Ernest F. Campbell Selected Sermons

Advent 1 A Awake and Responsive to God’s Will November 30, 1986 By Rev. Ernest F. Campbell Advent is an exercise in making ourselves more spiritually conscious of God ’s will and presence in our lives. It is a time for each of us to review the basic fundamentals of our Christian commitment and with God’s help, put them into practice. If we have allowed ourselves to drift along in the current of secular indifference , NOW is the time to focus on the very real possibility of a test of faith . Never mind that half the people who live in this city would not hesitate to tell us that there are more important things to think about. Scripture tells us plainly that when our faith is tested it will come as a surprise. No one will suspect that anything is about to happen until it happens. It will happen so unexpectedly that it will leave no time to prepare. Today’s Gospel tells us that the test will come like a thief in the night – or it will be like the five foolish Virgins who had not bot...

  Proper 29 C Christ Holds All Things Together November 23, 1989 (Last Sunday after Pentecost) By Rev. Ernest F. Campbell One of the questions that I have learned to expect in my 9 th -grade confirmation class is this; “Why doesn’t Jesus come again and put the world back together!” Their question suggests to me that they have come to have faith in Jesus to accomplish great and wonderful things -- And, wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could all learn to better get along with one another! It may be that they have come to think of Jesus like some kind of magician , able to wave his hand over the broken places in the world to bring peace. (Just as he spoke to the raging storm at sea and said, “Be Still!”). One of the reasons I love to teach children is to witness their unhesitant minds plunge into the world of theology without even realizing it, and then watch them enjoy the adventure of di...

Proper 28 C Stepping Out in Faith November 15, 1998   By Rev. Ernest F. Campbell My wife and I have enjoyed our season tickets to the Whitman College Harper Joy Theater for the past 30 years. The most recent play we saw was titled, “ Stepping Out ” by Richard Harris . It was about an odd collection of characters who aspired to learn how to tap dance . The tap-dancing classes took place in the basement of a church. (I thought to myself: here we have a hodgepodge of people attempting to do something very challenging and not especially popular in our society. Interesting!) You could, with a little imagination, see them as members of any typical church congregation . There was a wide range of personalities, basic talent, personal histories, and levels of commitment. Their beginning efforts were anything but beautiful. In fact, they were pathetic. As the story unfolds the audience learns that each individual member of the class has a story to tell… or to hide. There is the tall a...

Proper 27 C A Different Perspective November 12, 2013 By Rev. Ernest F. Campbell In today’s Gospel the Sadducees ask Jesus a rather far-fetched question.  "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; then the second and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. Finally, the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her." Perhaps they asked the question to learn something, but it is more likely that it was meant to score points for the “Sadducees” theological point of view. It would help us to know that the Sadducees were an elite, well educated, materially well-off element in the Jewish society. Their religious beliefs were limited to doctrine which could only be found in the written laws of Moses....