Irreverently Reverend

  Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,  2  through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.  3  And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance,  4  and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,  5  and hope does not put us to shame , because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. (NRSVUE)             It is a strange thing—and it was not my intention—that my first sermon and my last at St. Luke’s both come from Paul’s letter to the Romans.   This is what comes of keeping to the lectionary; it is fairly consistent in its connecting patterns.           Romans, whil...

  Ordinary Time (Halloween)   But Christ has appeared as the high priest of the good things that have happened. He passed through the greater and more perfect meeting tent, which isn’t made by human hands (that is, it’s not a part of this world).  12  He entered the holy of holies once for all by his own blood, not by the blood of goats or calves, securing our deliverance for all time.  13  If the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkled ashes of cows made spiritually contaminated people holy and clean,  14  how much more will the blood of Jesus wash our consciences clean from dead works in order to serve the living God? He offered himself to God through the eternal Spirit as a sacrifice without any flaw. (CEB)               Happy Halloween!   It’s not a Church holiday, but it does land right on a Sunday this year.   Given that last Halloween was even more unusual than th...

  Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him.  2  On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands!  3  Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.  4  Then Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.”  5  And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them.  6  And he was amazed at their unbelief. Then he went about among the villages teaching.  7  He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave ...

  Pentecost When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.  2  And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.  3  Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.  4  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. 5  Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem.  6  And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.  7  Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?  8  And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?  9  Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,  10 ...