Sermons

Easter 6 Grace Church, Camden 05/27/2019 Easter tide is turning into Ascension tide this week We are echoing in the passage of our Church year a series of transitions we feel in the world around us. Memorial Day is a traditional marker separating Spring from Summer. The hotel we stayed at in Atlanta advertised that the pool was open from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Unfortunately the person who checked us in apologized for it still being closed on Thursday, saying, “We can’t anticipate you know.” Mary Pat did observe to me the other day that it seems like we never had Spring – at least it really Whooshed by. Back when I was first ordained, the rector I worked for explicitly planned his ministry around the pace of the school year. Back in those days, attendance at church tended to fade in the summer when folks did “wintering” in the South or Southwest. In different parts of the country the migration happens in different directions. From South Carolina some folks “summer” in Minn...

Sun, May 19, 2019 Epiphany, Spartanburg Easter 5 05/20/2019: Epiphany Spartanburg Opening Not very often in my ministry have I paid special attention to the last book of the Bible, the Revelation to John – or using the Greek term of the title the Apocalypse of John . I have shied away from preaching on the text in part because apocalyptic is not well understood by many and by many it is misunderstood. I end up saying something about apocalyptic when Advent arrives because one of the characteristics of apocalyptic is end times and end times is a theme during the season of Advent. It is the end of the year. Christmas marks a new beginning and so on. But there are a number of other typical characteristics about apocalyptic . One of them is the use of fantastic, colorful, imaginative imagery . It’s not bland and is more like the kind of thing going on in amusement parks than in museums. The Revelation to John is, then, a little like an amusement park themed conclusion to the Bi...

Church Sat. Apr. 27: St. Mark’s Saint Mark 04/30/2019 (April 25 tr.) It’s not quite a week since the wider church concluded a 40 day preparation for proclaiming the Risen Lord. Then a week of intense telling of the story of the way to the cross, the tomb, and the empty tomb. It took a week to tell the story and this week has been focused on telling variations of the proclamation: "He is not here. He has gone ahead of you to Galilee. The Church understands that this primary proclamation is of such central importance that it takes a week to say it. And here we are, coming to the end of this week. The Gospel for tomorrow is an account of Easter – one week later. ancient homilies I am going to read to a short excerpt from an Easter sermon, written some 1700 years ago. I have never done this before. But I do it because of the power and significance of the words for us today. The Most Precious and Becoming of Gifts Be sure to deliver it, not just read it. Gregory Nazianzus deli...

Sun, May 12, 2019: St. Mark’s, Chester Easter 4 05/13/2019 Fourth Sunday of Easter Acts is read each Sunday ( again by long tradition ) instead of an Old Testament reading Woman featured prominently in the reading from Acts They had been the first witnesses to the Resurrection. Now here a woman is raised from the dead as an early sign of the power of the Holy Spirit in the followers after Jesus. Revelation: a powerful presentation of the “ worship ” going on in this book. Imagine a church: walk in and a great multitude , a throne (God) and a Lamb, all dressed in white robes, waving palm branches “fell on their faces” and worshipped . n.b. the posture is the “original” form of kneeling. [ cf. Easter as a time for standing, cf. Nicene/Constantinople anathema ] A reading available for funerals: For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship him day and night within his temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them. They will hu...

3 Sun of Easter May 5, 2019 St. John’s, Winnsboro Opening In preparing to preach I considered whether I could preach on Cinco de Mayo . I asked Mary Pat what that date conjured up for her – and she put me to shame by remembering a delightful time we had in one of our early dates, enjoying beer and dinner alongside the Honolulu harbor. I thought, well, probably not. I considered also one of the major ( for me ) features of the gospel reading. It is eating eating breakfast by campfire on a lakeshore beach, just after dawn, with the smell of just caught Brown and Rainbow trout wafting up from the skillet. After 60 years I still carry that memory and can smell the smell. I still associate it with a Resurrection appearance of Jesus. For that reason I have often preached on it on the 2 nd Sunday after Easter. I decided to try preaching on something I have shied away from all these years. Paul’s conversion There are really a variety of reasons for avoiding Paul and his conversion...

Easter 2: April 28, 2019 Our Saviour It took a week to tell the story and it culminated with the proclamation of last Sunday. The Church understands plainly that last week’s “Jesus Christ is Risen Today” is the most important proclamation we know as Christians. It alots a week of telling the story, this Easter week, it has been a part of the daily readings each day. We conclude “Easter Week” with the passage that begins, “A week later …” Well, I guess that’s appropriate. Thomas. The story focuses on Thomas today. But we will continue to tell the story throughout 50 days until the day of Pentecost. I want to read to you a short excerpt from an Easter sermon, written some 1700 years ago. I have never done this before. But I do it because of the power and significance of the words for us today. And because it helps to teach us that this is a story, a proclamation, that has been repeated over and over again from that first Easter day. St. Gregory Nazianzus “On Holy Pasch” The Most ...

Palm Sunday 04/15/2019: Epiphany Spartanburg 9:00 am Homily Death required to complete the story of a life It has surprised me in the past that there is only one Sunday reserved for proclaiming this central event for what it means to be a Christian. My father died 34 years ago. Very often when I tell people, when I have occasion to tell something about my father, I talk about his death. I say, for example, that he died doing the things that he loved. His life was defined by being a Doctor and he loved the game of golf. Golf was one of those things that I’m grateful he taught me. When he died he was already at retirement age but had no sense, I think, that he would ever retire. His father had died with his boots on – as it were – a physician in a small rural town in Illinois. My father died with his boots on of a sudden heart attack while he was volunteering as a medic for the PGA Senior Open being played that year at a golf course in Castlerock, Colorado. From a very early age I...