Sermon 15 Pentecost—Proper 18-B September 6, 2015 William Bradbury   Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23 Psalm 125 James 2:1-10, (11-13), 14-17 Mark 7:24-37 The Letter to James this morning reminds me of a scene from the  1978 classic movie, “Animal House”, in which a prestigious fraternity is holding a meet and...

Sermon 14 Pentecost—Proper 17-B August 30, 2015 William Bradbury   Song of Solomon 2:8-13 Psalm 45:1-2, 7-10 James 1:17-27 Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 Jesus Christ, it is rightly said, is our way to the Father. But this is true only because of the deeper mystery that Jesus Christ is the...

Sermon 13 Pentecost—Proper 16-B August 23, 2015 William Bradbury     1 Kings 8:(1, 6, 10-11), 22-30, 41-43 Psalm 84 Ephesians 6:10-20 John 6:56-69 So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words...

Sermon 10 Pentecost—Proper 13-B August 2, 2015 William Bradbury 2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a Psalm 51:1-13 Ephesians 4:1-16 John 6:24-35 Last Sunday we heard the first half of the David and Bathsheba story in which David uses his kingly power to steal and rape the wife of Uriah the Hittite, then sends...

Sermon 9 Pentecost–Proper 12-B July 26, 2015 William Bradbury 2 Samuel 11:1-15 Psalm 14 Ephesians 3:14-21 John 6:1-21 “Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted….[until they] were satisfied.” In the...

Sermon 8 Pentecost—Proper 11-B July 19, 2015 William Bradbury   2 Samuel 7:1-14a Psalm 89:20-37 Ephesians 2:11-22 Mark 6:30-34, 53-56 On Wednesday I spent the day with my 15 year old nephew at Stone Mountain Park which is just 30 minutes east of downtown Atlanta. On one hand, it is...

Sermon 7 Pentecost—Proper 10-B July 12, 2015 William Bradbury 2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19 Psalm 24 Ephesians 1:3-14 Mark 6:14-29 Do you find what we just did a bit odd? We heard the story of how John the Baptizer was beheaded by the petty tyrant Herod Antipas, not because he wanted...

Sermon 5 Pentecost—Year B June 28, 2015 William Bradbury   2 Samuel 1, 17-27 Psalm 130 2 Corinthians 8:7-15 Mark 5: 21-43   Do you like oysters? As a kid in Atlanta, I thought they were slimy and uneatable. I didn’t know that the Old Testament said all shell fish...

Sermon 4 Pentecost—Year B June 21, 2015 William Bradbury 1 Samuel 17:57-18:5, 10-16 Psalm 133 2 Corinthians 6:1-13 Mark 4:35-41 The trip starts calmly enough: after all Peter, Andrew, James, and John are fishermen—I’m sure they say as they shove off, “We’ve got this, Jesus, go ahead and take a...

Sermon 3 Pentecost—Year B June 14, 2015 William Bradbury 1 Samuel 15:34-16:13 Psalm 20 2 Corinthians 5:6-17 Mark 4:26-34 One summer Sunday five years ago while I was rector of Grace Church, New Bedford, the actor Sam Waterston, in a seersucker suit, showed up to worship with us. One of...