Jim Bundy

Scripture: Luke 14: 25-33; Matthew 18:21-22 I knew, of course, that I would be speaking today just a few hours after the end of our workshop on dismantling racism. I have also known that although the workshop would certainly be fresh and foremost in my mind this morning, that it would not be the subject … Read more

Scripture: 1Samuel 17:1-11, 31-51 I often like to focus my preaching in the summertime around portions of the Hebrew scriptures, just step back and for no particular reason pick a particular book or a cycle of stories and stick with them over a period of several weeks. Two years ago, I did that with the … Read more

Scripture: selections from 1Samuel I need to beg your indulgence in a couple of minor ways today. First, I need to beg the indulgence of those whose biological rhythms are thrown off kilter by the fact that I’m starting to preach before it’s time to preach. It’s only…on the clock, the scripture hasn’t been read, … Read more

Scriptures: 1Samuel 21:1-6; Matthew 12:1-8 When the first two hymns of the day are “Holy, Holy, Holy” and “Lord, Make Me More Holy”, you might get the idea that there’s a theme here. And it’s true. I’ve been thinking about “holy”. The idea of holiness, of something being holy. This is one of those themes … Read more

Scripture: 2Samuel 11:1-12:15 One Sojourner, who shall remain nameless, asked me this week, “Is it time for lust yet?” This might seem like a strange question unless you knew that I had been preaching a series of sermons drawing on the David stories and that one of those stories—several actually, but one famous one—had to … Read more

Scripture: 2Samuel 18:5-33 This is the last Sunday we’ll be spending with David for a while, so I want to try to wrap things up as best I can, and we’ll get to the scripture reading in just a few moments. Again I need to fill in some parts of the story that it would … Read more

Scriptures: Psalm 137 and Mark 9:30-37 It’s been awhile since I’ve done this, this preaching thing. We’ve had some special events going on at worship recently—hymn sing, picnic and outdoor worship, Nancy Elsenheimer from Cleveland last week. I’ve gotten a bit out of the habit, and I feel like I sort of have to ease … Read more

Scripture: Mark 9:38-50 The scripture reading for this morning follows on the heels of the one from last week, and the sermon this morning in a way is a continuation of last week’s sermon as well. I’m struggling with the scripture reading this morning. Actually, that’s not quite right. I’m struggling with myself over an … Read more

Scripture: Mark 10:2-16 I can be pretty precise about this, even though it was forty-two years ago. It was a crisp, gorgeous fall afternoon, just about this time of year, and I was sitting in a college classroom wishing I wasn’t sitting in a college classroom. It was a course called Modern Religious Thought. We … Read more

Scripture: Mark 10:17-31 Sojourners United Church of Christ. A safe place to begin. A safe place to begin again. Those are words you probably recognize as being at the top of our bulletin every Sunday. They describe, I suppose, some combination of who we think we are and who we hope to be. Hope to … Read more