I have been providing video sermons for a few congregations over the COVID season. It has been a blessing in many ways, but the most important lesson for me is that a sermon should provoke a theological response. I don’t have the answers, I have some insight, I don’t have the wisdom, I belong to wise community. This sermon is no different. I want the text to prompt questions and provoke an ongoing conversation.
In this reading we encounter Nicodemus, a leader compelled to hide his questions under cover of darkness. For many of us, we have inherited an expectation that leadership does not allow for questions or even human failings. What does that look like for Nicodemus?
Healing an Enemy
Matthew 8:5-13 has Jesus healing the lover of the local commander of the Roman army. For many of us, we quietly wish pain and suffering upon those who hold us oppressed, but this confronting image of Jesus bringing healing to an enemy’s household moves us into a greater, more sacred understanding.
Mark 5:1-17
What is the cost for the healing of an individual?
In the midst of a pandemic can we put a finacial cost on the healing of individuals in our communities?
Was Judas really that bad?
Judas has been used as a justification for all kinds of agression and violent behaviour against our Jewish brothers, sisters and others.
But, was Judas really that bad or was something far more complicated at play?
3 Squares 