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Sermons

This is a collection of my sermons.   Much of my time is spent listening to other people.  This is a learned behavior.  It doesn't always come naturally to me to follow the instruction I had pasted on the wall behind my patients chair in my office (in my imagination): "Shut up  and listen."   But once in a while I like to say whats on my mind, or  perhaps, being put on my mind. So here are the results.  Sermons going back to 1989.   You can send dissenting views to me if you like.

Well, folks, I got a Mac.  So I have my new sermons over on my Mac site:  The first is another one on Stewardship. I'm sure there will be more as time goes on.  Link there to see them.

In February, 2008, Marissa, our Rector at St. Paul's, sent me an email Tuesday asking if I would be interested in doing the homily that week.  The scriptures were evocative, but I thougt I'd send an email the following morning to say, no, I didn't have enough time to prepare.  But at two that morning I woke up, preaching a sermon, another one on belonging .   I was awake, so I wrote it.

In the absence of Marissa, our Rector, I was asked to lead morning prayer the Sunday after Easter 2007 with the option of doing a homily.  When I saw the lectionary texts, I had to say something regarding Doubting Thomas.

This sermon marked a series of firsts - my first after turning 50, the first I preached outside of Mennonite settings and the first at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, where we have been attending since last summer.  I called it God Visits Lot's of Churches on Sunday Morning.

For years I've wanted to preach a sermon on how I can follow Jesus despite the sins of the institutional Church.  This year the opportunity arrived. Full Attention To Jesus is probably the best title for this sermon, preached during advent 2005.

I didn't know preaching again during Advent would make two sermons in one year.  But in 2004 I think a lot of us need a  reminder that there is still hope.  I preached a sermon titled "This Is Why We Celebrate Christmas."

For some reason, in a worship committee meeting, I volunteered to do something during lent (2004).  So I got asked to preach.  Following my tradition of mixing the lectionary readings with what I've been thinking about, I preached on the Gnostic Prodigal.

I was reading Nissenbaum's 'The Battle For Christmas' and decided to offer to preach a sermon using some of this material.  So Dec. 1, 2002 I preached on The Tao and the Art of Christmas Celebrations.

Between Christmas and Lent in 2001 our Sunday Morning sermons were on the topic "I wish I was there," focusing on the passage of scripture that discribes an event that the preacher would have liked to have seen.  On February 2nd, I preached on the The Second Chapter of Acts.

No one wanted to be Stewardship Committee Chair at Germantown Mennonite Church this year, so after the position was left open after the election, I agreed to do it.  So I guess I felt obligated to preach our Stewardship Sunday sermon on October 8, 2000.

On March 26, 2000 I preached about suffering.  It preceeded a version of the Ceremony of Tears, during which members of the congregation are invited to pour a cup of water symbolizing tears into a common basin, signifying the caring community.

On October 10, 1998 I preached a sermon on the Parable of the Wedding Feast.

I preached Being Known at Germantown Mennonite Church on July 26, 1998.

I preached on Hope in the Midst of Despair at Germantown the Sunday before Christmas in 1997.  I preached a similar sermon at Huntington Valley after Dad left in 1993:   Hope In Despair

I preached at Germantown on Labor Day 1997.

I preached on Mother's Day (1997) at Germantown this year.

I preached last fall, (1996) at Germantown on The Meaning of Sin.

This is the sermon I preached in August, 1993 on my father John Freed's last Sunday at Huntington Valley as pastor:  Goodbye Sermon

Around 1992, I preached at Huntington Valley on the occasion of my father's birthday on the topic of Role Models.

In the late summer in 1989 at Germantown I preached on the topic of A Place To Belong.

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