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Showing posts with label Year C. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Year C. Show all posts
"Lost" Proper 19C
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Bothering God
A reflection for the 10th Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 12, year C.
"Knock and the door shall be opened unto you."
After two and half hours, I pulled up at the front entrance to the hospital at 9:10pm. It was an emergency. As Pastor, I was there to offer comfort to the family of a child who had been life-lighted to here for emergency care.
I didn't know where to park in the large medical complex. So I walked up to the front doors to ask the security guard where the best place to park was. "I'm sorry," he said, "No one is allowed in these doors after 9:00pm."
I was stunned. Somewhere inside was a very scared family. Somewhere inside were the people I had driven two and a half hours to sit with and offer comfort to. It was 9:10!! It took me 10 minutes to drive around the detour a block from the hospital. But the guard did not move.
I looked at the building one last time, and I made up my mind.
I put my car in the nearby parking garage, and walked into the other hospital - the one across the street. I signed in, and took the elevator to the second floor. So far so good. But where to next? I walked to one end of the hospital. No luck. I looked in all the little side corridors.
Finally, after 40 minutes of walking I found it. The sky bridge from this hospital to the one across the street - the one where no one is allowed in the front door after 9pm.
I walked across the sky bridge, and a nice doctor held the door open for me. I had a great visit with the patient and family. Exactly what I came there for - and exactly what they needed.
And then I walked out the front door past a confused security guard.
I knocked ... but the door was not open. But I didn't give up. I continued to knock, and to seek ... and seek ... and seek, until I found a way.
In Luke's Gospel, Jesus compares our prayers to a neighbor who knocks on the door in the middle of the night (Luke 11:1-13). Knock loud enough and long enough, says Jesus, and you will wake up the homeowner. Don't give up. Sometimes, we need to bother God with our prayers. Not once, not twice, but again and again.
Knock, and the door shall be opened unto you ... But if not, then knock again!
I wonder if we worry about being too polite with our prayers. If we don't really want to disturb God.
Jesus tells us to come to God with all the enthusiasm of a child who sees something that she just HAS to have. Jesus advises us to pray with the desperation of someone in need in the middle of the night.
So go ahead. Bother God.
"Knock and the door shall be opened unto you."
After two and half hours, I pulled up at the front entrance to the hospital at 9:10pm. It was an emergency. As Pastor, I was there to offer comfort to the family of a child who had been life-lighted to here for emergency care.
I didn't know where to park in the large medical complex. So I walked up to the front doors to ask the security guard where the best place to park was. "I'm sorry," he said, "No one is allowed in these doors after 9:00pm."
I was stunned. Somewhere inside was a very scared family. Somewhere inside were the people I had driven two and a half hours to sit with and offer comfort to. It was 9:10!! It took me 10 minutes to drive around the detour a block from the hospital. But the guard did not move.
I looked at the building one last time, and I made up my mind.
I put my car in the nearby parking garage, and walked into the other hospital - the one across the street. I signed in, and took the elevator to the second floor. So far so good. But where to next? I walked to one end of the hospital. No luck. I looked in all the little side corridors.
Finally, after 40 minutes of walking I found it. The sky bridge from this hospital to the one across the street - the one where no one is allowed in the front door after 9pm.
I walked across the sky bridge, and a nice doctor held the door open for me. I had a great visit with the patient and family. Exactly what I came there for - and exactly what they needed.
And then I walked out the front door past a confused security guard.
I knocked ... but the door was not open. But I didn't give up. I continued to knock, and to seek ... and seek ... and seek, until I found a way.
In Luke's Gospel, Jesus compares our prayers to a neighbor who knocks on the door in the middle of the night (Luke 11:1-13). Knock loud enough and long enough, says Jesus, and you will wake up the homeowner. Don't give up. Sometimes, we need to bother God with our prayers. Not once, not twice, but again and again.
Knock, and the door shall be opened unto you ... But if not, then knock again!
I wonder if we worry about being too polite with our prayers. If we don't really want to disturb God.
Jesus tells us to come to God with all the enthusiasm of a child who sees something that she just HAS to have. Jesus advises us to pray with the desperation of someone in need in the middle of the night.
So go ahead. Bother God.
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| Take lessons in knocking from Dr. Sheldon Cooper |
Grace that Goes Bump in the Night
"Grace that Goes Bump in the Night"
Sermon for Lent 2, year C, preached at St. John Lutheran Church of Prairie Hill on February 17, 2013. Text Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18.
(Thank you to the Rev. Lia Scholl for her awesome reflection at The Hardest Question, where she drew the analogy between the Genesis story and a horror movie which opens this sermon.)
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Sermon for Lent 2, year C, preached at St. John Lutheran Church of Prairie Hill on February 17, 2013. Text Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18.
(Thank you to the Rev. Lia Scholl for her awesome reflection at The Hardest Question, where she drew the analogy between the Genesis story and a horror movie which opens this sermon.)
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Dangerous Love, Epiphany 4C
"Dangerous Love"A sermon for the Fourth Sunday after Epiphany (Year C). Preached at St. John Lutheran Church of Prairie Hill on February 4, 2013.
Texts: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 and Luke 4:21-30.
(Thanks to the Rev. Michael Bos for the Wedding Crashers illustration, which he used in his sermon. The story of the child and father learning about history is adapted from my (poor) recollection of the "Kid Logic" episode of This American Life)
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Saving the Best for Last!
"Saving the Best for Last!" a sermon for the second Sunday after Epiphany, 2013. Preached at St. John Lutheran Church of Prairie Hill on January 20, 2013.
Gospel Lesson: The Wedding at Cana, John 2:1-11
(The story about the Italian in North Georgia comes from a reflection by Pastor Delmer Chilton)
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(The story about the Italian in North Georgia comes from a reflection by Pastor Delmer Chilton)
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Which Christmas?
"Which Christmas?" a sermon for Christmas Eve, 2012. Preached at St. John Lutheran Church of Prairie Hill.
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Mary's Apocalypse
Pardon the head cold - fighting off the last of my annual post-Christmas illness as I recorded the podcast.
(News story referenced in regards to the the generous outpouring to the town of Newtown, CT.)
(Image: "The Mother of God of Tenderness Towards Evil Hearts" by Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, public domain)
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Be a Scrooge!
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| (Altar of St. John-Prairie Hill with memorial candles) |
A little longer than my average sermon, here is audio for yesterday's sermon. Where the heart break the Newtown tragedy meets the hope of Advent. "Be a Scrooge" a sermon for the 3rd Sunday of Advent, Year C.
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John the Pressure Washer
Audio for this morning's sermon is posted! "John the Pressure Washer" a sermon for the 2nd Sunday of Advent, Year C. Preached at St. John Lutheran Church of Prairie Hill. Still tinkering with the audio and getting the feed to do what it is supposed to do -- any feedback appreciated.
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Standing on our Tiptoes
(Advanced users: If you are a podcast sort of person, I have set my sermons up as a Feedburner rss feed that you can subscribe to separate from the rest of the blog, and get just the audio for my sermons most weeks.)
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Enjoy!
(The opening image of the exhaustion of watching the nightly news was inspired by a sermon by the Rev. Erik Christensen)
(The opening image of the exhaustion of watching the nightly news was inspired by a sermon by the Rev. Erik Christensen)
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