Silence the Unforgiving Voices. Sermon for Proper 19, Year A

Series: Leaning into the Peace of God. Sermon: Silencing the Unforgiving Voices Sermon by Fr. Rian Adams. Proper 19, Year A. Matthew 18:21-35 Last week I started a series on leaning into the peace of God. The first sermon was how peace of mind comes when we work through conflicts. This week I’m continuing the theme of leaning into God’s peace be facing another form of conflict… conflict with the self.  Intro: “Dentists Are Seeing an Epidemic of Cracked Teeth,” said a headline in the New York Times last Tuesday.[1] The author, Tammy Chen…

Pride, Prejudice, and Peace. Sermon for Proper 20, Year A

Series: Leaning into the Peace of God.  Sermon, Pride, Prejudice, and Peace Sermon by Fr. Rian Adams. Proper 20, Jonah 3:10-4:11 Introduction: Let me tell you a story about how religious exclusion is born. Pride needs all the right answers. Before long, the addiction to certainty strangles love.  To maintain certainty, fear requires hundreds of hours and dollars looking for authorities that agree with its position. When fear empowers pride, prejudice is born.  Finally, the God of their own making gets involved. That’s when “those people” can be persecuted because they are…

IGNORE the Pharisees! A sermon for Proper 21, Year A

Series: Leaning into the peace of God Sermon: Ignore the Pharisees A sermon by Fr. Rian Adams. Proper 21, Year A. Matthew 21:23-32 I heard a story about a marital conflict that started at a reunion.  A husband and wife were sitting at a table at the husband’s 25th high school reunion when the wife noticed a lady sitting alone at a table nursing her third drink.  The wife asked her husband, “Do you know her?” “Yes,” he sighed,  “She’s my old girlfriend. Bless her…