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Sermon for 9/17/2023 16 Pentecost, Proper 19

Sometimes it is amazing how the Scriptures can capture the spirit of humans who have succumbed to the power of greed. Entitlement has to be one of the other most egregious characteristics that exist in human relationships as well. I heard another story that I think captures this a little more. God appeared to this farmer and granted him three wishes, but with the condition that whatever God did for the farmer would be given double to his neighbor. The farmer, scarcely believing his good fortune, wished for a hundred cattle. Immediately he received a hundred cattle and he was overjoyed until he saw that his neighbor had two hundred. So he wished for a hundred acres of land, and again he was filled with joy until he saw that his neighbor had two hundred acres of land. Rather than celebrating God’s goodness, the farmer could not escape feeling jealous and slighted because his neighbor had received more than he. Finally, he stated his third wish: that God would strike him blind in one eye.
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We Are Not Alone, Sermon from August 27, 2023, Proper 16A, Pentecost 13

Sermon, Preached on August 27th, 2023, Proper 16A, 13 Pentecost As we went on our trip out west, to drop Eliot off, I was definitely trying to look at my relationship with him from a 10,000 foot level. I intended to kind of reflect on the last 19 years, and understand how cancer, divorce, switching schools, step parents and all the challenges he faced formed him into the person he is today. But I never reached 10,000 feet. I don’t think I even reached 5,000 feet. Stopping in the Badlands, he took off and started climbing around and taking selfies and panoramic pictures and just being generally overwhelmed by the beauty of that place. Erin and I and our arthritic knees and old bodies could barely handle the trails off the beaten path much less climbing the same dunes he was. Looking much past 10 feet in front of me was nearly impossible. And so it went all week, given sight to see, or form to fill out, we were kept right in the present, trying to navigate this new college experience and
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Location: Wayzata, MN 55391, USA
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Sermon Advent 3A, December 11, 2022

Did any of you think the same thing I did at the beginning of today’s Gospel? The part where Jesus says, “And blessed are those who take no offense at me.” I'm taking a page out of Matthew’s Gospel and saying the same thing, those of you who take offense from my sermons, well, let’s just say that those who take no offense are blessed, you others… I am sure I am doing you all a disservice when I say that, because the translation has been wrought several times over several centuries. Also, there is the fact that a human wrote this and wanted to be sure that people knew who it was meant for. This is one of those cases where your and my sleuthing can be of invaluable service to understanding the truth. Was this something Jesus said or something Matthew added as a kicker to get at those who disagreed with him? Let’s recap my hair brained advent idea, first, we are slime mold. Single celled organisms that self organize based on conditions and circumstances that bring us together to creat
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Sermon Advent 2A DECEMBER 4, 2022

So now that we've all become slime mold, it’s time to take the next step. We have no mother cell, right? There is no central nervous system that is directing our every move. Instead, we come to this realization that together, as a community of people gathered we have a different being, a different purpose, a different function than as individuals apart. This is not to say that being apart and being individuals is less important or more dangerous. All I am saying is that apart we function one way, and together we function another. We talked a little bit on Wednesday at our Advent Forum about understanding how we relate with the Church, or how we define ourselves in relationship with worship. Often when describing our experiences, or describing what church is, we describe it as something that we did. We celebrated Eucharist. We worshiped God. We sang songs and hymns of joy. It is not very often that we describe our experience of Church as a place where something happened to us. Where
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Advent 1A Sermon, Nov 27, 2022

As many of you heard last week, I love Advent. I love Advent for two reasons. First, Advent is the start of the new liturgical year, and this year we head into what is called Year A, so the readings we will hear over the next year are a little more familiar and a little more fun to read. It is particularly poignant this year, as this is the first Advent in about eight years that I will engage in the process of being made new. Eight years ago, when I left the Church, I was angry, hurt and very unclear about what my future would hold. After a year plus of hard work, it became clear that whatever work I did put in to transforming my personal life and atoning for the things I did would not be enough. So I felt betrayed. I continued to work, but I lost track of the liturgical year. I lost track of the joy I feel when approaching these kinds of liminal moments in our lives. The second reason I love Advent is because it gives me a moment, four weeks actually, to explore this hair-brained idea
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SERMON: 2022, Year C, Last Pentecost, St Edward's

Over the past 25 plus years I have had the opportunity to see Archbishop Desmond Tutu speak. Diocesan events across the country, mostly youth events, I was able to see him speak at two different Episcopal Youth Events. Then in 1996 the graduating class of my seminary asked me to be his personal chaplain. So I got to drive to the airport, pick him up, chat with him get all the things he needed to be prepared set and ready and then sit next to him for the graduation ceremony of those students at CDSP. That was quite the honor, although I think the graduating planning committee were more trying to create a meme than anything else, as I was much taller than Bishop Tutu, and I am sure seen standing next to him, we were quite the opposite, in physical stature. He was really short. Anyway, Bishop Tutu always gave inspiring sermons and speeches, I always walked away from his words feeling ready to take on the world, I always felt taller than I already was. But this graduation sermon he preache
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What IS the opposite of faith? Last week I attended a recruitment event for a new Cub Scout Pack. The group of leaders had passed out a ton of information and were hoping to get 6 to 10 families at their join night event. Two families showed, the main organizer looked at me, forlorn and said, “I’m disappointed more people didn’t show up.” I reminded him that only two families showed up, but they had recruited 6 kids and each of those families had one more kid that was one year too young for the program, they hadn’t entered Kindergarten yet.   On top of that, the Mom of one of the families was on the PTO at a School that is willing to work with the Pack to get the word out about Scouting. The possibility is immense for that young Cub Scout Pack and living in disappointment only sabotages its future.   St Edward’s is in a similar situation, a long rich history of amazing events and mission. A history many of you remember with fondness. But the reality today is not what it was 10 years a
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"God has no hands but ours" Sermon for Sunday, June 9th, 2013

The following is the sermon I preached at Epiphany Episcopal Church in Plymouth on Sunday June 9th, 2013. ___________________ Proper 5C June 9 2013 Graduations are happening all around us, friends, neighbors, all sorts of graduations, kids are going from elementary school to junior high school, from junior high school to senior high school, senior high school to college, from college into the world of work, or graduate school. All around us as spring comes to a close and summer takes hold, new chapters are beginning and lives are being transformed by joy and anticipation. Samuel Davies, long ago president of the College of New Jersey, today known as Princeton University, in one of his commencement addresses said, “There is a kind of death which we all expect to feel that carries terror in the very sound, and all its circumstances are shocking to nature. The ghastly countenance, the convulsive agonies, the expiring groan, the coffin, the grace, the devouring work, the stupor,
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This sermon was preached on June 2nd at Trinity Episcopal Church in Excelsior.  You can listen to the sermon at Trinity's website:  http://trinityexcelsior.org/2013/06/03/faith-is-the-word-by-reverend-aron-kramer-6-2-2013/ ___________________ Proper 4C, June 2 2013 The Voice is a reality television singing competition; the concept of the show is to find new singing talent contested by aspiring singers. The contestants are voted into each round by the American public, well, those who watch the show. The series has a panel of judges who critique the contestant’s performances. Judges also serve as a coach, guiding their teams through the season. The judges compete to ensure that their act wins the competition, making them the winning coach. Adam Levine, the Maroon 5 lead singer, and a long-standing coach on the show, was caught in a surprising moment this week. How many of you heard him say, “I hate this country.” Of course Twitter blew up, literally, calling him unpa
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