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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“Interpreting Our Story”
“Interpreting Our Story” Luke 12: 4-6 August 9, 1999 Jonah is found in the belly of the whale… (Jesus walks on the water and invites Peter to do the same.) Do you believe these stories? Are they true? What do they have to do with you? For the most part, we take them with a…
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A Fathers Advice
A Fathers Advice Romans 12: 2, 9-20. 13: 8-9 June 30. 1999 So many things to celebrate: Father’s Day, tomorrow the beginning of Summer, the sixth Sunday after Pentecost, sixty-nine days until the opening of football season. But today, we take our directions from St. Hallmark, instead of the church lectionary. Our focus is on…
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Do you really believe the stories in the books of Acts and in Genesis that we have just heard?
Do you really believe the stories in the books of Acts and in Genesis that we have just heard? Do you think they really happened? A tower – an unbelievable tower – was raised up, but the venture ended in disaster. The builders were scattered to the ends of the earth. Is this not a…
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Pentecost
Pentecost May 23, 1999 In this week’s paper, Tucson was listed as one of the ten model cities for retirement. I’m not quite sure how we were chosen, but it’s a good exercise to ponder what the marks are of being a model community. A few years ago, Neil Postman wrote a book about communities.…
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St. Philips Day
St. Philips Day May 2, 1999 Recently, I attended a silver anniversary celebration. There were speeches, dinner, and a lot of good cheer. One incident during the speeches stuck with me. The woman, who had introduced the couple, described the attire of the bride on her first date. Her husband disagreed. It reminded me of…
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Easter
Easter April 4, 1999 The baby finally learned to crawl. And now he seems almost ready to walk. He clings to the leg of the chair and slowly lifts himself up, and hesitantly takes a few wobbly steps. And then he falls down, letting out a cry of pain and frustration. His mother wants to…
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The Plan B of God
The Plan B of God Luke 23: 26-41 March 27, 1999 There is a passage in Saint Luke’s gospel where the friends of John the Baptist ask who Jesus is. Jesus responds to them, the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the dead are raised, and the poor rejoice. Quite a list…
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“To Trust or to Despair: The Choice is Ours”
“To Trust or to Despair: The Choice is Ours” Job 19: 23-29; Psalm 13 March 7, 1999 A child wakes in the night and cries out. Alone in the dark, he is full of fear. The dark world around him seems vast and threatening. His mother rushes into the room, takes up the child, and…
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“Lent: What You Can Learn in the Process”
“Lent: What You Can Learn in the Process” Exodus 16: 1-15, Mark 1: 9-13 February 20, 1999 When I was in junior high, I received a great shock. Our math teacher informed us that it was no longer good enough to produce the right answers. We also had to tell how we got the answer.…
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“The Secret to Living Life Fully”
“The Secret to Living Life Fully” Colossians 3: 1-15 February 7, 1999 Just before dawn on a cold winter morning, a group of Russian prisoners was led out to face a firing squad. One of them was a young man named Fyodor Dostoevsky. All of them were condemned revolutionaries. The first three were handed white…