Each and every one of you has the power to bring about the miracle of self-sacrifice. You can make self-sacrifice a daily reality. That is a miracle. If I started to see that happen both in myself and in all of your lives, that would truly be a miracle. But this is what Moses discovers. He discovers that in order to become the leader that he’s called to be, in order for Israel to become the community it’s called to be, it’s not going to be based on power. It’s got to be based on self-sacrifice, daily. Now, self-sacrifice is hard. It’s hard, but it’s not impossible because you all know you can do it. It’s hard and we don’t like it and we avoid what we don’t like. But it is possible.

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Sermon for Proper 19.

Readings from Exodus 32:7-14; 1 Timothy 12-17; Luke 15:1-10.

Preached at Holy Trinity Church Inwood, 20 Cumming Street, New York, New York 10034, on September 15, 2019.

Perhaps the worst thing about evil, perhaps the worst thing about sin, is that it makes us stop wanting to listen to good. If you’re on a steady diet of junk food, good food is going to taste bad. If you’re a drunk, being sober is going to be painful. And if you’re a sinner, dead in your sins, life is not going to make any sense to you. The worst thing about that is that we stop wanting to listen to God.

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Sermon for Proper 18.

Readings from Deut. 30:15-20; Philemon 1-21; Luke 14:25-33.

Preached at Holy Trinity Church Inwood, 20 Cumming Street, New York, New York 10034, on September 8, 2019.

When you look into a friend’s eye, when you look in a spouse’s eye, and you see love and affirmation reflected there, you’re seeing God justifying you and validating your existence. That’s what a relationship should be, but if you’ve got the glasses of pride on, you won’t see that. Prisoners will be cared for, not ignored. And the money, if you have it, if you have money, it will be used in the service of all of the above. Now, none of this is dependent on me as your leader, as your pastor, and it’s not dependent on any other pastor, but this is the essence of the word of God that I speak to you. This is my faith which I asked you to imitate, and I ask you to imitate that regardless of how my or any other preacher’s life turns out.

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Sermon for Proper 17.

Readings from Sirach 10:12-18; Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16; Luke 14:1, 7-14.

Preached at Holy Trinity Church Inwood, 20 Cumming Street, New York, New York 10034, on September 1, 2019.

Religious rigor, moral fervor, I think these are sure signs of overcompensation in your spiritual life. It’s a sure sign that you’re trying to save yourself when what you need to do is be open to God’s grace even when that grace falls on the seventh day. Even when that grace falls on the day of rest. And how fitting for that day of rest… How fitting for the seventh day already to be the day of rest, the day where God did no work, rested from his labor, and took delight in all he had. The seventh day is the day of grace, so what better day to receive the physical grace of healing, and the spiritual grace of the exorcism that this woman received? What better day to experience the delight that the crowds experienced than on the Sabbath?

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Sermon for Proper 16.

Readings from Isa. 58:9b-14; Heb. 12:18-29; Luke 13:10-17.

Preached at Holy Trinity Church Inwood, 20 Cumming Street, New York, New York 10034, on August 25, 2019.

I want to challenge you, I want to tell you, I want to say to you that you need to start living in a way now that gets you ready for the life you’re going to live, and to do that you need to nourish yourself with food that comes from that next life. You need to nourish yourself with food that comes from the life that is to come. You need to convert your spiritual and your moral, and eventually even your physical, metabolisms to this new fuel called truth.

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Sermon for Proper 15.

Readings from Jer. 23:23-29; Heb. 11:29-12:2; Luke 12:49-56.

Preached at Holy Trinity Church Inwood, 20 Cumming Street, New York, New York 10034, on August 18, 2019.

Do you desire something better than this life can give and are you responding to this desire? Yes? Then you are well on the path to faith, even if (like Abraham) you do not know where it will lead. But are you ready? Are you ready for a new and better life? Readiness is the final component of faith. “Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes” … “if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into” … “You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”

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Sermon for Proper 14.

Readings from Gen. 15:1-6; Heb. 11:1-3, 8-16; Luke 12:32-40.

Preached at Holy Trinity Church Inwood, 20 Cumming Street, New York, New York 10034, on August 11, 2019.