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Augustine: Big Man Meets Bigger God. 354-430 C.E.
Yesterday was the feast of St. Augustine of Hippo, Great Doctor of the Western church. Long considered the greatest ancient mind in the Western world, Augustine is out of favor right now in Christian...
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They Didn’t Call Him “Golden-Mouthed” for Nothing…
They didn’t know what they were doing when they made John Archbishop of Constantinople. They learned not to give a captivating speaker a microphone if you don’t know what he is going to say. John...
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“Get your head in the game!” Seeing our need for a Savior.
A Sermon: Luke 3:7-18. John has quite the attention getter for his message. I wonder what it would do to Sunday church attendance if preachers today opened sermons the way John did: “You guys…You....
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Be your own God (in one easy lesson)
Or…What to do with a Bible that says hard things? “Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people….” –Psalm 106:40 We hear a lot about how “God loves the sinner, hates the sin.” Did you...
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Sonnet of the day: Batter my heart, three-person’d God
One of the great poems of the faith for those who have hit the spiritual wall… BY JOHN DONNE Batter my heart, three-person’d God, for you As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend; That I may...
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Todd, adoption, and a briar patch: Glimpses of God at work
Facebook gets a lot of grief, but I have a confession, I like Facebook. It allows me to peek into people’s joys and struggles, rejoice and grieve with friends, and spurs me to pray more. I keep in...
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Where is Your Help? A Sermon for a Shutdown America
I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. (Psalm 121: 1-2) I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where...
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The Secret to a Great Life
There is a secret. It will change your life. And once you know it, you will never forget it. I first realized I was “that guy” in our neighborhood at my daughter’s pirate-themed fifth birthday party. I...
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Our King and Savior Now Draws Near
Folks have asked for the sermon that got the “Jesus count” upped after looking at its tag cloud. Here it is… Today is Rejoice Sunday. The Advent pivot. Today we make the turn from repentance to...
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Game on. A sermon for Ash Wednesday
Here is my Ash Wednesday sermon…not because I am convinced of it’s internet worthiness, but because friends have asked me to share it since I posted on the topic twice this week. Scripture: Joel...
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Goodbye, Papa.
Martin Ubaldo “Marty” Marino Nov. 11, 1934 ~ March 14, 2014 In a world of unique individuals my father might have been the uniquiest. He was a high roller who hit it big. Twice. He also hit rock...
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Real Worship: A summons to the feet of Jesus
Real worship is about Jesus. It IS costly. And it DOESN’T make sense. Scientists tell us of the powerful ability of the sense of smell to trigger memories—that the olfactory bulb in our brain links...
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Surprise Endings: Superheroes, fat ladies, and hope for humanity in dark times
We all love the surprise ending. One where the hero miraculously reappears and the bad guys get their due. First it was the western. Then war movies. Next came the Sci-fi, followed by adventure...
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The Bottle Caps Man
A parable of sorts Growing up there was an old man who used to ask us kids the same question every day. We had no idea what he was talking about. More than four decades have passed, but when the crowd...
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A prayer for the church
…to remember her call to the least and last, both individually and institutionally. The invocation from today’s Phoenix Seminary fundraising breakfast by Dr. John Delhousaye… Lord Jesus Christ, son...
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The Right King
(Ezekiel 34: 11-16, 20-24, Ps. 100, Eph. 1:15-23, Matt 25:31-46) (A sermon for Christ the King – A holy day not celebrated in the Episcopal Church) We are all ruled by something. The question is do we...
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A Seuss-tacular Christmas Rhyme…
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, and as a big fan of the Grinch and his handler, Dr. Seuss, I present a Christmas Eve rhyme in meter and verse… Christmas is here, we’ve all been a scheming,...
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A Baby Announcement
Almighty God, you have given your only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and to be born this day of a pure virgin: Grant that we who have been born again and made your children by adoption and...
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The Justice-ification of the Church: Where we went wrong and how we can do...
Years ago a Catholic priest from India told me, “Ghandi said, ‘I look at Jesus and I want to be a Christian. But then I look at the lives of Christians…and I don’t want to be a Christian.‘” The great...
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What’s so “Good” about Good Friday? A lot of truth in one little word
What’s so “good” about Jesus Christ’s death? Why would we commemorate such a thing? Here is what one of Jesus’ first and closest followers, Peter, wrote about his death several years later: “Christ...
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