Sermons

June 21, Third Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 7): – Church of Our Saviour Intractable difficulty of the gospel passage The other day I was talking with the priest of another congregation about preaching on Trinity Sunday – which we observed two weeks ago. He said, “It’s one of those days in the year when you make a determined effort to find someone else to preach.” Today’s Gospel passage presents another one of those kind of days. Really, if anybody finds the passage obvious or easy to grapple with I would welcome them to replace me. Unfortunately, either they didn’t get in touch with me or I failed to reach out to the right people. Here I am. First of all, this talk about a slave not being above a master – sounds too much like the pro-slavery arguments that have been wrested from the Bible for centuries. It makes me uncomfortable from the start. The world-wide demonstrations that have been occurring these past few weeks makes me especially uncomfortable. There’s a litany-like ...

June 14, 2020 Second Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 6): – Church of Our Saviour & St. Paul’s Old story about how “you can’t get there from here.” Back in the 70’s there was a comedy team that produced a series of comic albums with the title “Bert and I” . They were set in the “down east” part of the country, Maine and environs. There was one story that I have not forgotten – largely because I have retold it from time to time. A visitor is passing through town and stops to ask for directions. He receives a monologue that goes something like, “Waaall, ye go down here a piece and ya turn right at the big oak tree thaar, and the you go a ways …” After a series of such directions the voice says, “Ya know, come to think of it, you caaan’t get thaar from heeer.” I thought of that story as I reflected on this week’s scripture readings and the gospel in particular. The church makes a gear shift change between last week and this week. We ended Trinity Sunday at the end of Matthew’s gosp...

June 1, 2020 Minneapolis police chief says all four officers involved in George Floyd’s death bear responsibility - CNN CNN report As we tape this liturgy for broadcast in 6 days, we have no idea where the world is going to be. But we do know today that people from around the world have come together in solidarity to stand against the betrayal and injustice that was perpetrated on George Floyd last week. The chief of police in Minneapolis said, “Mr. Floyd died in our hands and so I see that as being complicit,” Chief Medaria Arradondo told CNN’s Sara Sidner. “Silence and inaction, you’re complicit. If there was one solitary voice that would have intervened … that’s what I would have hoped for.” Police officers around the world have knelt in solidarity with protesters. In a separate interview Sunday night, another police chief, this time from Floyd’s hometown, stood in solidarity. Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo told CNN he wants his department to provide escort services when Geo...

June 7, Trinity Sunday: – Monroe Celebrating a “doctrine” – This is an unusual day in the Christian calendar. A day for celebrating and focusing on a “doctrine”, a “concept.” In the whole history of Christianity there are a few others, but none with the prominence of the feast of Trinity, occurring on the 1st Sunday after Pentecost. It has been observed in its present form at least since the 14th c. In the church calendar we usually focus on persons – Jesus, of course, mainly; disciples; Mary; Paul; present-day witnesses and saints … the impact of our faith on us – but on this day – our focus is on a doctrine. For many people it’s not easy to get excited about a doctrine . There is a pretty long and deep tradition to distrust rational doctrines and to prefer the personal, that which you can touch or feel. As an illustration of that, I had a parishioner at my church in Michigan City who was at first perplexed by the doctrine of the Trinity. Then, ultimately she was put off by the ...

May 31, The Day of Pentecost – Monroe Whitsunday: white clothes of Pentecost. In the BCP the collect for this day is titled: The Day of Pentecost: Whitsunday I first heard about the source of “Whit” in “Whitsunday” when my youngest children were being born. Several different interpretations have been offered through the years. The title goes back many centuries. The first explanation I heard was that it had to do with the nasty weather in Britain in the months of March and April. Looking back many centuries before that, the custom was that Baptisms were most appropriately done on Easter. They usually included some form of taking your old clothes off and putting new clothes – after you had been dunked in water. By the middle ages baptisms were usually of infants, who might be unhappy with being dunked into the frigid water in the font. It might even be dangerous. Since the next most advantageous time for baptism was the end of the Easter season – Pentecost – baptisms in Britain we...

May 24:The Seventh Sunday of Easter: The Sunday after the Ascension – Monroe Ascension was last Thursday It was the day we scheduled to record this our community celebration of the 6th week of Easter. One day revolving and emerging as another day, each linked and urging us into the presence of God. Psalm 19 Heaven is declaring God’s glory; the sky is proclaiming his handiwork. 2 One day gushes the news to the next, and one night informs another what needs to be known. It is the Sunday between the feast of the Ascension and the feast of Pentecost. Ascension Day occuring on the 40th day of Easter. Pentecost occuring on the 50th day after Easter. In another week, on Pentecost, we will observe a Week of weeks . That’s the magic of the 50 in the name of Pentecost. The Christian festival of Pentecost is derived from the older and original Jewish feast of weeks. The week of weeks. In their case 50 days after Passover. For me, this weaving of weavings of days and weeks, numbers ...

Easter 5 – Monroe Before I say anything more, I want to acknowledge a major secular feast that is marked tomorrow. Mother’s Day . It is a day that has traditionally been observed in churches with a variety of special events. At my church in Hawai’i the equivalent of St. Paul’s “E-males” serenaded the women of the parish. For some time it has seemed to me important to acknowledge the huge range of emotions and memories that are conjured up when we say “Mother.” There is nostalgia but also anguish. There is celebration as well as sadness. Not all women become or are able to be mothers. I tried my hand at “mothering” for a while in the 1980’s. What has seemed to bind us all together is the notion that we all have or have had mothers. We pray for our mothers. We pray for Grace and favor. We pray for forgiveness. We give thanks for mothers past and present. Thank you. The times they are a changin’ I know it evokes Bob Dylan and the 1960’s. But it feels more true to me today than did e...