Sermons

Church Sun, Feb 19, 2017 St. Peter’s Lectionary Lev. Reads something like what I would have associated with what a “gentleman” does. My word is my troth. (faithfulness, fidelity, or loyalty: by my troth.) Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? (Paul) like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. (Paul) love your neighbor, hate enemy? no, rather … (be perfect) cf. Lev. Be holy, because the LORD is holy The Holy When was the last time you encountered holiness ? Of course I don’t just mean, "When was the last time you sang the sanctus in church. That’s how it goes (in Latin), “Holy, holy, holy.” We first encounter that song in Isaiah 6:3. As if to frame the Bible itself we meet it again in Rev. 4:8. Did you really get a full blast of holy when you woke up this morning? I got a bit of it yesterday when I saw two ends of a partial rainbow. ( in Hawai’i I understood them to be a message of blessi...

Feb. 5, 2017 5th Sunday after Epiphany lectionary When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him” (cf. Isaiah 64:4) The lessons from Scripture today speak to me in the hushed tones of mystery and speak of what is sometimes beyond language can say. I heard that mystery speaking to me earlier last week in a short reading from a prayer book I use every night before I turn out the light. From Celtic Prayer Book of the Northumbria Community Once you’ve heard a child cry out to heaven for help, and go unanswered, nothing’s ever the same again. Nothing. Even God changes. But there is a healing hand at work that cannot be deflected from its purpose. I just can’t make sense of it, other than to cry. Those tears a...