Rotten Apple Seeds

Here is today’s sermon, May 3, 206, V Easter, Year A. It is based on John 14: 1-14, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life”. In it I discuss how we read the gospel of John against itself. We find the term, “My Father’s House”, in the cleansing of the Temple in John 2. From this we learn how death purifies our love by making us unselfish lovers.

Here is today’s sermon, April 26, 2026, IV Easter, Year A. It is based on John 10: 1-10, the Good Shepherd. In it I challenge the idea of the pastoral innocent vision of shepherds and sheep and indicate that sheep are fundamentally animals of sacrifice. Who in our society is expendable and able to be sacrificed?

Here is today’s sermon, April 19, 2026, III Easter, Year A. It is based on Luke 24: 13-35, the Disciples at Emmaus. In it I invite the congregation to join me in a thought experiment imagining that Jesus had indeed risen from the dead. Imagine how challenging it would be to convey this ineffable experience to others.

Here is today’s sermon, April 5, 2026, Easter Sunday, Year A. It is based on John 20:1-18, the Resurrection. In it I make the point that resurrection can happen to us all. Death is the school of love which purifies and make our love from human and transactional to selfless and divine.

Here is today’s sermon, April 3, 2026, Good Friday, Year A. In it is discuss the various theories of atonement, including substitutionary atonement and penal substitution. I conclude that what is most affirming and uplifting is the solidarity the the Divine wishes to establish with humanity and, thus, elevate and ennoble our lives and relationships.

Here is today’s sermon, April 2, 2026, Maundy Thursday, Year A. It is based on John 13:1-17, 31b-35, the Footwashing. In it, I discuss the term, anamnesis, in which the act of recollecting or remembering makes present the person. I note how the footwashing and the Eucharist are not nostalgia, but active remembering to be aware of the presence of Christ in our action.

Here is today’s sermon, March 29, 2026, Palm Sunday, Year A. It is based on the Passion in St. Matthew. In it I explain that we are called not to be passive and submissive spectators in this drama, but rather witnesses who testify with our lives.

Here is today’s sermon, March 22, 2026, V Lent, Year A. It is based on John 11: 1-45, the Raising of Lazarus. In it I explain that Mary’s and Martha’s statement, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died,” was a statement not of fact,but regret. Raising Lazarus shows us that Jesus is the Lord of Second Chances.

Here is today’s sermon, March 15, 2026, IV Lent, Year A. It is based on John 9: 1-41, the Man Born Blind. In it I question whether his healing was worth the years of blindness and poverty that he and his family endured. I ask the larger question about the role of old in suffering.

Here is today’s sermon, March 8, 2026, III Lent, Year A. It is based on John 4: 5-41, Jesus and the Woman at the Well. In it is show the many scriptural connections and references that are woven in this beautiful tapestry of a story. Inasmuch as these threads form a unity, the gospel itself call us to be one body, which is Christ’s.