Sermons
Each week, we post Sunday’s sermon by Rev. Eric Anderson. If you can’t join us on Sunday morning, try following #3tweetsermon on Twitter.
Sermon: Since You Asked
November 10, 2019Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost Luke 20:27-38 by Eric Anderson I think the most comprehensible response of a modern Christian to this account of the conversation between the Sadducees and Jesus here in the 20th chapter of Luke is: “Huh?” There’s a whole lot of background to this passage that most of you were…
Reflection on Respect
Reflection for the ‘Aha MokupuniHawai’i Island AssociationNovember 9, 2019Church of the Holy Cross UCC, Hilo Luke 18:9-14 by Eric Anderson In 1054, a group of ecclesiastical diplomats from Rome, representatives of Pope Leo IX, presented a letter to Archbishop Cerularius of Constantinople. To tell the truth, the contents of the letter were the same-old, same-old:…
Sermon: I Think I’ll Climb a Tree
November 3, 2019Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost Luke 19:1-10 by Eric Anderson You might remember that last week, we heard a story in which Jesus praised the prayer of a tax collector rather than the prayer of a deeply religious leader. That’s the beginning of chapter 18 of Luke’s gospel. Just after that, Luke told the…
Sermon: Starting Honestly
October 27, 2019Twentieth Sunday after PentecostLuke 18:9-14 by Eric Anderson Let’s start with some honesty. The Pharisee in this story tends to reinforce Christian stereotypes about first century Pharisees and about modern Jews. The Pharisee in this story tends to reinforce our own prejudices about them: Arrogant, hypocritical, self-righteous, uncaring. If we dismiss the Pharisees…
Sermon: Still Hoping
October 20, 2019Nineteenth Sunday after PentecostLuke 18:1-8 by Eric Anderson This is one of those stories from the Bible where a sensible approach seems to be to put up a big sign that says, “This Is A Story.” It is intended as a commentary on real life, and it may reflect some realities of real…
Sermon: The Root of Thanks
October 13, 2019Eighteenth Sunday after PentecostLuke 17:11-19 by Eric Anderson It’s probably impossible to avoid a little condemnation of the nine people who had been healed, and who had failed to come back and give thanks. It’s probably impossible to avoid a little self-righteousness about it. If it had been you or me (particularly me,…
Sermon: Christian Conditions
October 6, 2019Seventeenth Sunday after PentecostWorld Communion Sunday2 Timothy 1:1-14 by Eric Anderson In this opening of the Second Letter to Timothy, two verses stand out for me. The first is the statement that the author is reminded of, “your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice…
Sermon: Getting the Points
September 29, 2019Sixteenth Sunday after PentecostLuke 16:19-31 by Eric Anderson I don’t know if any of you have watched the situation comedy called The Good Place. Created by Michael Schur, it’s set in the afterlife, in heaven and hell, or at least in some version springing from Michael Schur’s imagination. The plot takes too many…
Sermon: Puzzling Parable
September 22, 2019Fifteenth Sunday after PentecostLuke 16:1-13 by Eric Anderson Some of my favorite movies share a common characteristic: lovable rogues are their main characters. The Oceans' movies with George Clooney and Brad Pitt and their steadily increasing cast of con artists. The Sting, with Robert Redford and Paul Newman as Chicago grifters of the…
Sermon: Throwaway
September 15, 2019Fourteenth Sunday after PentecostLuke 15:1-10 by Eric Anderson When I throw something away, I don’t want it to reappear. Sometimes that can’t be helped, of course. The things I put in the wastebaskets here at the church have to be gathered together, bagged, and taken to the dumpster. At other times, trash reappears…
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