Sermons

Second Sunday in Lent - March 8, 2020 Monroe Nicodemus: Stretches to do something new: 1 Graphic Some time recently I came across a picture of a sign on a building. In big letters it said: “Be brave enough to suck at something new.” It reminded me of a book I read many years ago titled A Pretty Good Person: What It Takes to Live With Courage, Gratitude and Integrity by Lewis Smedes. The message of that book was similar to a message I had come across even earlier where the argument was made that life was a lot like baseball. The author of that book pointed out that, like life, baseball is the only sport that keeps track of – actually makes a big deal of – errors. Abraham’s saga begins. There are so many times in the Bible where the drama is so understated – as in "“So Abram went.” Events that just smack you up side the head are expressed in just a couple of words. Like the similar passage in the John 11:35, “Jesus wept.” All of Jesus compassion – it fills the NT – redu...

March 1:The First Sunday in Lent – St. John’s Opening It is good to be back here at St. John’s. It’s been a while. Why we’ve had Christmas and a New Year’s Eve. A new decade. And Ash Wednesday has now come and gone. Lent has begun. It’s a time of the year that I dreaded when I was a parish priest . There were more activities, more things to keep track of, more pressure to grow, and more hope that our numbers would be better this year than they were the last year. I must tell you that it’s been a delightful deliverance for me to be retired. It’s delightful to be here with you this morning. The keeping of Lent has been a great blessing to me from the time I was a youth. It’s been a time when I could hear the call to be better than I was. And for most of my life it has been a time when the voices of distraction have been tamed. I have been more aware that most of my life and energy is spent on things that are ultimately not very important. Lent has been a time that flashes, “Major on...

February 23: The Last Sunday After the Epiphany – Monroe Opening We come to the last Sunday in Epiphany. It’s a season in the church year that begins with, of course the feast of epiphany, which is the 12th day after Christmas. So a season in the church year that lasts for a variable number of weeks is devoted to the manifestation of Christ. For that’s what the word epiphany means, manifestation. To reveal. To unveil. To see what couldn’t be seen before. We are so confident that we’ve seen it all. It’s tough to surprise us. We’ve been to church over and over again, perhaps all our lives. Is it possible for this season of epiphany to surprise us? To catch us looking in one direction while the prince approaches us from our blindspot? The trip up the mountain for what we call the transfiguration was such a place for John and James and Peter. Glory was manifest to them and they had not expected it. This then is the text that the church gives us to hear as we turn our attention from...

February 16:The Sixth Sunday After the Epiphany – Monroe Setting The lessons this week are not easy and comfortable words. The preacher might well be justified in looking at one of the other lessons. Afterall we’re given the choice of preaching on: 1) murder, 2) forgiving your enemy, 3) adultery, 4) cutting off one of your hands to prevent sin, 5) divorce, 6) swearing in court – known as perjury in our legal system. Let me read from another version – loose translation by Eugene Peterson. I use it sometimes because several bishops through the years have confessed to me that they use it when they celebrate Eucharist. Matthew 5:21-37 The Message (MSG) Reconcile Carelessly call a brother ‘idiot!’ and you just might find yourself hauled into court. Thoughtlessly yell ‘stupid!’ at a sister and you are on the brink of hellfire. The simple moral fact is that words kill. 23-24 “This is how I want you to conduct yourself in these matters. If you enter your place of worship and, about...

February 2: The Fourth Sunday After the Epiphany – Monroe (Presentation) This day Superbowl Superbowl Sunday in past years represented a competition with church attendance. It doesn’t any longer – except for those few places where a Sunday evening service is important. I had a dear friend in the first congregation I served in after ordination who was frequently not in church on Sunday because he was an avid golfer. He ended up convincing me that there was an arguable case to be made that golf could be a deeply spiritual activity. I have not yet been persuaded that either playing football or watching football was an equally spiritual activity. Did the NFL win by moving the game to evening? Or did the church? I think probably NFL did, but … This day is also the feast of the presentation. Wikipedia “and to perform the redemption of the firstborn son, in obedience to the Torah ( Leviticus 12, Exodus 13:12–15, etc.)” With this day we leave behind the Christmas cycle and turn...

Homily 2 Epiphany – St. Paul’s Monroe Jan. 19, 2020 Opening Last week you may have heard me say that one of the reasons I became an episcopalian was that this church had wine in a single chalice and it burned real candles. I actually associate that with a particular service, Feb. 2 or Candlemas . That used to be a commonly celebrated evening service that featured – drum-roll, candles . I know that wasn’t the first time I had been in an Episcopal Church. My uncle was the organist for the Cathedral in Quincy, Illinois. My earliest memory from that time was that the priest spent the entire sermon explaining why the Episcopal flag was on a higher step than the American flag. I wasn’t impressed with that. Even as a 7-8 year old I had an intuition that the Gospel was about more than that. But I remember from a later period the candles and the chalice. I thought, “Now that’s the real deal!” Light . Somehow real light as opposed to the artificial light of electric light bulbs. It wasn’t...

January 12:The First Sunday After the Epiphany: The Baptism of Our Lord Jesus Christ St. Paul’s, Monroe NC Opening Today we will be baptizing a child at the 10:30 Eucharist. Jameson Alexander Honeycutt by name. I will present today a very quick overview of the growth of my understanding of baptism. I am addressing all those who will be supporting Jameson in his journey of life. If he were about 20 years older I would address these remarks to him. I take this approach not because my faith journey is particularly important. But to illustrate that baptism for ask of us is a lifelong journey. Perhaps a pilgrimage. When I was a teenager I gave very little thought to baptism. My mother and my siblings all went to church every Sunday. I don’t think however that I saw very many baptisms because in those days baptisms were done outside of the Sunday service. Baptism was a private affair and indeed I think regarded primarily as a transaction between God and the infant. It was general pract...