Sermon: B 15 Pentecost 18 Proper 9 September 2012

Prv 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23; Ps 125; Jms 2: 1-10, 14-17; MK &: 24-37

This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice…  AMEN.

The Proverbs two-liners set my teeth as much on edge as do James with the Gospel. Our culture also bombards us with similar slogans, as absolute and hard to do. “The rich and poor have this in common: the Lord God made them all.” Duh. “What good is it if you say you have faith but not works? Can faith save you? If someone is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,’ and you don’t supply their needs, what’s the good? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.” Duh.

Sermon B 8 Pentecost, Proper 11, 22 July 2012

2 Sm 7:1-14a; Ps 89:20-37; Eph 2:11-22; MARK 6:30-56

This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice… AMEN.

What do you do for short-term or longer-term respite? Does it vary in heat or cold? What do you look for from that time, and how do you know it’s “worked” for you? Imbedded in the whole Gospel passage are these questions and sketched answers, but the feeding and healing narratives, and the four-fold preview of the Last Supper and the Eucharist, are so significant, the lectionary makers have cut the whole sharply.