Author: Chris Kelly
Chris Kelly
– January 31, 2010
Text: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Other texts: Jeremiah 1:4-10
You may be wondering why we are gathered here today. I myself often wonder that. Wonder less in the sense of being mystified as being amazed. Filled with wonder. It is a wonder that God has called us each to be here together. Perhaps you feel the same way. Or perhaps you are also mystified. Perhaps you wonder, how did you ever get involved with a Lutheran church like Faith? What are you doing here?
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Chris Kelly
– January 25, 2010
Text: Nehemiah 8:1-10
Comedy is when what never could have been, happens. The quarreling neighbors fall madly in love. The powerful CEO is displaced by the poor office boy. A queen falls in love with a donkey. In the end, every impediment is removed and every error undone, and all live happily forever.
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Chris Kelly
– January 20, 2010
Text: John 2:1–11
Other texts: 1 Corinthians 12:1-11, Isaiah 62:1-5, Psalm 36
Note: This sermon prepared and preached by Craig Simenson, vicar at Faith this year.
Jesus did this—turned water into wine—the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory.
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Chris Kelly
– January 11, 2010
Text: Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
Other texts: Isaiah 43:1-7
If you look on page 935 in the Bible in the pews, you’ll see in the right column a heading that says “The Baptism of Jesus.” There are headings like this all over the Bible. But those headings are not actually in the Bible. They are put in there by the editor of this particular edition of the Bible. They are editorial notes that are to guide you. But they are sometimes unreliable guides and misleading. They reflect a certain agenda.
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Chris Kelly
– January 3, 2010
Text: Matthew 2:1-12
Other texts: Psalm 71:1-7
Not so long ago people thought that science was objective. That is, researchers looked at something—data, the results of an experiment, a phenomenon—and observed something. It was objective because it was about the object—the thing observed. Not subjective, about the subject, the observer. The premise was that all observers would see the same event in the same way. Experiments were reproducible. If you did the same thing, but with different observers, you would get the same results.
Read more on The King of Hope and The King of Fear…
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Chris Kelly
– December 27, 2009
Text: Colossians 3:12-17
Other texts: Luke 2:41-52
We spoke on Christmas Eve about all the possibilities inherent in the birth of a child. All the uncertainties and hopes that go with new birth. And how we can imagine all the things that might happen to a new infant. We hope that all children have lives of grace. We know that some might revolutionize the world. We have read that Mary pondered the future of her miraculous child in terms like these. What would her child Jesus be like?
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Chris Kelly
– December 24, 2009
Text: Luke 2:1-7
Other texts: Christmas Eve readings
There is usually no sermon preached on Christmas Eve at Faith. This is a short homily that opened the worship service.
It is tempting to embellish the story of the birth of Jesus. It is tempting to make more of it than it appears in the Bible. Which is not much. Luke’s Gospel contains an extensive story of Jesus’ birth, and in Luke the birth itself is given only two verses:
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Chris Kelly
– December 13, 2009
Text: Philippians 4:4–7
Christians, and especially Lutherans, have a bad habit of treating the apostle Paul as if he were a theologian. We hear Martin Luther quoting Romans and think that Paul’s most important contribution was to explain a doctrine of justification and grace.
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Chris Kelly
– December 6, 2009
Text: Philippians 1:3–11
I want to talk today about praying. I’m going to talk about ways we might pray. And also about things that get in the way of praying. And I’m going to start with Paul’s prayers in his letter to the Philippians.
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Chris Kelly
– November 29, 2009
Text: Genesis 1:1-5, 2:1-4
On Thursday, the city was deserted. On Thanksgiving day in Cambridge you could have walked down the middle of the street without danger. There were no cars, few people, no commerce. It was great!
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