Sermons

Homily: St. Paul’s – Advent 2 lectionary Comfort, comfort ye my people … a voice cries in the wilderness ( Isaiah ) a prophet speaks to us as only a prophet can: … all people are grass … see our God comes with might … to be their shepherd Then in Mark’s version of the gospel, we take a quick step from the Old Testament prophets right into the New Testament: John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins … He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. John the Baptist I once got to hear John the Baptist speak. Well, not really John the Baptist. It may have been more like Jeremiah. Well, I’m not sure but in appearance and in his voice he was nothing if not an Old Testament prophet, walking right into a church auditorium in Pueblo, Colorado, ca. 1977. His name was William McNamara. A Carmelite priest, following in the tra...

Homily Advent 1: St. Paul’s Opening I have used the prayer Song of Zechariah for a very long time as a part of my daily prayer. I had it memorized by the time I was 30. Maybe I was drawn to it because it was a song by a father. I recognize I have a special place in my heart for fathers. It was sung by John the Baptist’s father, a priest, at the time his parents took John to be circumcised. He had been struck dumb, you may remember, when he scoffed at the notion that they would have a child at their advanced age. When next he opened his mouth to speak, he named the child “John” and praised God in song. Towards the end of the song we hear: Benedictus Dominus ( Song of Zechariah ) You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way , To give his people knowledge of salvation * by the forgiveness of their sins. In the tender compassion of our God * the dawn from on high shall break upon us, To shine on those who dwel...

Homily: Nov. 5, 2017 All Saints tr. ⚜ St. Paul’s, Monroe, NC Many years ago my brother sent me an audio tape of a concert / program given at Carnegie Hall in honor of Harry Chapin’s 45th birthday. 12/7/87. He had died, tragically a few years earlier. Harry Belafonte was mc’'íng the program. Somebody said to him that the Smothers Brothers were next on the program. Belafonte feigned surprise. He said. They’re here? My god, I’m glad I came man. Isn’t it great. Harry Chapin was a personal saint of mine. I first encountered him as a gifted folk singer, a singer of tales. Then I learned that he was one of the first – if not the first – artist to bring attention to world hunger. It was reported and commonly known that he would do one concert for himself and then do another concert where the proceeds went toward a charity of some kind. His legacy lives on to this day in the form food banks. Chapin was also a dedicated humanitarian who fought to end world hunger; he was a key particip...

Homily: Oct 29, 2017. St. Peter’s. Anniversaries We have several anniversaries presented to us this morning. They represent the general theme of remembering. Reformation Sunday passing on the “tradition” of Reformation Sunday Grace alone Scripture alone Faith alone These are Reformation truths , dogmas, that been at the core of its teaching down through the centuries. But the truth is, we are not alone. For many who have recently written about this anniversary there is considerable introspection and wondering about which part of the Reformation we ought to celebrate. On the one hand there is the reforming part that sought to rid the church of dysfunction, abuse, corruption, incompetence, etc. On the other hand the Reformation set in motion things like an excessive and exuberant celebration of the individual over the community, the splintering of Christianity that at one time in the 1980’s was creating 3-5 new denominations in the US per week! , a distrust of institutions t...

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...