Sermon A Pentecost L.27 2017                                   King of Kings, New Windsor                                   October 7-8, 2017 Isaiah 5:1-7, Matthew 21:33-46 In today’s gospel lesson, Jesus tells yet another story about a grape harvest, another story about a vineyard.  Three weeks in a row, we’ve been hearing parables about vineyards:  first, the story of the farmer who kept going to the marketplace to hire more day laborers to harvest the grapes in his vineyard; last week, ...

Sermon A Pentecost L. 26 2017                      King of Kings, New Windsor                      September 30-October 1, 2017 Exodus 17:1-7, Psalms 25:1-9, Philippians 2:1-13, Matthew 21:23-32 In today’s gospel lesson, we hear Jesus telling a parable about two sons, one who answers “Yes” and one who answers “No”.  The first, who says “Yes”, doesn’t do his father’s bidding, and the second, who answers “No”, later repents and does what he had first refused to do. When Jesus tells this p...

Sermon A Pentecost L.25 2017                                  King of Kings, New Windsor                             September 23-24, 2017 Jonah 3:10-4:11, Matthew 20:1-16 Every time I hear this gospel, I want to stomp my feet and scream, “It’s not fair.  It’s not fair to pay the people who came to work an hour before closing the same wage as those who came at the crack of dawn.  It’s not fair to compensate the workers who worked through the heat of the day the same as those who came at th...

Sermon A Pentecost L.24 2017                               King of Kings, New Windsor                                September 16-17, 2017 Matthew 18:15-35 On Friday, I was driving south on 9W when, suddenly, I saw a tree—just one tree—decked out in brilliant red, and I had to admit that fall is on the way.  Have you seen any unmistakable signs of fall yet?  Cantor Eric Schulmiller points out that everyone “has their favorite telltale signs of the approaching autumn:  Mother Natu...

Sermon A Pentecost L.20 2017                   King of Kings, New Windsor                                  September 9-10, 2017 Matthew 15:21-28 This summer our week of “Arts Bible Camp”, nicknamed “ABC”, was patterned after a traditional Vacation Bible School, with a variety of activities:  music, drama, yoga, crafts, a meal, and, of course, a Bible story.  We started at 3:00 pm, since adolescents love to sleep in!  We did yoga with Marcia and had delicious meals and snacks, thanks to Lar...

Sermon A Pentecost L.22 2017                                 King of Kings, New Windsor                                  September 2-3, 2017 Are you starting school this week?  If you are, maybe the teacher will give you a syllabus.  Or if you’re the teacher, you’ve probably written a syllabus.  A syllabus is a document distributed to students at the beginning of an academic course; it includes things such as an outline of the topics to be studied, a list of the books to be read, a schedule f...

SERMON A Pentecost L.21  2017                                 King of Kings, New Windsor                                  August 26-27, 2017 “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”  Jesus asks his disciples this question on the way to Caesarea Philippi.  Their answer?  “Some say:  You are John the Baptist—one who calls us to repentance and to forgiveness of sins.  Others say:  You are Elijah—a prophet, one who speaks and acts in the name of the Lord.  Still others say:  You are one of the...

SERMON A Pentecost L.23 2017                                  King of Kings, New Windsor                                  August 19-20, 2017 In chapter 18 of Matthew’s gospel, we hear a series of Jesus’ sayings.  Each of these sayings offers some sort of guidance about how to live together in the church.  Did you notice the common topic in these sayings?  It’s the topic of sin and forgiveness.  Maybe the lesson of Matthew 18 is that, wherever the church is, there is sin, but there is also for...

SERMON A Pentecost L.19 2017 Pr.14 King of Kings, New Windsor August 13, 2017 I Ki 19: 9-18 Ps 85: 8- Rom 10: 5-15 Mt 14: 22-33 What are you afraid of? In my family, over the years, there have been a variety of fears. A fear of anything that creeps or crawls, whether outside or inside, no matter how large or how small. A fear of needles. A fear of the FAFSA (that’s mine). My son, however, pretends not to be afraid of anything. Once, when I woke up in the middle of the night and discovered ...

SERMON A Pentecost L.16 2017 King of Kings, New Windsor July 23, 2017 Mt 13: 24-29 While visiting Storm King Art Center recently, I noticed the beautiful wildflowers and thought about how, in my yard, I’d think of some of those particular flowers as “weeds”. A “weed”, is, after all, “an unwanted plant”; “a plant growing where you don’t want it to grow”; “a plant considered undesirable in a particular location”. In today’s gospel lesson, we hear Jesus’ parable of “the wheat and the weeds...