This is my sermon from Second Advent Sunday this year.
The central text was Luke 1: 68-79.
This is my sermon from Second Advent Sunday this year.
The central text was Luke 1: 68-79.
This is my sermon from First Advent Sunday this year.
The central texts were Jeremiah 33: 14-16 and Luke 24: 25-36.
If you found two people wrestling, what would it take for you to intervene? If you were at a public event, like a church picnic or a community gathering at a park, what would force you to step in? Certainly if one of the combatants was wrestling unwillingly you could jump to their aid. If there was an imminent risk of injury, it would be worthwhile to stop them. Are all other cases of wrestling with two willing combatants okay? I think there is another exception, one that points to the kind of closeness Jacob experienced, and that we too are invited to experience, in wrestling God.
On Palm Sunday, Jesus entered Jerusalem much like the Bachelorette enters the room, surrounded by many candidates who are not there for the right reasons.
If Samuel can anoint a new king while the old king is still firmly and violently holding on to the throne, and if Jesus can heal a man who was born blind with mud, then each of us can be anointed in unorthodox ways for the challenges we face.
This past Sunday we had a great performance by our church choir, and I took ten minutes at the end to draw some parallels between the lives and legacies of John the Baptist, who is featured in this year’s second Sunday of Advent scripture reading, and Nelson Mandela, who died just a few days before.