Irreverently Reverend

  Sermon for a service of consecrating new licensed local pastors Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness and came to Mount Horeb, the mountain of God.  2  There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed.  3  Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight and see why the bush is not burned up.”  4  When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”  5  Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”  6  He said further, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.   ...

  First Sunday in Lent Living in the Most High’s shelter,     camping in the Almighty’s shade, 2  I say to the Lord, “You are my refuge, my stronghold!     You are my God—the one I trust!” 3  God will save you from the hunter’s trap     and from deadly sickness. 4  God will protect you with his pinions;     you’ll find refuge under his wings.     His faithfulness is a protective shield. 5  Don’t be afraid of terrors at night,     arrows that fly in daylight, 6      or sickness that prowls in the dark,     destruction that ravages at noontime. 7  Even if one thousand people fall dead next to you,     ten thousand right beside you—     it won’t happen to you. 8  Just look with your eyes,     and you will s...

  Ordinary Time 4  But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”  5  And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, “Arise and eat.”  6  And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again.  7  And the angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.”  8  And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God.   (ESV)             An article in the Los Angeles Times from 2019 named the fact that “self-ca...