Merry Christmas

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May this be a blessed Christmas Day! And if you can, take in some Christmas music -- old and new.

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Standing Firm -- a Palm Sunday Sermon

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I reprint below my Palm Sunday sermon from this morning -- It's actually the Hebrew Bible text for Passion Sunday (the Palm Sunday alter ego). As I note in the sermon, while I enjoy Palm Sunday, I find it a difficult preaching event -- How do you preach triumph, when you know that Good Friday is on the horizon!



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Isaiah 50:4-9a

"Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me." That’s what you’re supposed to say when bullies pick on you and call you names. It would be nice, if names didn’t hurt, but from experience I can say – it’s not true. Names do hurt. Indeed, we’ve discovered that verbal abuse can be just as damaging to a child as physical abuse. James understood this to be true long before the psychologists caught on. He called the tongue a "restless evil, full of deadly poison." Indeed, the same tongue that we use to sing praises to God, we also use to curse those "who are made…
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The Joy of Forgiveness -- A Sermon for Lent 4C (Psalm 32)

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Psalm 32

Are you happy? Then you must be forgiven! While none of us is  completely sinless, apparently it’s possible to be free of that nagging joy-killing sense of guilt that comes with sin. It appears that we can “be glad in the Lord and rejoice,” if we’re found to be among the righteous. We can “shout for joy,” if “we’re upright in heart.” The good news is we can start with the promise of forgiveness. So says the Psalmist.
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Thirsting for God -- Sermon for Lent 3C (Psalm 63)

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Psalm 63:1-8

Isaiah called out to the exiles living in Babylon:
Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters;
and you that have no money, come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.  (Is. 55:1) Are you thirsty? Are you hungry? Then come and drink and eat, freely, for the gift of God is one of grace, and it alone will satisfy. 
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