Ernest F. Campbell Selected Sermons

  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....

  Proper 26 All Saints C The Turning Point of Faith October 30, 1983 By Rev. Ernest F. Campbell My name is Zacchaeus . I own and manage the little winery at the edge of town, and I am a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. Some of you will recall that for a period in my life I was employed by the Emperor of Rome as a tax collector. I can honestly say that I more-or-less fell into my first position. A friend (who knew my love for keeping personal records) had a friend who was a tax collector. When his tax collector friend needed some time off because of illness he suggested my name and they hired me on a temporary basis. They must have liked my work, because when my friend’s friend returned to work, they gave me a permanent assignment.  I am ashamed now as I think back on those first years…. How naïve I was about the real world of greed. The Romans hired Jews to collect taxes from fellow Jews. You would think the we would have bent over backwards to be fair in our calculations....

  Proper 23 C Cheerful Giving October 12, 1980 By Rev. Ernest F. Campbell I want to talk about hard times. I want to talk about the hard times of a leper in the first century .  It was a condition so dreaded that it caused those who had it to be ritually rejected . (To ring your bell and announce that you were unclean). It was generally believed that it’s victims must be hated by God. All of life’s doors were closed; family rejected you, business opportunities vanished, marriage was out of the question , old friends could pity you…. at a distance. You were considered as one who was dead.  In today’s Gospel ten of these retched out-casts see Jesus as He is entering a village and from a distance, they cry out to Him in a loud voice! We need to read between the lines here for a minute and imagine the expression on their faces, the tone of their voices and the urgency of their words – Jesus may never pass their way again – “Jesus! Master! Have pity on us!” Jesus responds by s...