Sermons

What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?

If you have walked by the front of the Duncan/Giersch Parish Life Center this week or as you were coming into Good Shepherd today, you may have noticed the banner hanging out in front with the words, "God loves you. No exceptions. The Episcopal Church welcomes you."

“Following, or Not”

Within the past month we have celebrated the birth of Jesus and the later arrival of the magi and their proclamation to the Gentiles of the birth of Christ, the Messiah. We have listened to the story of John’s baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan, and today we begin our long series of lessons this year from the Gospel According to Mark.

And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart... And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved..."

The intentional pairing of the first verses of The Book of Genesis, where God begins the whole process of creation, with today’s Gospel account of the Baptism of Jesus by John in the river Jordan, tells us among other things that what Jesus does in submitting to the baptism by John represents something radically new breaking into the life of the world. It also says that creation, and human life in particular, has a chance to be made new again.

What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.

I recently reposted a quote from Erma Bombeck that had popped up on my Facebook page which read: 

"There's nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child."