The Rev. Kristin Krantz St. James’, Mt. Airy 12/1/19 Advent 1A Isaiah 2:1-5; Psalm 122; Romans 13:11-14; Matthew 24:36-44 Though winter doesn’t officially start for a few weeks, it feels as if it has arrived. The days are short. The darkness comes early. By late afternoon most days, it starts to look as if the light is just about to go out.…
Gracious God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and work through them; take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen. Today’s Gospel reading is the second-to-last week in a nearly six-month chronological walk through several chapters of Luke. Next Sunday we will celebrate Christ the King, and the end of this liturgical year. The Sunday after that the season…
Gracious God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and work through them; take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen. There is nothing we can do to make God love us more, and there is nothing we can do to make God love us less[1] – and because of this we are called to live by a…
The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am…
Gracious God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and work through them; take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen. Today’s parable is unique to the Gospel of Luke. As with most parables, the language is highly condensed and the meaning is wide open. In fact, in these eight short verses we find theological key words and topics…
Gracious God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and work through them; take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen. I promise I’m not jumping ahead in the service, but please play along. The Lord be with you. And also with you. Lift up your hearts. We lift them to the Lord. Let us give thanks to the…
Gracious God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and work through them; take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen. I confess to you now that this sermon has a disappointing lack of St. Francis in it, but I hope you will check out the Shell Newsletter article from Thursday which is all about him. +++ Jesus said to…
Gracious God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and work through them; take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen. Last week’s Gospel parable about the wise use of “dishonest wealth” ended with this warning: You cannot serve God and wealth. It is just as stark a warning for us as it was for those who heard…