Sermon Easter 5, May 14, 2017 William Bradbury Acts 7:55-60, Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16, 1 Peter 2:2-10, John 14:1-14 I know some priests who when reading this gospel at funerals refuse to read the last line that says: “No one comes to the Father except through me”. They edit it out because...

Sermon Easter 4, May 7, 2017 William Bradbury Acts 2:42-47, Psalm 23, 1 Peter 2:19-25, John 10:1-10 Where is the place you feel loved and safe, where your soul is at peace? For me growing up, it was my grandparents’ house on Missionary Ridge, overlooking Chattanooga. That house became iconic in my dreams—in a...

Sermon Easter 2, April 23, 2017 William Bradbury Acts 2:14a,22-32, Psalm 16, 1 Peter 1:3-9, John 20:19-31 Sometimes the translators just get it wrong: the word “doubt” is not used in this reading. Jesus is not telling Thomas not to doubt, because he knows doubt is always a part of faith....

Sermon Easter Day, April 16, 2017 William Bradbury Acts 10: 34-43, Psalm 118: 1-2,14-24, Colossians 3: 1-4, John 20: 1-18 Driving home the other day I was surprised that the lead story on NPR “All Things Considered” was not about the 59 cruise missiles we sent onto a runway in Syria,...

Sermon Good Friday–April 14, 2017 William Bradbury Isaiah 52:13-53:12, Hebrews 10:16-25, John 18:1-19:42, Psalm 22 The church, under the guidance of the Spirit, always proclaims on Good Friday the Passion of Jesus from John’s Gospel. On Palm Sunday we always read a passion account from Matthew, Mark, or Luke (last...

Sermon Maundy Thursday, April 13, 2017 William Bradbury Exodus 12:1-14, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, John 13:1-17, 31b-35 Occasionally it is helpful for a person who feels stuck in a rut, to imagine she has all the money, time, health, and family support she needs and then to ponder deeply what exactly she...

    Sermon Palm Sunday–Sunday of the Passion April 9, 2017 William Bradbury Isaiah 50:4-9a, Psalm 31, Philippians 2:5-11, Matthew’s Passion We rehearse Jesus’ Way of the Cross, performing his last hours, because this is the Master Story that reveals that God is love for us. Jesus is the Son of...

Sermon Lent 5-Year A, April 2, 2017 William Bradbury Ezekiel 37:1-14, Psalm 130, Romans 8:6-11, John 11:1-45 Last week we saw that the gospels were never meant to be read as dry history about what Jesus said and did in the past. John himself says he wrote his gospel so that...

Sermon Lent 4—Year A, March 26, 2017 William Bradbury 1 Samuel 16:1-13, Psalm 23, Ephesians 5:8-14, John 9:1-41 The gospels were not written to provide us a journalistic account of Jesus of Nazareth: Which is to say they were not written by some so-called objective reporters from the Jerusalem Times who...

Sermon Lent 3—Year A, March 19, 2017 William Bradbury Exodus 17:1-7, Psalm 95, Romans 5:1-11, John 4:5-42 Saint Paul makes a startling claim in Romans today. He claims repeatedly that God has come to us in Jesus Christ. This is a claim that undercuts all human religion because religion is always...