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…
Sermon for Proper 17 year A by Fr. Rian Adams Text: Matthew 16:21-28 Since February of this year, the People’s Republic of China has removed and destroyed over 900 crosses from Christian churches. If that wasn’t enough, to display a cross on a place of worship is a crime against the government. If congregants disobey, the government can try them as insurrections. The cross is offensive. I read an article in an academic journal a few months ago at Sewanee that informs this sermon. The author called for the historic Christian churches in…
Get Out of the Boat: Finding Faith in Fearful Times Watch the sermon on YouTube: By Fr. Rian Adams, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church August 9th, 2020. This story is one of those few times in the Gospels, where the disciples are not with Jesus. Matthew says that Jesus told the disciples to get in a boat and go to the other side of the sea of Galilee while he went to pray and rest. That sounds simple, but it’s not. The sea is 8 miles wide and 13 miles long. Eight miles is a long way…
By Rian Adams Have you ever noticed that this farmer doesn’t seem to know what he’s doing? Jesus says he went out to plant a field, but he missed the mark 75% of the time. If you only succeed at your job 25% of the time, my guess is that you’re preaching sermons or a politician. Now, I’m not a farmer, but I am well educated in the agricultural sciences. I was the top graduate in my 9th grade Agriculture class at Blountstown High School. Among the lessons I learned that year…
What does it mean to be born again Sermon by Fr. Rian Adams There’s been a lot of fighting about this passage over the centuries. Churches have even split based on how to interpret John 3:16. So I decided to stay away from the theological debate. I decided to preach one of the many points found in the text and avoid the “born again” theology. I wanted to preach that Nicodemus was a religious leader, a scholar of the Law, yet he didn’t understand the Law of Love. That’s a good sermon…
Matthew: 5:20-37 Counterfeiters make over a billion dollars a year, making fake designer clothes and handbags. That billion is from the United States, not the rest of the world. These are not cheap knock offs from street vendors; they are well-made fakes. There’s an underground black market where you can pay $450 for a well-made handbag that’s impersonating a $6k Chanel. In 2018 The New York Times ran an article about customs seizing enough counterfeit handbags, shoes, and belts to fill 22 shipping containers. They estimated the loss to American retailers to…