  Readings for the Seventh Sunday of Easter: 1 John 5:9-13, John 17:11b-19 Someday I’m going to preach a sermon on phrases some folks think are from the Bible. Phrases like: “The Lord helps those who help themselves.” People

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Be Still

Mount Hollywood Congregational Church, Los Angeles, Calif. Readings for the Third Sunday of Easter: Psalm 46 NIV,  Luke 24:13-31 When a piece of exercise equipment called the Stairmaster was first marketed, I was incredulous. Here was this advertisement for a machine that simulated stair climbing,

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Healing Faith

Cathedral of Hope MCC, Dallas, Texas Reading: Luke 8:40-56 This is the fourth sermon in our series on healing. The first week we looked at the importance of believing that God’s ultimate will for us is health and wellness. Jesus said, “The thief comes to

Stained glass window image of Jesus

What Would Jesus Do?

Reading for the 13th Sunday after Pentecost: Luke 14:25-33 Now large crowds were traveling with Jesus; and he turned and said to them, “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself,

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The Injustice of Grace

University Baptist Church, Austin, Texas Readings for the 15th Sunday after Pentecost: Jeremiah 8:18-9:1, 1 Timothy 2:1-7, Luke 16:1-13 People usually get what they deserve, don’t you think? Leo Rosten tells the story of two guys, partners in a men’s clothing store, who made a