Sermon Epiphany 3—Year A January 22, 2017 William Bradbury Isaiah 9:1-4, Psalm 27:1, 5-13, 1 Corinthians 1:10-18, Matthew 4:12-23 At the age of 26 Michelangelo carved one of his greatest sculptures: the 17 foot tall statue of David, shepherd and king of Israel. It is said that the block of...
Sermon: 2 Epiphany—Year A–January 15, 2017 William Bradbury Isaiah 49:1-7, Psalm 40:1-12, 1 Corinthians 1:1-9, John 1:29-42 In 2008 Stephanie and I went to see her sister in San Francisco and we spent one lovely afternoon touring Alcatraz Island on which sits the infamous federal prison, which operated from 1933 to...
Sermon 1 Epiphany—Year A January 8, 2017 William Bradbury Isaiah 42:1-9, Psalm 29, Acts 10:34-43, Matthew 3:13-17 We talked a lot about John the Baptizer in Advent but here he is again announcing that the one coming after him will be greater than he is. John expects Jesus will be...
Sermon Christmas 1 January 1, 2017 William Bradbury John 1:1-18 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God…and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” This is, as C. S. Lewis calls it, the Grand Miracle: “the Christian story...
Sermon Christmas Eve 2016 William Bradbury Isaiah 9:2-7, Psalm 96, Titus 2:11-14, Luke 2:1-14(15-20) I love all the outdoor lights and decorations that people put out. I love the reindeers, and sleighs, even Charlie Brown and snowmen—the gaudier the better! My wife really got into the spirit and came home from Lowes with...
Sermon Advent Four—A December 18, 2016 William Bradbury Isaiah 7: 10-16, Psalm 80, Romans 1:1-7, Matthew 1:18-25 In 2006 I would drive twice a week from New Bedford to Chestnut Hill to see a Jungian analyst who had been trained in Switzerland at the institute founded by Dr. Carl Jung in 1948....
Sermon Advent Three—A December 11, 2016 William Bradbury Isaiah 35:1-10, Psalm 146:4-9, James 5:7-10, Matthew 11:2-11 A few years ago I am watching on TV a soccer match in the English Premier League, and the referee makes several terrible calls—seeing a penalty where there is none and not seeing a penalty where a...
Sermon Advent Two—A December 4, 2016 William Bradbury Isaiah 11:1-10, Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19, Romans 15:4-13, Matthew 3:1-12 One of the great gifts of the Bible is its honesty about the heroes of the faith: it tells us that Abraham was a liar and that Moses was a murderer. It reveals that Tamar seduced...
Sermon Advent 1—Year A November 27, 2016 William Bradbury Isaiah 2:1-5, Psalm 122, Romans 13:11-14, Matthew 24:36-44 As you know clergy occasionally end up leading funerals for people who haven’t been in church for decades. This doesn’t make them bad people and it certainly does not mean they are not loved by God....
Sermon Christ the King November 20, 2016 William Bradbury Jeremiah 23:1-6, Psalm 46, Colossians 1:11-20, Luke 23:33-43 On May 24, 1946 a group called the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists, under the leadership of Albert Einstein, sent a telegram to several hundred prominent Americans with an urgent plea that reads in part: “We...
