Sermons

  Christmas https://www.lectionarypage.net/YearABC_RCL/Christmas/ChrsDay1_RCL.html These are not the circumstances I expected for a Christmas message. Like all of you I was caught off-guard when in the span of 24 hours it seemed clear that we would have to move back to being church virtually. I am speaking to you now, trying to reach into your homes through the wonder of modern technology, while what most of us are probably most aware of is the distance between us. I do know, however, that each of us is doing the best we can with the deck of cards that we have been dealt. The wonder of God's work in us is precisely that God takes who and what we are and works with that. God isn't finished with any of us. Opening It’s Christmas. The season of Christmas will stretch for 12 days. It’s all around us and its impact stretches as far as we can see. The supply chain, the success of the economy, images of lights and candles, and stories of generosity and self giving, -- all of ...

Advent 4 Opening It's so often happens that I am boggled in my mind with what we say and read in church. I think did we really say that? Did we really mean that? Take, for example, the Collect of the day we opened our liturgy with. Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation , that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming , may find in us a mansion prepared for himself ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. We just let it roll off our tongues. But listen! In just the most simple sort of way, we acknowledge that Almighty God comes to me everyday. I can imagine that might be a kind of theoretical statement whereby we acknowledge that God the creator of the universe is somehow maybe in the universe itself present. But with me? When I'm getting out of bed, groggy from sleep and wanting a cup of coffee? Me when I'm crabby or impatient? But we are claiming that God comes to visit me in order to prepa...

  Tis the season It is Advent. We are swiftly moving through Advent, now. The time is running short. Do you feel the pressure? Maybe your goal is to be ready to travel wherever you're going for Christmas. Perhaps it is to get things in the mail on time. I know in our house we've missed deadlines related to Christmas by weeks and even months. Such is the season. Why is it that the harder we try the behinder we get? What are the barriers that somehow we erect to hinder ourselves in going forward? Advent a time for self-examination Advent is precisely the time for asking those kinds of questions. It is a time for looking at ourselves with sharp eyes. And it is a time of becoming more sharply aware of what is the goal. And the goal isn't really about letters, or packing, or any of the myriad things we fill our days with. The goal is our encounter with the living God. Paul to Philippians Paul seems to present us with a list of things of that order. rejoice always D...

  Advent 2 lectionary Opening It was many years ago. I was still a youth. I'm not sure where I learned it. Was it that I had a physician and a nurse for parents? Was it that I was an oldest child? Was it learning about people like Mother Teresa? I don't know. But I knew, deep down, that the lives we lived were not primarily for ourselves, for our enjoyment or fulfillment, but for others. Man for others was the title of an address by the head of the Jesuits in 1973. 1 I also may have heard it in connection with the movement of the 90's, focused on men and led by the football coach of the Colorado University football team: Promise Keepers Called to prepare the way We are not here for ourselves. We are here for those who come after us. That is a startling thing to acknowledge. It is shocking to try to put it into practice. If we are not for ourselves but for others, it is clear that we are not not even here for our generation, but for those we will not even meet in t...

Notes 1 Opening We're still in apocalyptic / end times mode this week. This focus on end times is characteristic of the shift from the old church year to the new church year. It is characteristic of the transition between one era and another. From a Christian perspective it marks the transition from the old covenant of ancient Israel to the new covenant of the church founded on the Messiah named Jesus. It applies to the transition of other eras as well. For example from ancient Rome to modern Europe. For example the shift from the primary role that Great Britain had prior to the world wars and the increase of influence of the United States. It seems likely that it accompanies our own time as the influence of the United States declines and that of China increases. Great change brings with it dramatic anxiety and worry, fear, and imaginary enemies. We live in such times. It applies equally well on a small scale. The transition from childhood to adult hood. The changes that occur w...

November 21, 2021: Reign of Christ - Proper 29 (34) Note: Lectionary Opening When I was young I was well aware that the imagination was important at least in school and classes like English. I thought of myself is not very good at using my imagination. I was an oldest child, the namesake of my father, and for my early education I was intent on doing what I was told. It was really not until I was in my 20s that I came to realize how much using my imagination was something that fed me. Even then I thought of imagination as kind of luxury item. At that point the most important thing for me was finding a job and learning how to support myself. By the time I was in my 30s life itself was getting pretty complicated. I came to learn that using one's imagination was an important tool in the therapeutic setting. A healthy use of imagination could help one get well or to cope better with life. Later still I was introduced to the spirituality of Ignatius of Loyola. His conversion to Chris...

  Proper 28b Notes 1 The Jesus Movement The Jesus movement emerged from the much larger Judaism of the first century. It was a time when people had a keen sense that it was the end of everything that they knew. They saw signs for it everywhere. Probably one of the most visible signs of that era was the bloodbath and destruction that the Romans inflicted on Jerusalem in the year 70 A.D. I sometimes think that the Jesus movement will end at a time when people have a keen sense that the end of everything that we know is fast approaching. I have been aware I'm seeing and feeling that myself. When I was a younger man I couldn't have imagined that I would see the Northwest Passage. The Arctic north was a fabled mythic place and I dreamed of going there one day. In the meantime what has happened is that Mary Pat and I had the opportunity to take an Alaska cruise some years ago and we got to see some of the last glaciers of that part of the world in the process of falling into the...

All Saints Opening Will our children have faith? A formative book call my teacher from my early ministry. He has asked a fundamental question that has stayed with the church as far as I could tell for 30+ years. An old joke from 100 years ago ask the question, when is a school not a school? The answer is, when it is a Sunday school. What the church has done for generations to try to pass on the faith to our children has by and large failed. Right at the present moment even the question of what school is is being fundamentally challenged around the country. We don’t know what a school is for in a time when there is disagreement about what is truth, and truth or falsehood is seen to be for an individual to choose. But if that’s the case it is even more in question how one passes on the faith that gives us life through Jesus Christ. The basic insight of Westerhoff is to shift the focus of how Christian formation is passed on to our children. In his words, no longer is it helpful or ...

  Lectionary : Opening Some of my best friends are good storytellers. In fact I reflected this past week that I think I trust a good storyteller more than I do someone who rigorously tries to stick to the facts. Interestingly as I’m sure you’re aware, Jesus was a good storyteller. In Hawaiian pidgen the way you refer to friends sitting around sharing their life stories is the phrase "talk story". Talk story is what you do with friends. Elie Wiesel said years ago, quoting ancient rabbis, that, "God made man because He loves stories." Over the years I’ve become convinced that talking story with good friends is what changes lives and converts sinners to saints. Over the years I have found that talking story is one of the best ways to prepare someone for initiation into the body of Christ. Next week we plan to have baptisms The Colt’s grandchildren, Reid and Anna Claire, are expecting to be baptized here at Saint Pauls. We got to sit at the table of their gran...

  Readings Lectionary Introduction I want to talk about God -- (kind of an expected topic for a preacher) I want to talk about gratitude -- I long for the day when "gratitude" is as common place among believers as is judgment or anger. I want to talk about "stewardship" -- not so much in the context of giving money to the church but in the context of Genesis 1:26. Then God said, “Let us make humanity in our image to resemble us so that they may take charge of the fish of the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and all the crawling things on earth.” (ESV) or as the King James Version put it. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. (KJV) The traditional translation is that men and women were given "dominion" or ...