Category: Sermons

In my Wednesday and Friday homilies last week I mentioned the diaspora. Today I am going to talk about Donatism. I was too old and cool to watch programs like Sesame Street and Electric Company when they came out, but I will admit that sometimes I would be in the room with my little sister… Continue reading God Help Me to Be One Too!

I have been thinking about the readings from James the past two weeks. There are two basic messages in these readings. Last week you heard “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” This… Continue reading How Can I Keep From Singing?

I was told the story of a farmer in rural Indiana who had a surveyor knock on his door. The surveyor needed to get in the farmer’s field to take some readings. The farmer did not reply very quickly and seemed to be hesitating, so the surveyor showed him papers saying that he was there… Continue reading Hypocrisy

There is a movie by the same folks who made the Wallace and Gromit series. It is one of those Christmas classics you watch every year. It is called Robbie the Reindeer, and it is a really funny story about the son of Rudolph who has to live in his father’s shadow. There are a… Continue reading Habits of our Lives

Our Gospel lesson begins by saying that “the apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught.” You will remember two weeks ago, Jesus had called the twelve together. He gave them authority over unclean spirits, and then sent them out two by two. Now as the former classroom teacher,… Continue reading Rest a While

When my daughter Sarah was little, she often asked if someone was “the boss” of her. It is a great question, and one of those one you have to figure out as you grow up. Some people can tell you to clean up your room, and other people do not have that authority. The airport… Continue reading Time Will Tell

Will Rogers defined an expert as someone fifty miles from home with a briefcase. I have to say, this is true in education. Heads of School are always hired from the outside. There are exceptions to this of course. John Mars at Culver {Academies} was one of the few I can think of though. This… Continue reading “A Christian alone is no Christian.”

  I will start this morning by making the observation that faith is a funny thing. Even the  most angry atheist typically has faith in the laws of physics. When it comes right down to  it, many of us don’t really understand what is happening when we flip a light switch. We  have every expectation though that the… Continue reading We are the Sowers

A pastor in South Bend saw me in the grocery store checkout line a few weeks ago. He saw the collar and explained that he was a local pastor and wanted to say “Hi.” We spoke briefly about the fields of the Lord. Finally he got to the point. “So what are you preaching this… Continue reading Doing the Will of God

This is Trinity Sunday, and the joke is that more heresy is preached this day than any other. It is traditionally the time – no kidding – to give someone else the Sunday to preach. It is a tough concept and hard to preach well, so you stick someone else with it. Mother Susan was… Continue reading How Can These Things Be?