"This is, of course, quite the opposite of how any wannabe king or emperor would have conducted himself on such an occasion, as if that hadn't already been made clear by Jesus's mode of entering Jerusalem." #PreacherSky #SermonSky notesonfoolserrand.blogspot.com/2026/03/serm...
"In the end, then, that hard sentence is just practical advice – *know what you’re getting into, know what’s coming, know that the sword will find you. And follow Me anyway.*" notesonfoolserrand.blogspot.com/2026/03/serm... #SermonSky #PreacherSky
“Her reward for this questioning, for not backing down, is nothing less than being the first person in this gospel to whom Jesus directly names himself as the Messiah, the Christ.” #SermonSky #PreacherSky notesonfoolserrand.blogspot.com/2026/03/serm...
"We must see it and know it. We must face the snake, because if we do not face the snake, the snake will continue to bite, and we will continue to die." #PreacherSky #SermonSky (anyone else have fun shifting gears at the last minute?) notesonfoolserrand.blogspot.com/2026/03/serm...
Black background quote graphic with white text. A long excerpt urges self-examination for barrenness in works of mercy, calling believers to confess stinginess toward charity while being generous toward their own desires. Attribution at the bottom reads: Robert Harris (1581–1658), “A Sermon Touching Prayer and Mercy.”
Robert Harris, a #Puritan and Westminster divine, complains that we’re impressively generous to ourselves and astonishingly tight-fisted toward God and neighbour. He says this should shame us into repentance. If that sermon feels unnecessary today… well, that might be the problem.
#sermonsky
Quote card featuring Basil of Caesarea (c. 330–379), an early Christian bishop and theologian. At left is a Byzantine-style icon of Basil holding a book, with a gold halo. At right is a quotation from “Homily VII, Against the Rich,” condemning usury and high-interest lending as corrupt and harmful to the poor, using biblical imagery of bad fruit from a corrupt tree.
Basil of Caesarea, a church father, reads Scripture and then does the maths. Ten percent? Twelve? He treats interest rates like a moral thermometer: when the numbers rise, mercy freezes. Apparently holiness isn’t helped by APRs that need a calculator and a conscience.
#sermonsky #Christianity
Black background quote graphic featuring a mosaic-style portrait of Aurelius Ambrosius (Ambrose), labeled “AURELIUS AMBROSIUS (AMBROSE) (340–397), On the Decease of His Brother Satyrus.” To the right, a quotation teaches that justice consists in giving to the poor: wealth is held in stewardship, not ownership, and the duty of stewardship belongs to the poor rather than inheritance to heirs.
Ambrose says justice isn’t abstract: it’s selling what you have and giving to the poor. That’s a bracing definition. It asks whether our idea of “justice” risks shrinking to what costs us least—while the older church assumed justice should cost us something.
#christianity #sermonsky #righteousness
"Yet their very existence throws an absolutely necessary wrench into our easily sentimentalized “Christmas story,” so often stripped bare of all that challenges and disturbs." #SermonSky #PreacherSky notesonfoolserrand.blogspot.com/2026/01/serm...
"... were it not for the intervention of an angel in another dream of Joseph's, our Lord and Savior and his earthly parents were going to be caught up in not a display, but an actual physical act of such violence, and even worse." notesonfoolserrand.blogspot.com/2025/12/serm... #SermonSky
"We never hear a word out of Joseph in either Matthew or Luke ... nonetheless ... his actions, in the face of this unexpected calling, speak far louder than any words ever could."
notesonfoolserrand.blogspot.com/2025/12/serm...
#SermonSky #PreacherSky
“Even God isn't all that fond of human kings, it turns out.” #SermonSky #PulpitSky #PreacherSky
notesonfoolserrand.blogspot.com/2025/11/serm...
“The concerns of that old past mortality, worries about property and legacy and all that implied in the question, simply don’t matter… As much as we might not want to admit this, we don’t like the sound of this, not one bit.” #SermonSky #PreacherSky notesonfoolserrand.blogspot.com/2025/11/serm...
“That third word of the verse, that we pronounce ‘show,’ was in fact spelled s-h-e-w. That always freaked me out to no end; it was everything I could do not to read it out as ‘study to shoe thyself approved unto God...’.” #SermonSky #PreacherSky
notesonfoolserrand.blogspot.com/2025/10/serm...
As to the hashtags, I kinda miss seeing other folks’ sermons and enjoying all the distinct takes of the day. I know preachers are busy, but yeah, I do miss that from the early days of Bluesky’s rise. #PreacherSky #SermonSky
As a pastor or interim of three small churches in a row, I guess this was coming… notesonfoolserrand.blogspot.com/2025/10/serm... #SermonSky #PreacherSky
I’m guessing there aren’t many sermons out there that include Douglas Adams quotes. This is one of them. #SermonSky #PreacherSky notesonfoolserrand.blogspot.com/2025/09/serm...
This sermon probably shouldn’t have been written or preached, and I should probably never speak of it again, but today it’s what I had and I’m sticking by it. notesonfoolserrand.blogspot.com/2025/09/serm... #SermonSky #PreacherSky #PulpitSky
Literally from yesterday’s sermon:
“While I hope there aren't many today who would seek to restore the discredited practice of using this letter to justify slavery (although one can't be completely sure these days)…”
(Sermon link in comments, if anyone cares) #SermonSky
Oh, the sermons that come when you’re sitting in the dentist chair.
. . . so thankful for the mercy and loving kindness of God.
#PreacherSky
#SermonSky
“Honestly, we live in a world that needs a whole lot of Martha-ing. Need and suffering are endemic, and when people are calling empathy a sin, compassion and basic human decency are in seriously short order.” notesonfoolserrand.blogspot.com/2025/07/serm... #PulpitSky #SermonSky
GEORGE BARRELL CHEEVER (1808-1890) God Against Slavery "When God says, Thou shalt not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, the widow, the servant, the hireling ; and when he teaches us to pray, Deliver me from the oppression of man : so will I keep thy precepts; every one of these statutes and instructions demonstrates the system of slavery to be sinful; because its fundamental claim of property in man is the sum of all these oppressions, and God could never sanction in a general system as right, that which He forbidS; in every particular, as wrong."
George Barrell Cheever, #Presbyterian minster, argues against slavery. It is the sum of oppressions (Mal 3:5, Ps 119:134).
How can you protect the stranger, fatherless, widows, the servant, and hireling? Any one particularly at risk today? #sermonsky
WILLIAM BATES (1625-1699) Harmony of the Divine Attributes "And as to the Degree of our Love, we are commanded above all Things to have fervent Charity among ourselves. This principally respects Christians, who are united by so many sacred and amiable Bands, as being formed of the same eternal Seed, Children of the same heavenly Father, and joint Heirs of the same glorious Inheritance."
William Bates, #Presbyterian minister, says the human and spiritual ties of Christians should drive fervent charity.
Some want Christianity 2 win every argument based on its prevalence, but then clam up the wallets when there are needs outside the klan.
How can you have fervent Charity? #sermonsky
JOHN CASTELMAN (d 1761) Sermon before Bristol Infirmary "Thus Beneficence to others, is really but Kindness to ourselves, all our good Deeds return, with vast Increase, into our own Bosom: Our Neighbour, tho' raised by our good Offices from the Bed of Languishing and Poverty, will be profited nothing, in Comparison of the Benefit redounding to ourselves-- his the Mammon of Unrighteousness, ours the true Riches, that may receive us into everlasting Habitations."
John Castelman says beneficence to others is kindness to ourselves. One who cures a neighbor gets more than gives.
You can’t gripe seeing poor people, and want a front row seat in heaven. In Castelman’s theology, faith is active in works of #mercy.
How can you do Kindness to yourself? #sermonsky
“That’s the disciples’ job; wait for the Holy Spirit and then go! Go all over the world, says Jesus. And the church, in fits and starts, sometimes ruinously and sometimes beautifully, has been doing that ever since.” #SermonSky #PreacherSky notesonfoolserrand.blogspot.com/2025/06/serm...
OK, question for #PreacherSky #SermonSky #PCUSA and whatever other hashtags might get seen: Which would you consider the more vital after-Easter story in scripture, the Thomas story (John 20:19-31) or the Emmaus Road story (Luke 24:13-35)? Not what profs told you, what *you* think.
