Jim Bundy

Scripture: Mark 13:1-8 Many of you know that there is such a thing as a liturgical calendar, a church year, that consists not just of a few important dates like Christmas and Easter but that, depending on your tradition may have a whole series of significant dates from Ascension and Pentecost and Trinity Sundays to … Read more

Scripture: Luke 1:5-23 The sermon this morning is going to be something of an exercise in free association. As I say in the newsletter this month, I have been thinking about the kinds of non-material gifts not so much that I might desire as gifts but that I think I need, that we all may … Read more

Scripture: Matthew 3:1-12 It may seem like I am contradicting myself this morning. It may seem like the sermon this week is saying something that is pretty much diametrically opposed to what I was trying to say last week. It may seem like in saying what I am going to say this week, I must … Read more

Scripture: Luke 1:46-55, 68-79 I’m continuing with the theme of gifts, non-material qualities that we may need more of in our lives or that may point us in the direction of a greater human wholeness that I believe is what the gift of Christ represents, a holy, human wholeness that we strive and pray and … Read more

Scripture: Matthew 1:18-25 You know those optical illusions where you look at a picture and it looks a certain way, but you sort of squint or blink and it can suddenly appear like a completely different picture. There’s a needlepoint you see of the name of Jesus that’s that way, where if you look at … Read more

Scripture: Romans 12 The title of this sermon, “What We Expect”, does not mean that this is a sermon about what we expect to take place in the coming year. I’m not peering into any crystal balls today. And I haven’t talked to God about what we are to expect. I heard somewhere recently that … Read more

Readings: Romans 12:1-3Letter from the Birmingham City Jail” Martin Luther King, Jr. was an important person for me in my formative years, and so it is hard for me to let the occasion of his birthday observance pass without bringing it into our worship service and into my preaching, especially since I know there are … Read more

Scripture: Luke 4:14-21 I suspect you will find the sermon this morning to be…unusual. I found myself in the mood to experiment a little this week, so instead of making my ordinary effort to gather up my thoughts, sort through them, and present them to you in some more or less organized fashion, I decided … Read more

Scripture: Philippians 3:4-16 I have church on my mind this morning, probably because we have this congregational meeting coming up after church where we will be dealing with important organizational matters and receiving reports that have to do with the total life of the church. I’m not going to preach about that. I’ll leave the … Read more

Scripture: Psalm 51 I have some words to say about apology this morning. Actually I’ll have quite a few words to say about apology before I’m done, and they’ll carry over into another sermon or two after the intergenerational event next Sunday. Why “apology”? Where is this idea coming from? Well… It seems there has … Read more