Text Sermons
The Power of Passivity (Mark 9: 25-29; Acts 1: 3-5)
Never forget that in this situation the disciples were trying to do a very good thing. They were trying to heal a young boy of epilepsy. They had watched Jesus perform similar healings many times. They knew exactly what words he had said, knew exactly what actions he...
A Love That Surpasses Loss (John 15: 12-17 ; Acts 4: 32-35)
On Broad Street in Rome, Georgia, there is a plaque commemorating the life and achievements of Rosalind Burns Gammon. Frankly, this plaque is a meager tribute to a woman who had the most enduring influence on Southern culture of any Floyd County citizen who ever...
When the Trumpet Doesn’t Sound (Matthew 2: 13-18)
We could start this sermon virtually anywhere. We could begin with the wailing women in Pharaoh’s Egypt, lamenting their massacred Hebrew babies, even as little Moses floats serenely in his boat of bulrushes. We could begin in New York City on the eleventh day of...
Seized By a Great Idea (Matthew 4: 18-22)
A couple of times a year I follow the example of Jesus and retreat from people to engage in a couple of days of isolation, fasting, prayer and work. My dog usually travels with me on these occasions, and on this particular trip I was accompanied by my golden retriever...
Communion Homily – What Made Jesus Happy? (Philemon 1: 23-24; 2 Timothy 4: 9-11)
Some years ago we were on vacation and riding home after a dinner out at the beach when my daughter Clara looked at her phone and exclaimed, “Robin Williams has died. He apparently committed suicide.” Such news sparked a spirited family conversation, all of us...