Sermons

Homily: 5th Sunday of Easter April 29, 2018 lectionary Homily The 8th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles opens right in the middle of amazing things happening as the witnessing and preaching of the Risen Lord began to spread. It’s sort of like how we find ourselves today, listening to texts that are chosen because we are well into the season of Easter, not yet at the end, and it’s been going on for weeks. But it’s not the end yet. In the midst of life. I’m not sure when I first became enamored of this little vignette involving Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. I really think it began in my youth. On his way home an Ethiopian eunuch – that is to say an VIP, an important person – you know you can tell those kind of folks by the clothes they wear and the way the carry themselves. And you can tell by the car they drive. He drove a really classy chariot . In today’s world, I guess, it would be a classy private jet. Well, he was driving his chariot and reading Isaiah at the same time....

Homily: St. Paul’s Easter 3 Lectionary I’m not sure when the passage I have just read became embedded in my senses and memory. It had to be after the period when my siblings and I would spend several weeks in the summer with some friends of ours. They had rented a cabin on a lake / reservoir just outside Rock Mountain National Park. They had a boat and fished. My father was not an outdoors man but he had enough sense that he wanted his children to be exposed. I learned to waterski there. I learned to fish there. And I had my first – and really my only experience of frying a rainbow trout over a campfire as the sun rose over the majestic Rocky Mountains. All of that combined made for a very full sensory symphony. I can smell and taste that fish to this day. At some point I associated that memory with this passage from Luke and the similar one from the last chapter of John. At some level, Whenever I eat fish I think of Jesus revealing himself to his disciples in ...

Easter 2: Our Savior April 8, 2018 Homily Today’s a day that when I was first ordained many years ago was called a low Sunday because the rush of people who came to church on Easter didn’t come back for Easter 2. That’s not so true in my experience 30 years later because it seems to me there are a lot fewer “Christmas and Easter” Christians these days. Generally I think that’s a good thing. There is nowhere near the social pressure on people in today’s culture to appear in church. It’s more acceptable just not to go to church. You all are in church because you want to be. And I think that’s increasingly true around the Episcopal Church. Maybe other denominations as well. I’m glad to see you here. For many years now I have approached the pulpit on the Sunday after Easter with the shadow of Thomas following close behind me. “Doubting Thomas” stalks me on this day. I have composed and given so many sermo...

Sunday / Easter morning Wearing new clothes There is a tradition that Easter is the day show up at church in new clothes. I haven’t really been with you long enough to be sure – but I’m guessing not a few of you are wearing new clothes. Some of you might even be wearing white clothes – white clothes for the white of baptism. Baptism as it was practiced for many centuries entailed being stripped of your own clothes before entering the baptismal font and as you emerged being clothed in new white robes. New clothes for the new life given in the Risen Lord. This morning I am drawn with power, tenderness, attraction, interest, awe, wonder, not a little bit of trepidation to the figure of Mary (in John’s gospel) – in Mark’s gospel it’s Mary & Mary & Salome. I am drawn to Mary who heard the Lord call her by name. And with that was ready to run to pass on the news that she had seen the Lord. I am in awe of the power of one person...

St. Paul’s : Easter Vigil 2018 April 1, 2018 lectionary readings Abundance, extravagance, – My entrance (conversion) to the Episcopal Church came about because I associated it with extravagance, abundance, genuineness, sharing, – even though the caricature of Episcopalians is that we like things ordered and not with too much enthusiasm – you know, like “not too much salt.” For me there were really 4 things: - Candles: real fire - Chalice: real wine - Dress up in holy clothes - Stand, kneel, a willingness to put our bodies into a sacred space. What I experienced was that this was a place where people were not afraid to say that God is in this place. A church that is not afraid to show extravagance and abundance in its worship – because God is himself extravagant and abundant . Later I was exposed to clergy who seemed to speak my language and also the language of God – at the same time ! The Episcopal Church has been a pl...

Good Friday Opening By some measures today is the most solemn day of the year for a Christian. I didn’t really know that growing up. I didn’t learn it until seminary. The way it comes up there is that it illustrates a basic principle of the development of worship and prayer patterns. Namely that the most ancient practices are preserved in the highest holy days. 2 examples from this day’s liturgy are the abrupt opening without special introductions or music. The other which I choose to do is the style of kneeling that you saw me do. Prostration. On this most penitential day the most ancient style of kneeling has been preserved. The other place that it is observed is at the ordination of a priest. We have just heard the account of Jesus’ Passion as it appears in the 4th gospel, John. There are important differences between it and the 1st 3 gospels, known as the “synoptic gospels”. Among the differences is that in the synoptic gospels Jesus spe...

Maundy Thursday 2018 Homily: St. Paul’s, Monroe There are a number of places in the NT where Jesus just comes out and says, “Do this.” Not a lot of them, mind you. I think because he knew that the human condition was such that when you order somebody to do something, our response is often, “Oh, yeah.” But there are some places. Tonight we hear from a couple of them. “Do this in remembrance of me.” “Love one another.” It’s how the night gets its name. Also, tonight we begin the longest liturgy of the year. You’ve heard me say that my goal with any liturgy is to hear the response, “I’m glad I came.” Among the most rewarding times for me was when I heard that response after a service that was ca. 2?? hours long. Well, tonight we begin a liturgy that doesn’t end until Saturday night. Furthermore, tonight we hear together some of the most vivid scenes in all the Bible. The Passover / Exodus is...