Princeton Theological Seminary

April 6, 2017 | Miller Chapel "Mary took a pint of costly perfume...anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair." This scene provides the fulfillment of the conversion motif that has developed through the previous chapter. Mary is again at Jesus' feet, but in worship rather than grief. Judas objects to her extravagance, even though he was stealing from Jesus. We either give or steal when we come to Jesus.

April 20, 2017 | Miller Chapel "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven." The risen Jesus said the Holy Spirit gives us the power to forgive sins. This may be more power than we want. We would rather leave the forgiving business to Jesus so we can continue to nurture our hurts. But we have to forgive not for the sake of the offender, but for the sake of our own souls.

Advent is either judgment or the coming of a miracle. If we use this season only to work ourselves into a frenzy to create the perfect holiday for those we serve it will inevitably be a judgment because we cannot possibly do enough. But if we lead others in opening our hearts, we may see a holy day of miracle. Holiday or Holy Day. It’s up to you.

Ten lepers were healed by Jesus, but only the Samaritan returned to give thanks. The outsider became the only insider of those who understood grace. The community Jesus is creating is made up of those who know they have received his grace. Thus, gratitude should be the hallmark of the church, and perhaps the measure of our spirituality.

In the end Abraham is a model of faith in a dream that outlived him. As Niebuhr claimed, “Nothing worth doing can be accomplished in one lifetime.” Our lives find meaning in being called to something bigger than ourselves.

How do we make sense of the call to child sacrifice to God? We cannot. Blessedly it did not make sense to God either. But all of us will find that we are repeatedly called to be willing to sacrifice our blessings.

God made a covenant not only with Isaac, but also with Ishmael. This means the church has to be a blessing to those who not are part of our faith tradition. We cannot fulfill our calling without caring for the “other.”

“He believed the Lord who reckoned it to him as righteousness.” Eventually we discover our call is not to do something spectacular for God, but simply to place our lives in God’s hands.

Immediately after Abraham received his calling things became hard in his life. So he went to Egypt where he tried to manage his way into a blessing, only to make great mistakes. Only God can give what God has promised.

Sermon: “Dreams and Realities of Community”

The miracle about how many fish the disciples caught, and if this really happened, is a distraction from the most unbelievable thing in the text—there is a Savior on board

The first question is Jesus do you “care that we are perishing?” The second question is from Jesus who wonders why his disciples would be afraid? The third is again from the disciples who wonder about this Jesus. Having Jesus on board is a constant experience in amazement, if we are paying attention.

Jesus tells Mary Magdalene not to hold onto him. Easter is in part the discovery that there is more to Jesus than we know. This is part of the mission of theological education. We learn to discover more of Jesus in order to show others this mystery.

Pilate’s real choice was to make the people his real King, and that is what sentenced King Jesus and the world’s hope to death. We are all Pilate making this choice even though we do not realize it.

Pilate, who is no doubt weary of his compromised life working for the system, cannot handle Jesus’s words about the truth. “What is the truth?” We say that we pursue this question, but are actually terrified by where it may lead us.

By denying that he is a disciple, Peter is actually telling the truth. If being a disciple means being a follower then Peter and we are not disciples after we realize Jesus is leading us to the cross.

It is hard to be a useful disciple of Jesus until one gets out of the boat and starts walking on water toward him. Eventually we discover we cannot walk on water and cry out to the Savior.