Waxing Theological

10-23-16 (Proper 25/Ordinary 30 Year C Semi-Continuous) Joel 2:23-32; Luke 18:9-14 Two Sinners Walk Into A Temple Two sinners walk into a temple.  It sounds like the start of a joke, but it’s actually the start of the next of Jesus’ parables that Luke introduces in his gospel.  Except - if you listen to the story the way the characters tell it, it only seems like one sinner walks into the temple, even though there are two men introduced. We peek in first at the Pharisee - it’s pretty clear that he’s full of himself, if nothing else.  And yet his resumé is pretty impressive, nevertheless - if we’re being completely honest here, at least at the surface level, he’s the kind of church member we all wish we had at least 50 or 60 of: he tithes 10% of his income to help the temple meet its yearly needs; he fasts twice a week and engages in good spiritual practices.  Bring him into the church today and I’m sure he’d be the first one rushing to the nominatin...

Just a quick note before the sermon itself: I want to apologize that sermons haven't been posted to the blog (nor anything else for that matter) for quite some time now - blogging and journaling have never been a strong suit of mine, and so I'm thankful to folks who are willing to help keep me accountable to this practice!  If you happen to be someone who reads this blog even somewhat regularly when I manage to post, feel free to get in touch with me and let me know if I'm falling behind again. -JM 10-16-16 (Proper 24/Ordinary 29 C, Semi-Continuous) Jeremiah 31:27-34; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5; Luke 18:1-8 Persistent in Faith You know, it’s hard to have your birthday in December.  This time of year used to be one of the most frustrating times for me when I was growing up - and I know it sounds silly, especially looking back on it as an adult, but it used to drive me so crazy once we hit about halfway through October and then into November.  We’d be in t...

4-3-16 (Easter 2C) Acts 5:27-32; John 20:19-31 From Cross to Community: The Amazing Transformation As we move through the next six weeks between now and Pentecost, or the time known as “Easter-tide,” the lectionary shifts gears a little bit - the readings move away from the Old Testament as we focus instead on the early beginnings of the church.  The Gospel readings share some of the initial “first encounters” that the apostles have with the risen Christ, while the readings from Acts take us along with those same apostles, particularly Peter and Paul, as the evangelize to the world, planting churches wherever they go and building up the body of Christ.  The readings for these next several weeks show an interesting theme that we will be exploring in a series together as we journey “From Cross to Community” together. In a way, it’s sort of unfortunate that we spend a week at a time in between each new passage, particularly as we hear today’s reading from John....

3-27-16 (Easter Sunday Year C) Isaiah 65:17-25; John 20:1-18 He is Risen! Now What? In churches across the globe today, people share a very old traditional greeting with one another: "He is Risen!"  The response, of course, is "He is Risen, indeed!"  They're the words of Easter Morning, words that mark us as people of faith, that summarize the culmination of the entire Gospel.  They sum up the Easter events in three simple words.  The tomb is empty, the time for mourning and sadness is past.  This is the moment we've been leading up to for the last forty six days as we've journeyed together through Lent and the Holy Week.  We've shared the experience of Jesus' triumphal entrance into Jerusalem.  We've eaten the Passover meal together at his side.  We've heard and read his Passion story, following him to the hill and the cross, sharing in his pain and suffering.  And now we are encountered with his resurrection; we're encou...

As a pastor, and particularly in my official role as a pastor, I've made a very concerted attempt to moderate myself and be conscientious about the things I say about politics and this year's election cycle.  Folks in my church can tell you (and I hope you can see in many of the sermons that have been posted on my blog) that, while I'll definitely address issues that are political in nature, I have never endorsed any candidate from the pulpit, nor would I ever  do that.  I have even done as much as possible to avoid even speaking  about any candidate, either positively or  negatively , in my preaching. Take note: I'm stepping out of the pulpit for this post.  This is not  a sermon post.  It is not  a pulpit post.  I do  speak as a pastor and out of my own time spent studying scripture and engaging in prayer. That said... There's been a lot  of people throwing around the Bible in this election - candidates and supporters a...

Losing It For Jesus As I read the gospel passage today, no matter how hard I tried to shake it from my head, I kept getting one overarching, overpowering thought over and over again.  So strap in, everybody, because here it is:  Judas should have been a politician.  Now I know that it’s mainly the current atmosphere that’s making me think this way, what with our own primary coming up this Tuesday and the political campaigning taking up so much of our attention and time.  But the more I think about it, the more I could see it happening. Imagine it with me for a second - Judas already has his first stump speech prepared and it’s right here in this passage.  He scolds Mary for pouring out this ludicrously expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet.  It’s wasteful spending in action, folks.  This unscrupulous woman is taking away opportunities for the poor by putting this perfume all over Jesus when we could have sold it instead and used the proceeds...

3-6-18 (Lent 4C) 2 Corinthians 5:16-21; Luke 15:1-3, 11-32 The Real Prodigal Son In my first few years of ministry, I’ve made some surprising discoveries - things they don't necessarily teach you in seminary.  One of the discoveries I’ve made that continues to surprise me every time it happens, however, is that the more familiar a passage is, the harder it becomes to write a sermon on it.  It strikes me as counter-intuitive every time it happens - I know this story.  In fact, it’s long been one of my favorite parables that Jesus tells.  It’s one that is easy to identify with, one that conveys an incredible message, and one that you would think would make for the easiest sermon a pastor could write. And yet, somehow, this passage has left me struggling all week just the same.  It seems too easy to just put this parable in a box, neatly wrap it in a bow, and present it as we so typically tend to think about the story.  I mean - of course...