A Lantern to My Feet
A Lantern to My Feet
by Adam Thomas
I don’t often preach about the psalm, but today’s reading begins with a particularly beautiful verse that captured my imagination this Tuesday, my normal sermon writing day. I was planning on writing at the Westerly Library while my kids were at theatre camp, but the back rear tire of my car had a screw embedded in it, causing a slow leak. Thankfully the guys at Town Fair Tire could take my walk in. I grabbed a seat in the waiting area, under harsh fluorescent lights, trying to ignore America’s Funniest Videos on the TV. I sat there, hoping the Holy Spirit would nudge me toward some words to share with you. (Don’t worry, the tire place will become important in a few minutes; I’m not just talking about it to pad the length of this sermon.)
Charisma
Charisma
by Adam Thomas
Today we’re going to talk about spiritual gifts. I know we read the difficult story of the Binding of Isaac this morning, but I preached on it the last time it came up in the rotation, so I can point you to that sermon if you’d like. We’re going to talk about spiritual gifts this morning for two reasons. First, in today’s second lesson, St. Paul talks about God’s “free gift of eternal life.” Second, I’ve been preaching a lot recently about walking in this fractured and fractious world, trying to hold on to hope, grow in grace, do justice, and live in the liberating light of God’s love. The practice of discerning, cultivating, and sharing our spiritual gifts guides us in this walk with Jesus Christ. And so today, I’d like to talk about giftedness.
Hope Does Not Disappoint Us
Hope Does Not Disappoint Us
by Adam Thomas
it has been about nine months since I preached a sermon about hope, so I think we’re due for one today. Hope is one of those slippery theological concepts because true, enduring hope differs from the more common Pollyanna-ish, reality-defying hope. But since we more often encounter the Pollyanna-ish hope, such a watered down version of hope tends to creep to the forefront of our minds. St. Paul, however, describes a much more hard-won hope, one that begins in suffering. And that’s the hope we’re going to talk about today. Also, a little bit of Calvin and Hobbes, but we’ll get to that in a minute or two.
How Old is God? (and other questions)
How Old is God? (and other questions)
by Adam Thomas
Today is our Youth Sunday at St. Mark’s, and to celebrate we invited the Godly Play kids to ask me any questions they desired. We collected a list of twelve questions, ten of which are autobiographical in nature. We’ll run through those quickly. The last two are absolute theological doozies, so we’ll spend the bulk of this sermon tackling those two. Here we go with the first ten.
Grace, Love, Sharing
Grace, Love, Sharing
by Adam Thomas
At the end of his second letter to the church in Corinth, St. Paul writes these memorable words of blessing: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.” As we celebrate the Holy Trinity today, I’d like to focus on the three words that Paul associates with this fundamental truth of Creation: grace, love, and communion.
Collaborators
Collaborators
by Adam Thomas
One of the most powerful words in the English language is the first person plural pronoun “We.” That’s what we are going to talk about today on this day when celebrate the birth of the church and baptize a child into this wonderful part of God’s household. We’re going to talk about the power of collaboration and how our community of encouragement, togetherness, and mutual support is a prophetic enterprise in a world of increasing fracture and isolation.
Why Do We Need to Organize?
Why Do We Need to Organize?
by Adam Thomas
I didn’t preach yesterday, so for today’s post I decided to share with you what I said at the delegates’ assembly for the new faith-based community organization I have been a part of building for the last four years. This meeting, which happened about two weeks ago, included choosing of issues and choosing a name. We chose “SAIL,” which stands for the Southeast Alliance for Interfaith Leadership. I am so excited to help launch this organization publicly in the fall. I had the job at this meeting to talk about the “why” behind our organizing. Here’s what I said, written in partnership with our lead organizer Pat Speer.
Keep My Commandments
Keep My Commandments
by Adam Thomas
Today we are going to have a nuts and bolts sermon. After several sermons in a row with lots of ancient Greek and complex theology, this morning we’re taking a step back and looking at one of the fundamentals of our faith. Over the next ten minutes, we’re going to explore what Jesus commands us to do.
Today’s Gospel reading follows on directly from last week’s. Jesus is sharing what Bible scholars call the “Farewell Discourse,” which is Jesus’ long talk with his disciples before heading out to the garden where he will be arrested. The Farewell Discourse spans about 20% of the Gospel According to John and includes many of Jesus’ most famous sayings. One of them is this: Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”
John 14:6
John 14:6
by Adam Thomas
Today we’re going to spend our entire sermon time talking about a single verse of the Gospel reading. John Chapter 14, Verse Six says: “Jesus said to [Thomas], “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” The first half of this verse is so beautiful and enlivening in its poetry. Then, to our modern ears, we hear the second half of the verse as terribly exclusive, as a complete barrier against anyone who is not Christian being able to gain access to God. So let’s wrestle with this verse this morning and see where we end up. We’ll start with the first half, this great “I Am” saying, and my hope is that the “I Am” statement will shine a new light on the second half of the verse.
Driven Out
John 14:6
by Adam Thomas
Today we’re going to spend our entire sermon time talking about a single verse of the Gospel reading. John Chapter 14, Verse Six says: “Jesus said to [Thomas], “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” The first half of this verse is so beautiful and enlivening in its poetry. Then, to our modern ears, we hear the second half of the verse as terribly exclusive, as a complete barrier against anyone who is not Christian being able to gain access to God. So let’s wrestle with this verse this morning and see where we end up. We’ll start with the first half, this great “I Am” saying, and my hope is that the “I Am” statement will shine a new light on the second half of the verse.
On His Way to Me
On His Way to Me
by Adam Thomas
The world is a heavy place right now. I know I have felt way more stress than normal weighing me down recently. When I feel like this, I recognize my need to pray more, to connect more closely to God, to be an active participant in my relationship with the One who is nearer to me than I am to myself. Throughout my adult life, whenever I have felt this need, I have reached for my guitar. Before the pandemic, I had not written a new song in several years. But during those first months of lockdown, I wrote six new songs. Writing those songs was the only way I could find to realign myself with God in the midst of such a strange and scary time.