Author: Chris Kelly
Chris Kelly
– April 25, 2010
Test: Psalm 23
Note: This sermon preached by Vicar Craig Simenson
Psalm 23 is a favorite psalm. It is a familiar psalm. So familiar and etched into our memories through its frequent repetition—(didn’t we just hear this a few months ago?)—that we may have stopped paying much attention to its nuances. When we do stop to take notice, the different translations that we might (or might not) be familiar with pose interesting interpretative questions for us to make meaning of.
Read more on Psalm 23 and Eternal LIfe…
Read More
Chris Kelly
– April 11, 2010
Text: Psalm 150 and John 20:24-29
Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise God all creatures here below. These words are no doubt familiar to you. We’ll sing them in a few minutes as we collect offerings. You may know this song as being called The Doxology. It is really just a doxology, a word that means “words of glory.” Doxologies praise God.
Read more on Acting Praisy…
Read More
Chris Kelly
– April 4, 2010
Text: Luke 21:1-12
Grace to you and peace from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ, risen from the dead.
Having heard the story told by Mary, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, Peter ran to the tomb to see for himself. (Typical Peter: rushing in where others would not.) And having seen nothing in the tomb but a pile of body-wrapping linens, he went home amazed.
Read more on The Resurrection of Jesus from the Dead…
Read More
Chris Kelly
– March 28, 2010
Text: Luke 22:14-23:56
Pastors are advised by the instruction manual to prepare no sermon for today, or at least keep it very short. So while I do not want to leave without commenting on this dual‑purposed Sunday, I’ll keep it short.
Read more on Living the Fat Life…
Read More
Chris Kelly
– March 21, 2010
Text: Philippians 3:4b-14
There are at least two ways to hear these words of Paul in his letter to the Philippians.
Paul, who is in jail (it is hard to say where and when), writes to the church at Philippi, comforting them that he is all right. And, as usual, advising them about how to be a better community of people who follow Christ. In this passage we just heard, he writes to warn them of the teachings of what Paul calls the “dogs and evil workers.” That part the assigned reading somehow skipped over. As Paul often does, he is making a case.
Read more on Rubbish, I Reckon, Compared to Jesus…
Read More
Chris Kelly
– March 14, 2010
Text: Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
Unless you are perfect, you have sinned. You have sinned against God and against other people.
We sin against God. Some people take this to mean that God is recording all our little mistakes (and big ones) in a large book (the one that St. Peter looks to at the pearly gates, I imagine). And that God is judging us daily, disapproving of things now and at the end of time.
Read more on Found Things Don’t Have to Repent…
Read More
Chris Kelly
– March 7, 2010
Text: Psalm 63:1-8
Lutheran World Relief is an admirable organization that provides help for hungry, impoverished, or devastated people all over the world. They know that God calls them to help those who need help, and they are dedicated to do so effectively and efficiently. This church, Faith, and individuals in it have supported them by giving them money. I think they are great.
Read more on A Devotional…
Read More
Chris Kelly
– February 28, 2010
Text: Luke 13:31-35
Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18
From time to time the relationship between God and people has been tumultuous and troubled. I can’t speak for how God views it, but people seem to have mixed feelings. We are often of two minds. The first mind welcomes—calls for—God’s involvement in our lives. We are grateful to God, and we bring to our relationship reverence, thanksgiving, and praise. The second mind finds God to be at best irrelevant and at worst demanding, interfering, and difficult to live with. In the Bible, which is the story of God and us, this on-again off-again relationship starts in the Garden of Eden and carries right on through. And up to the present.
Read more on Forgetful Us…
Read More
Chris Kelly
– February 22, 2010
Text: Luke 4:1-13
We are now 10% into the season of Lent. Lent is usually thought of mainly as the preface to Easter, much as Advent is thought of as the preface to Christmas. But like Advent, it is not just a prelude to something better. If the pleasure of the journey is its unfolding, then the worth of Lent is in the journey to which it invites us.
Read more on Down to the desert to pray…
Read More
Chris Kelly
– February 7, 2010
Text: Luke 5:1-11
When you are introduced to a story in the Bible, it is a little like meeting someone for the first time. You wonder whether this person is going to be a life-long friend or more a friend-of-a-friend kind of person. In either case, first impressions are important. But in the case of life-long friends, first impressions often turn out to be wrong. Some of my best friends were idiots when I first met them. I’m sure the feeling was mutual. But now we see each other more deeply, we have had more shared experiences, and though the idiocy remains, the connection is much more rich, complicated, and respectful. This is true of scripture as much as it is true of people.
Read more on First Impressions…
Read More
