Archive for 2009/12


Sermon for Christmas Day, Dec. 25, 2009, “God’s Binoculars,” Text: John 1:1-14

sermon-dec-25-2009-mp3    (Click onto this link to hear an audio version of this sermon)
 
In 1969 I got to spend Christmas in Italy where my parents had gone to live for a year while my father did historical research for a book he was writing. As a special treat, my parents had planned a ski trip […]

Sermon for Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, 2009, “God’s Plan,” Text: Luke 2:1-20

sermon-dec-24-2009-mp3  (Click onto this link to hear an audio version of this sermon)
 
Years ago, I heard a news story about a young couple in Caracas, Venezuela who became separated from their newborn baby shortly after the baby’s birth. Because of some terrible flooding, they couldn’t get back to the hospital and, when they finally […]

Sermon for the 4th Sun. of Advent, Dec. 20, 2009, “St. Francis of Assisi and the First Nativity Scene”

Today, I speak to you not as Fr. Craig, but as Francis Bernardone, or St. Francis of Assisi, as you have come to know me. I want to tell you the story about how I came to create the first nativity scene on Christmas Eve, almost 800 years ago. Today, such scenes of the nativity […]

Sermon for the 3rd Sun. of Advent, Dec. 13, 2009, “Joy and Judgment” Text: Zephaniah 3:14-20, Philippians 4:4-9, Luke 3:7-18

sermon-dec-13-2009-mp3 (Click on to this link to hear an audio version of the sermon.)

Joy and Judgment. Those two words don’t seem like they go together.  In our reading from his letter to the Philippians, Paul says, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice!”  In our first reading, the prophet Zephaniah says, “Sing aloud, […]

Sermon for the 2nd Sun. of Advent, Dec. 6, 2009, “Preparing With Memory and Imagination” Text: Philippians 1:3-11, Luke 3:1-6

sermon-dec-6-2009-mp3  (Click here for an audio version of this sermon.)
 
 
The other day I watched a fascinating TV program about why people dream.  The program talked about the fact that, in the past, largely due to the influence of Sigmund Freud, scientists thought that our dreams are the result of past fears or anxieties that come […]