Sermons

Epiphany 7c St. Alfred's Episcopal Church Palm Harbor, FL Feb. 23, 2025 The Rev. Dale C. Hathaway Attention Having heard the words that we have just read from scripture, I wonder what the right reaction is? We might just reflect that all those passages sure sound familiar. “I’ve heard those before.” It would be entirely appropriate to have some questions. A few years ago, the dean of Harvard graduate school of Education began speaking and writing about questions that really matter. Wait, what? I wonder? What truly matters? How can I help? Over 100 years ago GK Chesterton wrote, the Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried. For much of what we read in the Bible, as well as in the later Christian tradition, I think the best response we can make is to ask questions. Some of you have heard me tell the story about a young Jewish student living in a remote village centuries ago, shouting at the top of his lungs as he ran...

  Baptism of the Lord St. Alfred's Episcopal Church Fr. Dale Hathaway Baptism of Zack Robetaille January 12, 2025 opening We are gathered here this morning for a variety of reasons. In some places there might be children in church because their parents told them, “You will be in church.” Others are here because it’s what they do every Sunday. Some places I think there’s still a social expectation that a person will be in church. Some people, no doubt, don’t really know why they’re in church. Now some of you may be aware that after the Christmas festivities, there is often a drop off in attendance. So you all are no doubt here because you have chosen to be. For myself, there is the fact that Fr. Peter had sent me a list of who would celebrate and preach through February and March. This was one of my Sundays and I make a concerted effort to do what I said I would do. In the early centuries of the church on the day known as theophany – or more recently epiphany – in the eas...