Posts filed under: Sermon

An Enslaved Enslaving Church

Enslaved to sin. That we might no longer be enslaved to sin. This we know, that our old self was crucified with Christ so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. The catechism of enslavement includes rape, forced procreation and forced impregnation and also, forced...... Read More

Love in the Wilderness

Let us pray: May the written word through the spoken word draw us to the living Word. Amen. Lent is a wilderness carved out in space and time with prayer, self-sacrifice, fasting, meditation, self-examination and, the study of the scriptures. All of these are wilderness ways. Yet, there is more than one kind of wilderness....... Read More

Hermeneutics of Reversal: Widow of Zarephath

  Let us pray: Wisdom of the Ages, whisper to us words of life from your words and mine. Amen.   Self-examination and repentance. Prayer, fasting and self-denial. Study of the scriptures and meditation upon them. These are the pillars of a holy Lent. Lent can be a hungry time. Hunger for things missed never...... Read More

Epiphany 7

The story of the widow of Zarephath is extraordinary. She receives a rare miracle when she and her son are on the verge of starving to death and the prophet Elijah makes a way out of no way. That should be enough. A happy ending. This week her story continues with the unexpected illness of...... Read More

Dreamers and Prophets: Commemorating King

 Sermon begins about 26 minutes in. In the summer of 1968, scant months after the murder and martyrdom of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., these words from the King James translation of the Bible appeared on a tent in the Poor People’s Campaign’s Resurrection City, occupying the Mall in Washington DC: Behold, this...... Read More

Remember Jesus of the Line of Bathsheba

2 Timothy 2:8 Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, from the line of David [and Bathsheba]; that is my gospel… (Proper 28 Year W) In the name of God: The Author, the Word and the Translator. Amen. On October 28, I had the privilege of being seated and installed as the Right Rev. Sam B....... Read More

Good Fruit. Bad Fruit. Strange Fruit. The Gospel According to Rizpah

A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church, Year W, Proper 24 (Closest to October 19): 2 Samuel 21:1-14; Psalm 58; Revelation 6:9-11; Luke 6:43-45 Yesterday, we talked about the women’s stories in scripture that we do and do not hear taught and preached. Sometimes we don’t hear stories of women because their pieces are scattered...... Read More

Raphael and the Virgin Bride

If this sermon was a steampunk novel, its title would be, “On the Feast of Raphael and All Angels, a Sexually Frustrated Virgin, a Young Man Willing to Do the Deed, an Angel in Drag, a Dog, a Fish, a Demon and, a Backyard Full of Bodies: A Sermon From Tobit.” Let us pray: God...... Read More

What Are You Hungry For? Money. Sex. Power.

Today’s readings come from the Women’s Lectionary Year W Proper 9: 1 Samuel 2:12–17, 22–25; Psalm 49:1–2, 5–9, 16–17; 1 Timothy 6:6–16; Luke 16:10–13 The sermon may be viewed at All Saints Kauai. The message begins at 26 minutes. It’s good to be back on my island home. Much mahalo to Kahu Kawika for the...... Read More

The Mark of Cain: Marked for Death, Marked for Life

Let us pray: In the name of God whose mercy is just and whose justice is merciful. Amen. (Audio on multiple platforms available here.) To be black in America is to bear the Mark of Cain, not because God turned Cain black for his sin as generations of racist biblical interpreters proclaimed, but because this...... Read More