Ascension Written Sermons

The Rev. Robert P. Travis Pentecost 18 th Sunday Sermon – 8:00am and 10:30am Church of the Ascension, Knoxville TN RCL Proper 21 Year B 9/30/2012 Scripture Text: Esther 7:1-6,9-10; 9:20-22, Psalm 124, James 5:13-20, Mark 9:38-50 Sermon Text: I'm going to ask you to do something a little difficult this morning, I'm going to ask you to remember the end of the gospel passage from last week, so that we can have an entrance into the Gospel passage for this week. Do you remember it? Ok, well, then I'll give it to you, because honestly, when I was preparing this, I had to look back at it myself to remember what Jesus said. In the last verse in last week's Gospel, Jesus said “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me, welcomes not me but the one who sent me.” Now there's a subtle second meaning in that verse that we often don't ge...

The 15th Sunday After Pentecost September 16, 2012 “ Will you pick up your cross and follow me? The Reverend Dr. Howard J. Hess I. Introduction . Today’s gospel reading is considered by many to be the very center, the heart, of the Book of Mark . This section summarizes all that has come before and foreshadows that which will follow. At the center of this passage are two pivotal questions posed by Jesus to his disciples: “Who do people say that I am?” and then, “But who do you say that I am?” People in general were still confused about Jesus’ identity. But not Peter. He responded quickly and definitively: “You are the Messiah.” This affirmation clearly demonstrated that Peter was getting it – Jesus was not just a prolific teacher or another in a long line of prophets. Jesus was “The Messiah – the Christ.” Both of the terms -- Messiah and Christ -- are titles used to refer to Jesus and are translated as “the Anointed One.” How good i...

The Rev. Robert P. Travis Pentecost 15 th Sunday Sermon – 8:00am (Rally Day) Church of the Ascension, Knoxville TN Scripture Text: Proverbs 22:1-2,8-9,22,-23, Psalm 125, James 2:1-10,14-17, Mark 7:24-37 RCL Proper 18 Year B 9/9/2012 Sermon Text: There are a lot of justice issues in our readings today, a number of passages that immediately remind me, of the great political debates we are hearing in this election year and especially in the wake of two big conventions. Even though it's all over our scripture readings, You will be pleased to know that this sermon is not going to be a political speech. No, while I am interested in the various wisdom we read in Proverbs, and the challenges we get in the letter of James, what really caught my attention this week, is just two words in the gospel. “He sighed,” I know you might remember from your youth that the shortest verse in the bible is “Jesus wept.” Some of you...