Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Sermon for Lent III

I preached my first sermon this past Sunday. The text was "kingdom divided" text from Luke 11.

An excerpt:
As today’s Gospel teaches us—and the whole of the biblical narrative seems to shout—experience does not automatically lead to faith and faithful living. Seeing miracles is not enough. Even receiving miracles is not enough. 
In our Gospel reading, Jesus goes on to tell a story about an unclean spirit departing from a man, only to return later with “seven other spirits more wicked than himself.” Now, remember the setting and the scene. Presumably the man freed from his demon is standing right there amidst the crowd, and I have to think the message came through loud and clear to him: having a demon cast out of you does not necessarily put you—or keep you—in a state of grace.
You can read the whole thing over at our church blog.

(You can also, by the way, read Sean's excellent sermon for Lent II from last week)