All Sermons
The reflection below was written by the Rev. Roger Douglas as part of the introduction to his book An Audience of One. It expresses the spirit behind all of his preaching and offers a helpful way to approach the sermons preserved in this archive.
As you read these sermons, you may find they help you make sense of the world, or invite you into your own conversation with God. Roger often said that he sought meaning in a world of death and suffering, beginnings and retirements, successes and failures, sense and nonsense.
His experience as a preacher taught him that most sermons first speak back to the one who writes them; the real dialogue is between the preacher and God. If anyone in the congregation hears a word that touches them, it is because God has chosen to let them in on that conversation.
Roger believed that preaching is deeply personal work — a struggle to make sense of Scripture, an openness about doubts, and a willingness to share the journey. The more honestly he engaged that struggle, the better others were able to identify with it.
He described this kind of work as “confessional” preaching, not in the sense of offering anecdotes, but in speaking truthfully from within one’s own life while pointing people toward Jesus. It frees the preacher from having to solve every problem and reminds us that we are not steering the ship, but contributing our part to the dialogue.
May these sermons draw you into that same conversation of faith — one marked by mystery, humility, and the grace of God at work in all things.
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St. Philips Day
St. Philips Day John 4: 21-22 May 7, 1995 In a book called “One Hundred Years of Solitude,” a Colombian novelist by the name of Gabriel Garcia Marquez tells a story of a strange disease that invades a village. The sickness starts with insomnia and then spreads to a loss of memory. The infected person…
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Easter
Easter April 16, 1995 We are here this evening to celebrate the first mass of Easter. This is an ancient celebration where the whole church came to welcome those new members of the body who had been preparing themselves during the period of Lent. This service usually contained baptisms of whole families, instructions about the…
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Suffering
Suffering April 9, 1995 ‘We are the children who never heard it. We are the children who never felt it. But we sensed it with our bodies, and our hearts. We sensed it, and ached for it. But our thoughts and our feelings didn’t, couldn’t, acknowledge it. Shielded from passion, we were damned to mediocrity.…
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Abraham and Isaac
Abraham and Isaac Genesis 22:1-14 April 2, 1995 It is a strange old story, this account of voices in the night, the lonely walk of the father and the son, and the staying of the knife at the very last moment. It’s not surprising that this story of Abraham and Isaac has been the subject…
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4 Lent
4 Lent March 26, 1995 Lent is a time to be shocked. It’s a time when our relationship to God is tested, when our religious understandings need to be re-examined, and re-ordered. Lent is a time when we meet a radical Christ, a Jesus that we have never seen before, never met, mostly because we…
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“The Shock of Christ!’
“The Shock of Christ!’ March 5, 1995 Sometimes you can look at a thing a hundred times and not really see it. At other times, you can listen to something a thousand times and not really hear it. And so it is with the parables of Jesus. This past summer, I found myself shaken up…
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On Not Being Able to Say You’re Sorry
On Not Being Able to Say You’re Sorry Luke 18: 10-14 February 24, 1985 In a recent biography of Lyndon B. Johnson, there was a particularly insightful section on the Vietnam War. As LBJ began to reminisce on that disastrous period in our national history, the question was asked: Why did he keep committing more…
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The City
The City Genesis 11: 1-9 Luke 13: 31-35 February 5, 1995 Every so often, one gets mugged on the way to preaching a sermon. Usually, I prepare sermons way in advance. And this Sunday was no different. I had worked diligently on the topic of aging. But, last week, just before I was to leave…
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State of the Parish
State of the Parish January 22, 1995 I’m taking the sermon time to present the State of the Parish Address for three reasons. First, I want to present a framework for our meeting. Second, I want to have our meeting be more of a dialogue and less of a monologue. And third, I want to…
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“Epiphany”
“Epiphany” January 8, 1995 Whenever the season of Epiphany rolls around, I find myself puzzled. The story that we read seems to be out of tune with the soft melody that we have heard over Christmas – out of step with the beauty and majesty of Mary and Joseph’s tale – out of context when…