Texts: Revelation 7:9-17 Psalm 34:1-10, 22 1 John 3:1-3 Matthew 5:1-12 Manuscript: It is a rare day that the lectionary brings us the Revelation of John. Revelation is a strange book. It is one scholars often struggle with—as one example, John Calvin wrote a commentary on every other book of the New Testament, and Zwingli, another […]
Texts: Acts 7:55-60, Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16, 1 Peter 2:2-10, John 14:1-14
Texts: Deuteronomy 34:1-12 Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8 Matthew 22:34-46 Manuscript: About eight months ago, I stepped behind this pulpit for the first time to talk about the Hebrews around Mt. Sinai, watching as Moses climbed the mountain and stepped into a cloud to meet with God. We talked about not knowing the path, not […]
Texts: Exodus 33:12-23 Psalm 99:1-9 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 Matthew 22:15-22 Manuscript: One of the disadvantages of standing here, in the year 2020…and I will try to keep my focus on just this one, because I do not think there are many I need to name. I am, after all, still talking to a camera, at least […]
Texts: Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20 Psalm 19:1-14 Philippians 3:4b-14 Matthew 21:33-46 Manuscript: Last week we read verses 23 through 32. Jesus is teaching in the Temple when the chief priests and elders interrupt him to ask “By what authority are you doing these things and who gave you this authority?” Jesus answers with a question: “Did […]
Texts: Exodus 17:1-7 Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16 Philippians 2:1-13 Matthew 21:23-32 Manuscript: I have been thinking a lot about Harry Potter this week. Before I go further, I guess I should give warning about some minor spoilers to the overall series and more significant spoilers to the fifth book and movie, but really, the book was published […]
Texts: Exodus 16:2-15 Psalm 105:1-6, 37-45 Philippians 1:21-30 Matthew 20:1-16 Manuscript: One of the small (very small) silver linings of the past few months is that, due to the cancellation of the 2020 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, UVA gets another year as the reigning national champion. I said it was a small thing. I grew up […]
Texts: Exodus 14:19-31 Exodus 15:1b-11, 20-21 Romans 14:1-12 Matthew 18:21-35 Manuscript: I do not know how many of you watch police procedurals on TV—if we were in person, I might ask you to raise your hands, and I briefly considered testing out Zoom’s poll feature to ask, but it really is not that important. You […]
Texts: Exodus 12:1-14 Psalm 149:1-9 Romans 13:8-14 Matthew 18:15-20 Manuscript: If you have been paying close attention these last few weeks, you could be forgiven for being a bit…confused right now. Two weeks ago, I started talking about Romans 13:1-7 and the context around it, beginning with Romans 12:1-8 in the first week, then finishing chapter […]
Texts: Exodus 3:1-15 Psalm 105:1-6, 23-26, 45c Romans 12:9-21 Matthew 16:21-28 If you were at with us last week, or listened to the whole service online, you may have recognized our prelude. Once again, we used Joseph Haydn’s “Austria,” a piece with a complicated history, including as the tune for the Austrian and German national anthems, […]