An Episcopal Priest's Sermons, Prayers, and Reflections on Life, Becoming Human, and Discovering Our Divinity
So we’re two days into the new year, what are you thinking about 2022 this morning? Will 2022 be different from and better than 2021? I don’t know but I suspect that’s a question many of us are asking and…
Read More What Will You Do With Your Fear In 2022? – A Sermon On Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23
Photo by Keighla Exum on Unsplash Pecan pie. That’s what I thought about as I was reading today’s gospel (John 1:1-18) and preparing for this sermon. I thought about pecan pie. I know, it’s a strange connection but stick with me. It’s not…
Read More Grace Upon Grace – A Sermon On John 1:1-18
By unknown artist, according to the template of Angelos Akotantos - Photographer: Petar Milošević, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons Today’s sermon is going to be pretty low key. I think that’s what this day calls for. This day always feels to…
Read More It’s Just Us And The Baby – A Christmas Day Sermon On Luke 2:8-20
When I was kid I loved the “then and there” Christmas story. You know it. It’s the one we just heard from the gospel according to St. Luke (Luke 2:1-20). It begins, “In those days …” and it happened “in…
Read More Tonight It Is Filled – A Christmas Eve Sermon On Luke 2:1-20
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash Every year part of our preparation for Christmas is the greening of the church. We set up and decorate the Christmas trees. We hang wreaths and greenery. It involves a lot of doing and activity. Some people…
Read More Greening The Church And Our Lives
We’re three days into the new year, a time of change and transition often marked by the calendar more than the circumstances of our lives or world. Regardless, the 2020 year end reviews are well underway with commentaries, assessments, and judgments. For some, maybe most, “Good-bye 2020,” could just as well be “Good riddance, 2020.” And “Hello, 2021,” could just as well be “You could’t get here soon enough, 2021.” We’ve quickly greeted the new year with predictions, wishes, and prayers. I read this in the news, op eds, and on social media. I hear it in the conversations I have with others and in the silence of my own heart. Will 2021 be different from and better than 2020? I suspect all of us, at some level, are asking and living with that question.
This coming Sunday one option for the gospel is the Holy Family’s flight to Egypt (Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23). Every time read this story I remember the words of poet George Szirtes and the music of Richard Causton. Richard Causton is…
Read More The Flight To Egypt In Poetry And Music
I think most of us hear about the Word becoming flesh and living among us and we immediately assume it’s about Jesus. I don’t disagree with that. We see him enfleshing the Word of God throughout his life; enfleshing forgiveness, love, mercy, peace, gentleness, nonviolence, wisdom, compassion, generosity. That was his way of being and living. But what about you and me? What about the Word becoming flesh in us?
It’s so quiet this morning, so calm, so empty. Christmas Day is one of my favorite services every year. It’s just us and the baby. Most years I come to Christmas morning with two questions: Now what? So what? I never seem to have a final and lasting answer. So, once again, I come to Christmas morning with the same two questions.
It began about nine months ago. Life was interrupted when the unexpected and unimaginable happened. And I wondered, “How can this be?” Life was changing and things were getting too real too quick. The government made travel decrees. Some family, friends, and businesses closed to us and said, “No, you can’t come in.” Things just aren’t like they used to be. They probably never will be. So much has changed. It feels like it’s been one interruption after another. You know what I’m talking about, right? I’m sure you do. It’s not too hard to figure it out. It’s in the air. It’s all around us. You know, don’t you, that I’m talking about Mary and what she might have thought about the past nine months of her life? I’m talking about the first Christmas. That is what you thought I was talking about, right?
Interrupting the Silence 