Sermons on Lent:

"My" Pew Or God's Pew?

Contributed by The Rev Deniray Mueller on Mar 9, 2018

how do we welcome strangers in our midst

I wish I could say this is a made-up story, but unfortunately it is not. We recently had a couple visit Saint John’s while looking for a new church home. They were warmly greeted by the ushers and told to sit anywhere they wished. So, they picked a pew about midway up the aisle. The people around ...read more

Denomination: Episcopal

How Can We Fail To Share That Love Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Sep 6, 2014

Being a Christian is the result of an encounter with Jesus Christ, giving life a new horizon and decisive direction.

Thursday of 23rd Week in Course and Commemoration of 9/11 Today we remember the events of September 11, 2001. That day, called nine-eleven, the whole world changed. In the Muslim world, it was an anniversary of the battle that raised the siege of Vienna, a huge defeat for the Muslim Turks, and ...read more

Scripture: Luke 6:27-28

Denomination: Catholic

Deficiencies That Need Healing By The Gospel Of Joy Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Feb 21, 2015

Both Christian and secular cultures will benefit by understanding the Joy of the Gospel, but the Church must approach different cultures with respect.

Thursday of the First Week in Lent Joy of the Gospel Today we hear from Jesus a restatement of the Golden Rule: “whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them; for this is the law and the prophets.” And this is Torah, this is the prophetic message. We want people to treat ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 7:7-12

Denomination: Catholic

Evangelizing The Cities Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Feb 28, 2015

Just as post-Resurrection Judaism created a culture that rejected the Gospel, so modern society tries to make people incapable of receiving Christ. But we must bear witness, especially in the cities.

Thursday of the Second Week in Lent Joy of the Gospel Last Sunday we heard Jesus tell his key disciples not to disclose their vision of Him transfigured until He would rise from the dead. There was a good reason for that. The Jewish mindset, which had been formed by prophets like Jeremiah, ...read more

Scripture: Luke 16:19-31

Denomination: Catholic

Tentación

Contributed by Paul Andrew on Feb 24, 2017

Al comienzo de la Cuaresma

1A Lent Robert Louis Stevenson una vez escribió una historia inolvidable sobre un Dr. Jekyll y un Sr. Hyde. El Dr. Henry Jekyll era respetado en su comunidad como un caballero en todos los aspectos. Sin embargo, el tenía algunos vicios secretos que guardaba cuidadosamente ocultos de la vista ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 4:1-11, Matthew 2:7-9

Denomination: Catholic

That They All Be One Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Mar 31, 2017

Our witness must be positive–we hold fast to what we know is true, and treat those who don’t share those views with charity and patience.

Thursday of fifth week in Lent 2017 Joy of the Gospel Today we look at the person and commitment of Abraham, whom the Liturgy calls “our father in faith.” Genesis records the fundamental promise that the Jews–and Christians–hold dear. And it’s not the land of Canaan, or Palestine, over which ...read more

Scripture: Genesis 17:3-9

Denomination: Catholic

Witnessing To The Culture Of Death Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Mar 7, 2020

We must work and pray, as St. Benedict told us to do. Work for the spread of the kingdom in our families and communities, and vote as a Christian must, for godly men and women who will resist the culture of death and legislate for life, peace, and goodness.

Tuesday of the 2nd Week in Lent 2020 For our first reading today, I have chosen to begin earlier in the first chapter of Isaiah than the Lectionary suggests, and to add the verses the Lectionary omits. The Lenten readings take a great deal of the very long prophecies of Isaiah, but they omit ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 1:10-20, Matthew 23:1-12

Denomination: Catholic

Three Young Men, Trust, Epidemics And The Saints Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Mar 13, 2020

It is truly time to emulate Our Lord and the great saints, who trusted in God and helped others who were in need or in peril.

Tuesday of the 3rd Week in Lent 2020 St. Patrick and Three Young Men and Trust When you pick up a King James Bible and read this story from the Book of Daniel, of the trust three young prophet-exiles had in their God, and their deliverance from the fiery furnace, you read this passage: “Therefore ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 18:21-35, John 3:16

Denomination: Catholic

The Water And The Temple Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Mar 21, 2020

Those are the healing waters that can always save those who are soaked with them, precisely because this sacrament is the visible sign of the power of Christ, who is the real minister of every baptism.

Tuesday of the 4th week of Lent 2020 Water I always recommend to those who can make pilgrimage that they take a week or more with a Christian guide in the Holy Land–Israel and Jordan–so that they can understand the people and places we read about in the Sacred Scriptures. The Christians living in ...read more

Scripture: John 5:1-16, Ezekiel 47:1-12

Denomination: Catholic

Fight The Obsessive Evil Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Jan 30, 2021

Our evil habits are harmful to ourselves and everyone around us. Repent, and ask Jesus to heal and forgive you.

Monday of 4th week in Course 2021 One of the most helpful actions that a husband and wife can share with each other is from time to time to tell each other the story of their love. My wife and I are in the fiftieth year of marriage, so we have a fifty-one year story to share with each other and ...read more

Scripture: Mark 5:1-20, Hebrews 11:32-40, Psalm 31:20-24

Denomination: Catholic

What Kind Of Loving God Is That? Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Feb 20, 2021

The story of Abraham's call from God to sacrifice his only son, the son of the promise, can be confusing if we don't see the larger picture of God's love for humans.

2nd Sunday in Lent 2021 Imagine a young man, maybe eleven or twelve, picking up the Bible and reading this story of Abraham and his only son, Isaac. If he’s read the chapters leading up to this scene, he knows that Abraham and Sarah were promised a son by God, and that after decades of waiting, ...read more

Scripture: Mark 9:2-10, Romans 8:31-34, Genesis 22:1-18, Genesis 18:1-15, John 3:16-17  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Catholic

That Critical Word "unless" Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Mar 13, 2021

Isn’t it true that when we ask Jesus for some favor, His timing is always flawless?

Monday of 4th Week in Lent 2021 One of the most contemptible features of our modern culture shows up today in the Gospel of John. Jesus tells this petitioner: “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” The man repeats his request for Jesus to come from where he was in Cana to ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 65:17-21, John 4:43-54, 1 John 2:15-17, Revelation 21:1

Denomination: Catholic

Success Or Failure? Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Feb 20, 2016

We must realize that the whole of God's plan is greater than the part we play in it.

Thursday of Second Week in Lent 2016 Joy of the Gospel Sometimes I think of irony as God’s invention to help us cope with the effects of original sin. Just consider this rich guy, fat and happy, with what he thinks is everything he ever wanted. He dies, and the Douay-Rheims translation ...read more

Scripture: Luke 16:19-31

Denomination: Catholic

Crowds And Connections

Contributed by Peter Fisher on Apr 18, 2020

In Covid-19 lockdown, life is all about NOT being in crowds, how can we celebrate Palm Sunday

This is the day … “This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Well, I don’t know about you, but it feels more like “how shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land”. That’s from Psalm 137:4 and was the Jews response to being exiled to Babylon. WE/US Let US ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 21:1-11, Psalm 118:19-24

Denomination: Anglican

Karma Or Compassion?

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Mar 16, 2019

If we listen to the word of God and trust in His promises, we will have a happy, fruitful life even if everything around us is going to pieces.

Thursday of the 2nd Week in Lent 2019 Karma or Compassion? Only St. Luke among the four Gospel writers records this story of the rich man and the poor beggar, Lazarus. A superficial reading of the words may suggest to us that this is an example of the Asian principle of “karma,” where the good or ...read more

Scripture: Luke 16:19-31, Psalm 1:1-6, Jeremiah 17:5-10

Denomination: Catholic