Sermons

  Easter Vigil Sermon Final DCH April 2026 Props Mock Card Candle stick with matches Children’s reading book Pitcher of water with bowl Loaf of bread Introduction When I was in my 20’s one Christmas, I came up with what I imaged to be a creative Christmas card that I was really excited about. My idea was to carve a linoleum block with a design and then print on nice paper, a kind of combination Christmas gift and Christmas card. I spent several weeks carving by design. It had these two elements, the Greek of the opening verse of Johns gospel. And symbols of the ancient Greek understanding of the four basic elements of creation. 1  In the center or the four symbols, and then around the outside of the card, the Greek of the gospel. 2 Prop:  Mock card It didn’t look exactly like this, but you get the idea. Well, I had been working on the fairly intricate carving of the Greek into that linoleum block – with its articulation marks – when with a start I realized that I needed t...

Ash Wednesday 2026  The Rev. Dale C. Hathaway Liturgy of actions We begin a season of liturgies that convey as much through our actions as through our words. Today is one of two days the Prayer Book stipulates as fast days. Just two days, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, we’re asked to fast. Some of us will. Some of us won’t. This beginning to the season of Lent, Ash Wednesday, of course means ashes, ashes on the forhead. We do that even though the gospel reading seems to say, “Don’t do that.” At the end of Lent we will wave palm branches, branches we could have pruned from our own trees at home. Traditionally on Maundy Thursday we would wash feet, at St. Alfred’s we wash hands, not in private but quite publicly. One of the illustrations for how powerful our actions can be is a clear memory I have. On an Ash Wednesday more than 40 years ago, my oldest son, then about 3, was so upset by seeing the ashes on people’s foreheads that he immediately walked out of the service. Each Sunday w...

  author: Dale Hathaway date: St. Alfred's Episcopal Church title: Advent 4 Sermon Draft 3 Intro I remember sitting up late beside the bunk beds that were shared by my little brother and my cousin Peter who was older than I. We were forcing ourselves to stay awake in order to see the signs of Santa flying across the sky and appearing in our house. Peter was several years older than I, so I looked to him as an authority. There was a part of me that was old enough to be silently wondering, "Was I being too childish or childlike? Surely Peter is old enough to know." We didn't make it that night. We were asleep when Santa arrived. There's some part of me that, with some kind of irregular schedule in my subsequent years, I never gave up. I have looked for signs throughout my life. Signs of what's really going on. Signs in the midst of chaos happening in my life that might indicate that it was going to be okay. Signs as I grieved when my children moved 1,000 m...