Worship. Serve. Grow.

Sermons (Page 71)

Throwing Off the Cloak

Mark 10: 46-52
When I went to seminary I had the opportunity to live and work for a time in South Africa. There I met a woman named Sachi. She was someone I met in a church group; she came to the church where I worked. We met in a group that gathered together for support and for prayer…

You Be That

Mark 10:35-45
In two weeks my oldest daughter is getting married here at St. Paul’s. She and her fiancee met at UNC Greensboro. The last few months and weeks have been heading toward that day. I know the next couple of weeks are going to be pretty hectic too as we prepare for this joyous time in our family…

What is your Neo-Monastic Calling?

Mark 10:17-31
This past week was the Clergy Conference for all the clergy of our diocese here in North Carolina. We gathered together for three days with our bishops. Each year there’s a different topic someone presents or facilitates during the retreat. It was three days and was in Winston-Salem, where it’s been the last few years…

God is NowHere

Job 1:1:2:1-10
On Friday night I had the opportunity to attend Green Hope High School’s homecoming game. What stood out to me while I was at that game was not necessarily the football; they didn’t do so hot in that, but it was the band. I was going to insert here a little, “Don’t worry Green Hope football fans; I am a Duke football fan so I understand what it means to lose…”

Visioning

I am very very fortunate to have many nieces and nephews with whom I can engage about all manner of things that are going on in their worlds and in my world. And one of the wonderful things for me about being in relationship with young people is that I get to do things I would never ever do otherwise. So a couple of years ago I found myself going to The Cat’s Cradle in Chapel Hill…

Whoever Wants to Be First Must Be Last

Mark 9:30-37
So Jesus is walking with his disciples and he has just shared with them what is to come: suffering, the cross, painting a picture where this journey is leading. It says that they are walking “on the way.” Jesus seems to be always “on the way” with his disciples. They arrive at a house and Jesus turns to them and says, “What were you arguing about?”…

If You Can’t Say Anything Nice…

Proverbs 1:20-33
There is something that many of you may or may not know about being a preacher at St. Paul’s. That is at the 9:00 service we only normally have three of the four readings. The preacher is usually the one who gets to choose which reading will be included. Today for the 9:00 service I picked the Proverbs text to be read over the James text…

A Journey to Discover One’s True Self

Mark 7:24-37
I really think that Jesus came to an understanding of who he was as he lived ever more deeply into his life. Jesus was on a journey, just as we are all on a journey. We discover who we are in the midst of that journey. Thomas Merton uses the phrase, “The journey of life is really a journey to discover one’s true self.”…

Their Hearts are Far from Me

Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
Last week it was a joyous occasion to watch so many children and young people come up at the 9:00 and 10:45 services to have their backpacks blessed and get ready to go off to school. As I watched this I thought, “If I could only stick one book in everyone’s backpack…”

Does This Offend You?

John 6:59-69
I’m a huge fan of mob movies: Godfather, Goodfellas, Sopranos. I just find there are so many levels to those movies. You may say, “George, are those the kind of movies a priest is supposed to like?” But then you may say, “That’s alright, he’s from New York.”…