Sermons

Homily: St. Peter’s Proper 24: Oct. 22, 2017 Opening I love it when I can get a clear sense from the reading of scripture that these people about whom we read were real flesh and blood people – just like you and me – only more so. I get that sense in today’s readings. Exodus On first reading or hearing this passage I can be confused. That’s the first caution. Being confused. Because how can you know someone’s name but not know who they are? Back in chapter 3 God introduces himself by name to Moses in that wonderful scene in the cave where Moses is instructed to take off his shoes and a bush doesn’t burn. But here we have him later in Exodus saying I don’t know who you really are. And God says to him, “Alright already. I’ll let you see me my backside as I pass by. So hide behind this rock.” The scene is a classic text demonstrating how the understanding was deep-seated in ancient Israel that to see the Lord was to risk death. God was a powerful thing not something we genuflected t...

Anglican Reformation The Oratory The Rev. Dale C. Hathaway Oct. 17, 2017 Introduction By way of introduction let me tell you a little about myself. At the beginning, though, I would say that I don’t speak for all Anglicans. Just me. I was ordained a priest in 1982 and served as a parish priest in Wisconsin. I returned to Notre Dame in 1984 to continue graduate studies in theology, Hebrew Studies, and liturgy. I have served parishes in Indiana and Hawaii and am currently supplying on Sundays in congregations in South and North Carolina. My wife, Mary Pat Sjostrom is here tonight. She teaches Math Education at Winthrop University and is the reason we moved to Rock Hill in 2014. I am canonically a Priest of the Diocese of Hawaii, and I started out my journey as an Episcopalian in the state of Colorado. Currently I am retired as a parish priest and teach courses in the Religion Department at Winthrop. Dr. Judge, well-known to you all, is, of course, the chair of the department. op...

Sermon: Oct. 1, 2017: ✤ St. Paul’s, Monroe, NC Opening image: Tony Campolo’s story There is a well-known story told by Tony Campolo that you may even have heard. I’ve told it before. In fact I never get tired of telling it. I heard Campolo tell this story. It went like this: He found himself unable to sleep after his arrival in Hawai’i to take part in what became Hawaiian Island Ministries. It’s a long ways from Pennsylvania to Honolulu and it often takes a day or so to get adjusted to the time difference. Late, long after midnight, he found himself out on the streets, looking for a place to a snack or something to drink. There was a bar tender behind the counter who came over and asked him, “What d’ya want?” He said he wanted a cup of coffee and a donut. As he sat there munching on his donut and sipping his coffee at 3:30 in the morning, the door of the place suddenly swung open and in marched eight or nine provocative and boisterous prostitutes. Their talk was loud and crude....

Sermon: Sept. 24: St. Peter’s The Gospel today sounds like an offense to the best of our human instincts regarding fairness and justice. Jesus: King. of Heaven is like laborers went out into the field … working various lengths. … so the last shall be first and the first last. … None of us can hear the parable about the Kingdom of Heaven without first reacting – wait? what? … that’s a sign that we may be on to something. On Easter this past Spring I preached at the church in Rock Hill. In it I tried to evoke the wonder and depth and significance of what we proclaimed on that night. In the course of it I recalled a commencement speech that had been given a year earlier by the dean of Harvard Graduate School of Education. It was filmed and shared on YouTube where it came to be viewed by millions of people – going viral I guess it’s called. The key words of the commencement message that I wanted to focus on was a pair of words that are sometimes spoken by children and young adults whe...

Sermon: Proper 19 – Sept. 17 St. Paul’s, Monroe Forgiveness as the source of life I’m thinking of the philosophers and scientists pursuing the question of how life began, how human beings were created, where it all started. We were reminded of some of this in the past few days and weeks as the Cassini space craft was completing its 13 year mission to Saturn. I read about how some of the things discovered during this remarkable ended up giving us new information about life could have beegun. But in spite of all the new information we have about the origin of life, I am led to a curious conclusion. The beginning of everything we need to know about human life is really to be found somewhere else. Today I want to put before you the proposition that life really comes from a process of forgivenness. Consider the central role forgiveness plays in the foundational story of the patriarchs – in particular Joseph and his brothers. We get a little flavor of that in the episode we hear t...

14th Sun. after Pentecost St. Paul’s, Monroe, NC September 10, 2017 Greetings and introduction Greetings from my wife and me. Greetings from Rock HIll where we have lived since 2014, having moved there from Hawai’i where we had lived for over a dozen years. We are there because WU’s invitation to Mary Pat to teach in the Math Dept. seemed like a call. Even before I left Hawai’i I had discussed with my bishop there about the various opportunities for serving the church from where were about to move to. Clearly in Rock Hill we are close to NC while still living in SC and really we are pretty close to a number of Episcopal dioceses. When I moved here I called fairly soon and found that it would be 9 months or more before I could meet with the bishop of North Carolina. I decided to put that off for a while. Of course you then proceeded to get rid of your bishop by sending him to New York. After meeting with Bp. Anne, I finally received my license to supply in North Carolina...

Funeral: Betty Boyd – August 24, 2017 Remember paschal candle? process in? process to garden? parish register ps. 23 in Unison (Gordon) – Leslie prayers – MP chalice bearer To the congregation: Betty found her way to Episcopal Church because something touched her deep within. At least a part of it has to do with communion . That is why we worship this way each week. You are all invited to come forward at communion. There will be little wafers and a chalice of wine that will be blessed – prayed over – not unlike we do when we say grace at a meal. If you are baptized, you are invited to receive it. Hold out hand. Offered the cup – some will dip the wafer in it. You may just come forward for a blessing. Homily Known Betty only a little more than a year. I wish I had known her longer. From the moment I was introduced, I knew she was someone special Testimony from Kim Loving. Family. Created traditions that bind together, that will be passed on by children, grand-children, niece...