Sermons & Meditations

Matthew 22:15-22
Presented October 19, 2008, by J.D. Kline
The 23rd Sunday after PentecostStewardship Theme: Celebrating Abundance—Embrace Relationships

Maxie Dunnam, former editor of The Upper Room, some years ago wrote a book entitled Barefoot Days of the Soul in which he likens life in Christ to that memory of early spring days from his childhood when one’s shoes could be kicked off—that exhilarating moment when new life is only just beginning to burst forth, that fresh and freeing moment of spring warmth when all life seems new. It’s a marvelous image, one which contrasts markedly to the dour ways in which faith all too often is portrayed—as little more than a series of rules and regulations, a rigid list of do’s and don’ts, with heavy emphasis upon the don’ts. You know the dour folks I’m thinking of, don’t you? The ones heavy on judgment, far more concerned with right dogma than with right living. The ones eager to debate over minute matters of doctrinal belief, yet giving little regard to the quality of their relationships with God and with one another.

This morning’s Gospel lesson from Matthew, chapter 22, speaks of a time when Jesus finds himself embroiled in conflict with the Pharisees, those religious leaders of his day who invested great amounts of energy into defining the letter of the law, while neglecting the weightier matters of justice, compassion, peaceful living, and loving relationships. Those leaders saw their primary task as centering upon the guarding and the preserving of the law, but tragically, the faith they demonstrated all too often appeared dull and lifeless. It was anything but barefoot days of the soul. Much to the contrary, the Pharisees were unwilling to take the risk of living compassionately; theirs was a faith that had little to do with the imagining and envisioning of an unfolding life of wholeness and well-being and peace. The ancient Pharisees would have little grasped what Francis of Assisi had in mind when asserting, “It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching.”

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Matthew 21:33-46
Presented October 5, 2008, by J.D. Kline
The 21st Sunday after Pentecost

Stewardship Theme: Celebrate Abundance—Embrace Relationships

Do you remember the film, Dead Man Walking, from a number of years ago, the story of a convicted killer on death row and his relationship with a Catholic sister, Helen Prejean, who serves as his spiritual director? There is a scene near the conclusion of the movie, set on the final evening before the scheduled execution and after learning that all appeals for clemency have been denied, in which the man and his spiritual director talk honestly about the horrific crime committed, its impact upon the victims’ family, and the readiness of the convicted killer to face death. In the midst of that conversation, the sister speaks words of faith and promise. Says Sister Helen Prejean to the death row inmate, “You are a son of God.” There is a poignant pause, a moment of shocked silence, and the man facing death confesses, “No one’s ever said that to me before. Plenty of times I’ve been called a son of something else, but never a son of God.”

How tragic it is when persons spend their entire lives without hearing, let alone even beginning to grasp this fundamental truth, that each one of us is a child of God. Is it any wonder that many find themselves living in a sea of unhealthy relationships?

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